The Dos and Don'ts of Email Advertising

It’s easy to overlook the effectiveness of email advertising. With social media outlets taking charge in digital marketing, many firms are forgetting about the power and value of old-fashioned email ads. In addition, lots of consumers complain they are bombarded with daily, unimportant emails. Thus, they unsubscribe to annoying marketers and move many emails to their neglected junk mail folder. 

Perhaps the greatest reason why many digital marketing firms underestimate the impact of email advertising is because they are improperly executing campaigns. Seemingly, there’s no way to satisfy email consumers. Well, there are plenty of ways to avoid hitting the email marketing dead end. Follow these tips for a more successful email advertising program:

Messages should be short, sweet and to the point. People have a lot of emails to get through every day with little time to spare. Focus on one topic and only include relevant information. Don’t send a novel to consumers; if they wanted to read a book, they would download an eBook.

Find practical ways to personalize emails. Digital marketing firms suggest including recipients’ names, personalized content and offerings. When a reader sees their own name in an email, they immediately find the information more pertinent and interesting.

Don’t overdo the personalization, however. If your goal is to suggest products and services based on previous purchase history, make sure you correctly match their taste. Make use of database segmentation to ensure the right promotions are sent to the right recipient. For simpler announcements like new service offerings, focus on including only the recipient’s name. 

Email subject headlines should call attention. Email advertising is more effective when consumers feel like they are responding to an urgent need, such as when offered coupons and discounts are redeemable only on specific dates. Chances are, they will find these discounts valuable because they subscribed to your email services in the first place. 

Make emails sharp and creative by incorporating fresh, relevant graphics and content to increase response rates and consumer interest. Make use of HTML to boost creativity in emails. 

Don’t, however, incorporate innovative technologies without consulting the experts. Many digital marketing firms are knowledgeable in using HTML for impactful email campaigning. Poorly designed HTML and oversized graphics can detract recipients. Commercial emails are already associated with spam-like qualities, so consider which technology the audience can handle. 

Bottom line: there are many of ways to go about email advertising. There’s as much wrong as there is right in the digital realm. Adding email advertising to existing strategies is a good idea, but only with proper utilization. The right methods will generate new business with high response rates low consumer un-subscription rates.