For many organizations, boosting email marketing ROI is among their top focus. Email enables direct and near-immediate communication between prospects and businesses. This is why it’s still the most effective digital method of maintaining contact with customers.
One study by Campaign Monitor found that on average companies generate $44 for every $1 invested in email marketing. In this article, I’ll discuss several ways that you can boost your email marketing ROI, whether in a B2B or B2C space.
Know the Target Audience
You have to know the target audience if you want good returns from email marketing. This is where email spammers fail horribly.
Using automation to scrape a bunch of emails from websites will only hurt your campaign. These prospects may or might not be qualified for your product. As a result, you can cause problems such as getting your email address or domain name blacklisted for spam. That will certainly make it harder for your emails to reach inboxes in the future.
So spend the time necessary to find qualified prospects that you can send emails to. This alone has the potential to double or even triple your ROI.
Get the First Thing Your Prospect See’s Right
The subject line is the first thing most people see and if it doesn’t capture their attention, you lose them. Your subject line is the best way to make someone stop and focus on your email. Consumers generally scan each email subject to see if there’s anything that deserves their attention.
Keep your subject lines short, concise, and avoid using anything misleading. Good email subject lines have one or more of the following elements.
- Curiosity – For example, “you won’t believe what just happened”.
- Personalization – “John, I loved your article so much”.
- The promise of value – “Here’s how to gain more readership”.
- Humor – “How not to read this email”.
- Urgency – “Last call James, act now”.
- Implied instant gratification – “How to lose weight in four weeks”.
Personalize Your Emails
Personalization can improve your email marketing ROI but don’t overdo it, otherwise, you might creep out some folks. Also, keep in mind that while most email marketing software support personalization, mistakes are still possible. After all, automation is only as good as your data.
That being noted, you can go beyond using the prospect’s name to doing more complex things like sending emails based on consumer behavior. For example, you can trigger a personalized email to upsell the customer after they buy a specific item.
Personalization can increase email engagement and click-through rates depending on the nature of your business. If you’re cold-emailing prospects, I find that Snov (an email marketing platform) is great for cold outreach personalization.
Think Mobile-first
More people access the Internet using a mobile device.
Mobile traffic is up and has remained on a steady increase for the last 7 years. Many consumers use smartphones to check their inbox. This is why your emails must render properly on mobile devices (including tablets).
The best way to do so is by thinking mobile-first. That means designing your email layouts for mobile and considering desktop devices second. This way, you can be sure your emails will render perfectly on mobile.
Always Include a CTA (call-to-action)
You have to let your readers or prospects know what to do next. This is the purpose of a CTA. Some examples of CTAs you may have seen online include “Sign Up for Free”, “Join”, “Copy to Clipboard”, etc. Adding CTAs to your emails can improve email marketing ROI since it helps you nudge recipients towards the desired action.
Get to the Point Quickly
The people you’re reaching out to likely have other things going on. So they probably have a limited amount of time to devote to your email. This is why you should keep your emails short in most cases.
Sometimes, it can’t be helped due to your company’s product and the email will be lengthy. This is fine providing that it doesn’t contain a whole lot of fluff. You must get to the point as quickly as possible, which can help increase your email marketing ROI. People generally prefer concise and short emails because they take less time to respond to.
The Preview Text
The email preview text is the second thing most recipients see. Many email clients show a preview of your email body copy right after the subject line. Take advantage of this behavior by making sure you grab the consumer’s attention with the first line of your copy.
When I look through my emails, I’m always reading the subject line first and if it interests me, I’ll read the preview text. If that interests me, I’ll open the email to read the whole copy. You’re most likely approaching your inbox in the same or similar manner and so are your prospects or customers.
Use Videos Whenever Possible
Video content can improve email marketing ROI because it’s an engagement booster. However, don’t use videos within the email copy itself. Instead, link to the video with an image or text. This is because not all email clients render video content well. Even though some can play embedded videos without issues, I’d still recommend linking out to your videos.
Use a Conversational Tone
While this will vary depending on each situation, it’s often better to use a conversational tone when reaching out via email. There are a few reasons why this works.
- Conversational language is easier to read.
- People generally connect better or will more easily relate to you when a conversational tone is used.
- Conversational language can appear more credible.
Final Thoughts on Increasing Email Marketing ROI
In closing, make sure you’re tracking and evaluating your results regularly. If you can test several versions of your emails, then do so because it can increase email ROI. Lastly, Spam makes outreach tougher for email marketers and partaking in such activities is a sure-fire way of decreasing your email marketing ROI.
I’m a freelance copywriter and SEO specialist. I aim to empower individuals and businesses with impactful marketing solutions and insights. In my downtime, I recharge by embracing the beauty of nature or cherishing moments with my loved ones. If you found value in this post, please consider sharing it.
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