[When you open up your email, what do you typically see? If you’re like most of us, you see way too many unwanted emails.
Outbound email campaigns can be powerful and cost-effective marketing tools. But how can your campaign break through the unwanted clutter and rise to the top? Here are some of the secrets we use to create successful outbound email campaigns.
First, mail either on Monday or Friday. We have found that mailing early in the week works best. Typically, Monday delivers the best results. Tuesday is second best but in both cases an early morning delivery ensures an even better receptivity. According to a recent study, both reading of email and click-through rates are the highest on Monday and decline as the week goes on. However, the study also found that sometimes an upward trend exists on Fridays.
The explanation: on Monday, people are fresh and haven’t gotten buried under a pile of work yet, so they’re more willing to read and follow through with email offers. By Friday, people are upbeat, thinking about the weekend so they get a bit more responsive. Our experience with successful email programs supports this study.
But, as you may guess, there’s much more to conducting a successful email campaign. Here are a few more tips we strongly recommend:
1. Lead with a clear subject line. Your reader won’t open the email if they don’t know what the subject is. Don’t be cleaver””just clear.
2. Make sure you make your offer quickly. No matter what day of the week, people want you to get to the point quickly.
3. Repeat your offer. Don’t just mention it once. We know people are skimming email, so repeat your offer in slightly different words at least twice in your email.
4. Include multiple opportunities for readers to click through for more information. Have just one click-through landing page, but provide the link to it more than once.
5. Use bullet points, boxes and stand-alone sentences to guide your reader quickly through your info from most important to least important. If there is an expiration, quantity limit or other critical fact, don’t bury it at the end.
When used properly, outbound email can add a significant boost to your marketing programs. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us.
Until next month…
