What does it take to create flawless emails? You know, the kind that have a magnetic appeal in your inbox, drawing you into opening them every time? It's not easy, but as inbound marketers it's a skill we can't afford to neglect to develop. Email is a valuable tool in your Content Marketing arsenal, and the content you populate it with is as important as every other piece of content you create.
Email lends support to your other content efforts and is a great means to increase engagement, boost subscriber numbers and lead generation efforts.
So how can you improve email marketing content?
Nothing shouts spam louder than an email without genuine sender details. If you're going to be sending out emails, respect your recipients intelligence and send them from a legitimate email address with your real details. Doing this establishes trust going forward, and shows you're willing to put your name and reputation on the line for whatever is it that your email is promising.
If your subject line is lame, your email's headed for the trash. We've all received an email before, checked the subject line and thought, "Meh, not reading that. Delete!" Your subject line is to your email as your headline is to your blog - critical! Take the time to create subject lines that catch the eye and draw the viewer into opening the email.
Key considerations when writing your subject lines should be:
When you skip on including personalisation in an email, you indirectly send a message to the recipient that says, "You weren't important enough to differentiate between all my other recipients." Who wants to be on the receiving end of that message? Not me - and probably not you either. Don't treat all your recipients as mere numbers in a subscriber list. Personalise the content you send them - let them know they matter to you as individuals.
Your email content and your subject line need to be cohesive in nature. This means following through with personal pronoun usage, an entertaining tone and a concise body of text. Avoid waffling in your email content at all costs! Nobody wants to read a long, boring email after all. A key element to remember is to write in the second person, which focuses your content towards the reader.
When it comes to email content, action is everything. You want to encourage your readers to take action! Language like "take", "buy", "download" and "get" are all examples of wording you can use to inspire action. However, they're not the only way to do so; you can use actionable language that doesn't involve verbs simply by clarifying to the reader what they can do with the information you're providing.
Writing skillfully wrought email content relies on a few best practices to ensure its success. The following tips will help you get your email content ready for success:
Your email marketing efforts are an invaluable part of a strong inbound marketing campaign and deserve your full attention and commitment to excellence. Emails aren't just another automated send-out you mail to your subscribers or leads - they're a chance to build quality engagement with your recipients and to boost your lead nurturing efforts! So take the time and make your emails amazing.