Improving your email open and click-through rates isn’t impossible when you follow these 5 keys.

Email has become a staple of digital marketing campaigns. We all know the upside to strong email marketing: the high ROI, ability to generate sales and customer loyalty. That’s why we see an average of 40 emails in our inbox every day. If you’re like me, before you click on an email, you’re scanning the sender name and subject live (and maybe the preview line) to see if it’s worth your time to actually open it. So as a digital marketer, how do you get your audience to open and click on the email you send? Here are 5 keys to improving your stronger email marketing with better open and click rates.

Be Mobile

Nearly 62% of all email is opened on a mobile device. And this audience is more likely to spend more than 8 seconds reading the email they open. To improve the odds of your email being opened on a mobile device, ensure your design and message work and look good on the smaller screen.

Know Your Audience

I’ve said it before but it bears repeating. Better marketing begins with knowing your audience and speaking to them on a personal level. If your message isn’t relevant to each individual, it’s a wasted effort on your part. Investing in a Sabal Group MicroModel Report makes it easy to segment, personalize and double down on relevance.

Imagery Matters

Humans are visual animals. We respond on an emotional level to imagery. And one of the most effective tools in email marketing is video. It’s a great way to break out of the template box and wow your audience. More importantly, video can boost your open rates by 19% and click-through rates by 65%. You’ll need to host the video on a separate platform and include a thumbnail and irresistible click button in the body of your message. Ask us how, and we’ll guide you through the process.

Mightier Messaging

Every article about improving email open and click rates will tell you to craft a powerful message. You get that. But are you overlooking three other word groups that really matter? Your subject line, preview line and the sender name are the first things your audience sees. Unless they’re persuasive and conversational, or a name your audience recognizes, you’ve lost them.

Test, Test, Test

You might have thought you were done with tests once you left school but you’d be wrong. Successful email marketing campaigns are constantly testing everything with A/B versions for content, subject & preview lines and sending times & days. If the very thought of creating a second version gives you the heebie-jeebies, ask Sabal to make it happen.

It goes without saying that there’s one more key to success: you absolutely must be tracking and measuring the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign. Beyond open and click-through rates, you need to track your unsubscribes and complaints. Instituting a sound reporting system gives you the ability to know what works and what doesn’t. Over time, you’ll see replicable patterns that lead to increases in conversions and sales. And who doesn’t want that?

Email marketing is too important to leave to chance and whim. Guess work is never going to lead to more sales. If you’d like to discuss how Sabal Group can help you improve your email campaign, give Marybeth a call today.