New year, new tactics! Elevate your email marketing game with fresh ideas and tests to try out along with common pitfalls and how to sidestep those. At INBOUND 2023, email marketing pros Jay Schwedelson (CEO and founder, Outcome Media/SubjectLine.com/GURU Events) and Pierce Ujjainwalla (Co-founder and CEO, Knak) shared their current effective strategies and insights from their past email campaign results.
Read on for their takeaways and how you can incorporate their tips to adapt and innovate your next email campaign.
MAKE YOUR EMAILS VALUABLE
Ujjainwalla kicked off the session with a hot tip: “No one cares about your webinar, your website, your blog. They care about themselves.” Your challenge? Craft impactful emails that offer value. To facilitate this, he introduced his CHEETAH Framework, which serves as a guiding tool throughout the email creation process.
- Captivate: Don’t waste first impressions! Review your sender display name, subject line, and preview text. Add emojis to grab attention.
- Human: Does your email sound like it’s coming from a human or a corporate entity? Use genuine language that sounds natural.
- Entertain: No matter what industry you work in or who your audience is, see how you can position your content that isn’t boring. Lean into edu-tainment content and take risks when possible.
- Easy: Reduce friction when it comes to asking for action. Clearly outline the goal of the email by focusing on a single CTA and keep the content reader-friendly.
- Transitions: How does your email flow from one section to the next? Go beyond horizontal lines and get creative with images.
- Animate: Help your email standout with subtle gifs and animations. Attract, but don’t distract.
- Harmony: What does the user experience look and feel like when going from email to landing page? Keep the content consistent and streamlined for customers to convert.
By making small adjustments in how you approach your email content, you can create a more valuable experience for your contacts, which in turn will increase the probability of conversions.
NEW EMAIL TEST IDEAS
Jay Schwedelson took over the session to run through new ways to approach current tactics in your next email campaign. Here are some of the top test ideas you should be trying with your emails.
Subject Lines Test Ideas:
- Using someone’s first name ≠ personalization. Instead, try adding in industry, function, or interest in subject lines.
- Try aspirational copy to tap into your audience’s emotions. For business emails, opens increase by 28% with this tactic. If your email is meant for a list that is at the director-level, talk C-level to them instead.
- Avoid round numbers like “0” and “5” — non-round numbers have shown to increase open-rates by 21%.
Other Test Ideas:
- Call-to-Action: Explore using first person call-to-action buttons — instead of “Register” try “Save My Spot!”
- Preheader Text: Experiment with "continuation" copy to enhance your open rates. Begin the preheader text with "And," "But," or "Plus" to seamlessly flow from your subject line. This strategy has demonstrated a 19% increase in open rates.
- Landing Pages: Rather than directing users to a page with a singular lengthy form, consider a multi-page approach featuring shorter form fields. This has been proven to boost conversion rates by 37%.
- Form Layout: Single column forms outperform zig-zag forms with a 21% higher conversion rate.
- LinkedIn Newsletters: Repurpose email newsletter content on your personal or company LinkedIn page using that platform’s newsletter feature to reach a wider audience outside of your newsletter base.
Innovating is the key to building momentum and progression in your email marketing. Experiment with different tests to see what works best with your audience.
Recognizing and avoiding common pitfalls can save resources and time. Bypass generic personalization and invest time in understanding and segmenting your audience. Don’t overload your emails with multiple calls-to-action and optimize content lengths for your email audience.
TAKEAWAYS
This year, challenge yourself to try new testing ideas! As 2024 kicks off, it’s time to fold on these email insights and put them into action in your email marketing plans. Refresh your strategies with these tips and tactics from the email marketing pros themselves and continue to keep an eye on performance and adjust your approach as needed, always relying on data.
Download the full IN23 Presentation Deck here.
Want to rate potential subject lines before using them? Try Jay Schwedelson’s free tool here.
