Did you know that a marketing email message (as a part of a campaign or otherwise) doesn’t even need to be opened or read to “count” as an effective email strategy?
That’s just how powerful email marketing is.
If you are reading this, chances are you are one of the few who already believe in the sheer power of email marketing.
You are sending out broadcast messages, have some sort of automation working for you, and have campaigns already going out to your subscribers (who’ll eventually turn into customers, on repeat, for life).
The story, however, never ends.
Continuous improvement is a way of life for marketers and businesses looking to do more with less, enhance campaign effectiveness, and boost ROI for every email marketing campaign sent.
In this article, we’ll explore ten actionable ways to improve your email marketing efforts so you can squeeze your marketing dollars harder, and enhance ROI:
If you want to supercharge your email newsletter’s performance, keep reading!
10 Ways to Improve Your Email Marketing Campaigns
1. Send Personalized Email Campaigns (Whether Automated or Not)
When it comes down to it, effective email marketing campaigns can be broken down into three steps.
Step 1: Send emails
Step 2: Personalize the emails you send (hint: address people by name)
Step 3: Remember steps 1 and 2
The #1 mistake most individuals, businesses, and even marketers make is they don’t send emails enough.For reasons known only to the devil, several businesses have zero communication with their customers, leads, or prospects.
Change that. Just click on the send button with a regular frequency. Use Panoramata to see how thousands of businesses have a pattern regarding how many emails they send and how frequently they do so. Personalization in email marketing goes beyond just inserting a subscriber's name into the email.
Today’s consumers expect a tailored experience that reflects their preferences, behaviors, and past interactions with your brand.
By leveraging the data you collect from your customers, you can create personalized emails that resonate more deeply, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.
Start by using dynamic content that adapts based on the recipient's information. For example, you can display different products, images, or offers depending on the subscriber’s previous purchases or browsing history.
If you’re a SaaS company, you might tailor your messaging based on the specific services or features the subscriber has shown interest in.
Personalization can also extend to the timing and frequency of your emails.
Use data to determine when each segment of your audience is most likely to open and engage with your emails. This might involve sending different emails at different times based on time zones or even individual user behavior patterns.
Always offer value with your personalized content, whether it's through special offers, relevant product recommendations, or useful information tailored to the recipient’s needs.
2. Know Your Numbers & Goalposts Through Email Marketing Benchmarks
Marketers and businesses are obsessed with email marketing KPIs, metrics, and numbers, for a good reason.
Benchmarks tell you what the averages are. They reveal compelling insights and goalposts so you know you should reach these averages as the first step and then beat those averages.
Moosend, an email marketing software company, recently published some data on email marketing benchmarks for metrics that matter for email marketing, namely open rates, email bounce rates, CTR (clickthrough rate), and unsubscribe rates.
Take a look at the metrics below.
3. Improve Email Deliverability
Here are some ways to improve email deliverability:
- Authenticate your domain
Most email marketing tools allow you to “authenticate” your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC (it’s not as complicated as it seems).Following simple instructions, get your domain authenticated to boost your sender reputation and avoid blacklists.
- Use a double opt-in
Always use double opt-in (where users have to verify their sign-up by logging into their email account).This is useful not only for better email deliverability but also for customization and personalization of email campaigns. This leads us to…
- Keep a consistent email cadence
Maintain a fixed email sending frequency to “familiarize” subscribers with your emails. Seeing your emails drop into their inboxes regularly is a way to warm them up and keep them on the hook.
- Segment and personalize
Segmentation and personalization are critical for better ROI on your email campaigns. But it also tends to increase “open rate” stickiness.The more relevant, personalized, and segmented your email messages are, the higher email deliverability (along with email open rates and clickthrough rates).
Instead of sending a one-size-fits-all message to your entire audience, you can tailor your emails based on specific criteria such as purchase history, demographic information, or customer behavior.
- Maintain an email list cleaning schedule
Maintaining a clean email list is essential for the success of your campaigns. You don’t want “deadbeats” in your email lists.Over time, email lists can become cluttered with inactive subscribers, invalid email addresses, and duplicates, all of which can drag down your engagement rates and increase the chances of your emails being marked as spam.
Start by regularly removing inactive subscribers from your list. Inactive can mean email subscribers who aren’t engaging, opening emails, reading, or clicking through your emails for at least six months. Delete them.
Furthermore, have a clear way for people to unsubscribe. However, before you go on a deleting spree, consider sending a re-engagement campaign to give them a final chance to stay on your list.
This could be a special offer, a request to update their preferences, or simply a reminder of why they subscribed in the first place.
- Don’t buy lists ever
Finally, and hopefully, never purchase lists of emails. The only way email marketing works well is when you “earn” your audience, and send emails only to those who opted-in, and to those who stay engaged.
This handy checklist to help improve email deliverability from Sendgrid by Twillio is worth a read.
4. Personalize Your Customer’s Onboarding Process
The onboarding process is a critical phase in your relationship with a new customer or subscriber. It sets the tone for future interactions and can significantly influence their perception of your brand.
Personalizing this process can help you build a stronger connection from the outset, leading to higher engagement and loyalty.
Start by crafting a welcome email that acknowledges the customer’s decision to subscribe or make a purchase.
Use their name and, if applicable, reference the product or service they signed up for. This simple touch makes the interaction feel more personal and less like a generic automated response.
You can also use dynamic content to tailor the email’s message based on the customer’s preferences or behavior, such as recommending relevant products or providing helpful resources.
In addition to the standard content, consider adding social proof or customer testimonials to build trust.
Remind customers of your return policy or free shipping offer if applicable. These elements can help alleviate any hesitation they might have about completing the purchase.
5. Send Abandoned Cart Emails
Abandoned cart emails are one of the most effective tools in a marketer’s toolkit. When a potential customer adds items to their cart but doesn’t complete the purchase, a well-timed reminder email can nudge them to return and finalize their order.
These emails capitalize on the customer’s existing interest, often leading to higher conversion rates compared to other types of emails.
To make your abandoned cart emails more effective, timing is key. Send the first reminder within a few hours of the cart being abandoned, while the products are still fresh in the customer’s mind.
If they don’t respond, consider sending a follow-up email a day or two later. You might also experiment with a third email offering a limited-time discount or incentive to encourage the purchase.
Include the customer’s name and a clear list of the items they left behind, along with images and prices. If your system allows, show related or complementary products to pique their interest further.
Including a prominent call-to-action button that links directly to the cart can make it easy for customers to complete their purchases with minimal effort.
In addition to the standard content, consider adding social proof or customer testimonials to build trust.
Remind customers of your return policy or free shipping offer if applicable. These elements can help alleviate any hesitation they might have about completing the purchase.
6. Look to Your Competitors for Inspiration on Design, Promotions, and Copy
Monitoring your competitors’ email marketing strategies can provide valuable insights and inspiration for your own campaigns.
By analyzing their design, promotional tactics, and copy, you can identify trends, uncover new ideas, and find opportunities to differentiate your brand.
Start by subscribing to your competitors’ email lists to see how they communicate with their audience. Alternatively, use Panoramata so you don’t have to sign up for their newsletter or clog your inbox with emails.
Start to pay attention to the frequency, timing, and content of their emails.
Are they running specific promotions? How do they structure their subject lines and calls to action?
Take note of what seems to work well and consider how you can adapt these strategies to fit your brand’s voice and goals.
Design is another area where you can gain inspiration. Look at how your competitors use visuals, colors, and layout to engage their audience.
While it’s important not to copy their designs outright, you can incorporate similar elements or styles that resonate with your own audience. This could involve using similar color schemes, experimenting with new formats, or introducing more dynamic content.
Promotional tactics are also worth examining. Are your competitors offering discounts, free shipping, or other incentives?
Analyze the effectiveness of these offers by looking at their timing, frequency, and the way they’re presented in the emails. This can help you refine your promotional strategy, whether that means offering similar incentives or finding new ways to add value to your subscribers.
Finally, keep an eye on the tone and style of your competitors’ copy.
Are they using a formal or casual tone? Do they focus on storytelling or direct selling?
Understanding how they communicate can help you refine your messaging to better connect with your audience.
Remember, while it’s useful to look at what others are doing, always stay true to your brand’s identity and values.
7. Write Great Content and Polish Your Copy
Assuming you follow through with everything above, your emails will finally be opened. If and when that happens, it’s your chance to impress, engage, inspire, delight, educate, and sell.
Regardless of the objective of the email, it’s the copy that rules.
Your subject line for the email, the preheader text, and then the actual copy (or content) of the email go a long way to deciding how well your email performs.
Now, don’t let the words like “subject lines”, “copy”, and “copywriting” take away the basics from you. The best marketing doesn’t even sound and feel like marketing.
Honesty prevails over glib talk. Make your copy honest, precise, and simple enough.
As to how “good” or “bad” the email copy is, let the money in the bank decide that for you.
8. Optimize Your Pre-Header Text
Next to the subject line, your pre-header text is often the first impression a subscriber gets of your email, so make it count.
This text appears next to or below the subject line in most email clients, providing an additional opportunity to capture your reader’s attention.
An optimized pre-header can complement your subject line, entice subscribers to open the email, and even give them a preview of what to expect.
To craft compelling pre-header text, keep it concise and relevant to the content of the email. It should reinforce the message of your subject line without simply repeating it.
For instance, if your subject line teases a special offer, your pre-header could highlight a specific benefit or create urgency by mentioning a time-sensitive discount.
Remember that many email clients cut off pre-header text after a certain number of characters, so put the most important information at the beginning.
Lastly, avoid leaving your pre-header text blank or filled with generic phrases like "View this email in your browser." This is a missed opportunity that could negatively impact your open rates.
9. Focus on Your Conversion Rates
Conversion rates are one of the most critical metrics in email marketing because they directly reflect how effectively your emails are driving desired actions, such as making a purchase, signing up for a webinar, or downloading a resource.
To improve your conversion rates, you need to focus on several key elements: compelling content, clear calls to action (CTAs), and seamless user experience.
Begin by analyzing your existing email campaigns to identify areas where conversion rates are lagging.
Are your CTAs visible and straightforward? Are you offering something of genuine value to your subscribers?
Consider using A/B testing to experiment with different versions of your email content, including headlines, images, and CTAs, to see what drives the best results.
The design and layout of your emails also play a crucial role in conversions. Make sure your emails are mobile-friendly, as a significant portion of users will view them on smartphones.
A clean, easy-to-navigate design with strategically placed CTAs can help guide readers toward taking action.
Avoid overwhelming your subscribers with too much information or too many options, as this can lead to decision fatigue and lower conversion rates.
Finally, ensure that the landing pages your emails link to are optimized for conversions.
The transition from email to landing page should be smooth and cohesive, with consistent messaging and a clear, easy-to-complete action.
10. Find the Optimal Email Send Time and Frequency
Sending your emails at the right time and with the right frequency ensures that your messages are not only seen but also acted upon. The challenge lies in finding the sweet spot that works best for your specific audience.
To determine the optimal send time, start by analyzing your past email performance.
Look for patterns in your open and click-through rates based on the time of day and day of the week when your emails were sent.
You might find that your audience is more responsive to emails sent in the morning, late afternoon, or even on weekends. It’s essential to consider your audience’s time zones, especially if you’re targeting a global customer base.
Frequency is another crucial factor. Sending too many emails can overwhelm your subscribers, leading to higher unsubscribe rates, while sending too few can result in missed opportunities.
Aim to strike a balance by testing different frequencies and monitoring the results.
Segmenting your audience can also help, allowing you to send more frequent emails to highly engaged subscribers and less frequent ones to those who are less active.
Don’t be afraid to ask your subscribers for feedback. A simple survey asking how often they’d like to hear from you can provide valuable insights.
Additionally, offering preferences for email frequency when someone subscribes can help you cater to individual needs, reducing the risk of unsubscribes due to email overload.
Email Marketing Mistakes To Avoid
Some of the top mistakes we see that are still happening as we write this:
- No way to sign up: Nothing to sign up for. No lead generation, opt-in strategies, email sign-up gateways, or opportunities are are used.
- Not growing your list: Or not sending email campaigns at all.
- Neglecting due diligence with the technical side of email marketing: authenticating domains, using a reputable email marketing platform, and more.
- Lack of customization and personalization: We still see hundreds of emails that start with “Dear customer”.
- Not monitoring performance metrics and fixing issues: This includes anything from subject lines to copy; from email delivery to high bounce rates; from unengaged audiences to not keeping on top of metrics and KPIs.
Avoiding email marketing mistakes should be your first priority since it is a proven channel for higher ROI and there’s nothing else you’d rather spend time and resources on.
Learn from the best with advanced competitive tracking
Be it for inspiration, learning, or competitive analysis, things just got easier for you.
You don't have to scrape the web or spend hours trying to stalk other brands.
With a single tool like Panoramata, you can “magic wand” your way to see how some of the best brands do email marketing (along with marketing automation, SMS messages, landing pages, website changes over time, SEO profiles, and more).
Find inspiring brands, create tracking lists, and keep tabs on changes across the spectrum -- all this without ever leaving the tab on your browser.
With Panoramata, use filters to find exactly what you want. Search ads, emails, and marketing flows, and create swipe files you’ll learn from and be excited about.
Within email marketing, track email sending frequencies, email subject lines, email copy, email offers, and angles various brands use.
Supercharge your email newsletters and increase conversions
Improving your email marketing campaigns involves strategy, creativity, and ongoing optimization.
By segmenting your lists, personalizing content, and focusing on key metrics like conversion rates, you can significantly boost engagement and drive better results.
Remember to fine-tune details like send times, clean your lists regularly, and monitor your competitors for fresh ideas. Implementing these practices will not only enhance your current campaigns but also lay the foundation for sustained success in the future.
Keep testing, refining, and adapting your approach to ensure your emails continue to resonate with your audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How often should I send emails to my subscribers?
The ideal frequency depends on your audience and the value you provide in your emails. Start with a weekly or bi-weekly schedule and adjust based on engagement metrics and subscriber feedback.
2. What are some common mistakes to avoid in email marketing?
Avoid sending generic, one-size-fits-all emails and neglecting mobile optimization. Also, be cautious of overwhelming subscribers with too many emails, which can lead to higher unsubscribe rates.
3. How can I increase the open rates of my emails?
Craft compelling subject lines and pre-header text that spark curiosity or offer clear value. Segment your list to ensure the content is relevant to each recipient's interests and needs.
