From Camryn:

Look, I'll admit it. I get bored of writing my blog sometimes. Which is why I've pressured some of my awesome peers to write a few posts for you. Today's article on email marketing is from traveling beauty, dog-lover and SEO guru Christine Hayes. She's legit an expert on local SEO, and I wholly admit to seeking her advice when it comes to small biz marketing. Seriously, you'd be wise to use these tips! That's enough from me though. I'll let 'Stine take it away.

As long as email is a common way for businesses and customers to connect, email will be an essential part of your business’s marketing mix. There are so many different things you can do with a finely crafted email:

Offer exclusive discounts and/or rates
Solicit customer feedback
Drive website traffic
Remind people of upcoming sales/events
Raise money or awareness
Grow your social media following
Build relationships with customers

The list goes on and on! Point being, email marketing is pretty darned important, and it will more than likely be beneficial to your business. Want to improve your email marketing game? Here are four easy, actionable ways to send a kick-ass e-blast that will get the engagement and attention your business deserves!

1. Data Is Your Friend—Use It

Between your website’s Google Analytics data and the info you can find on your social media pages’ insight tabs, you can glean quite a bit of info about your business’s digital audience. Once you know who is engaging with your business, you'll have a better idea of the tone and language to use in your email. Maybe trendy slang and casual phrases will resonate with your readers, or perhaps it’s best to write in a style that appeals to older readers who may simply scratch their heads at terms such as “lit” and “AF.”

2. Include Your Readers' Names

You know how you give emails from businesses a second glance when your name is in the subject line or greeting? It’s a successful email marketing tactic that still catches my attention, at least. [caption id="attachment_3343" align="aligncenter" width="600"] email-marketing-merge-tags

Which one of these emails are you most likely to open?[/caption] Look into setting up merge tags to customize subject lines and opening paragraphs of your emails to include the names of recipients. Most email marketing programs make it easy to use this type of customization—for instance, check out MailChimp's explanation of merge tags.

3. Write Better Subject Lines

Trying to brainstorm a catchy and click-worthy subject line or title? Honestly, this is often the most difficult and time-consuming part of the e-blast writing process. When it comes to getting customers to click on your emails, you should think about things like character count and emojis:

Character count: More and more people check their email on their smartphones, so it’s wise to optimize email subject lines for mobile. That means limiting subject lines to 30-50 characters to ensure they aren’t cut off on smartphone notifications. With such a small number available, every character needs to count.
Emojis: I’m sure you’ve noticed the prevalence of emojis in subject lines the past year or two. The colors and break in text that emojis provide often encourages readers give your email a bit more attention. So go ahead, make the most out of your limited character count by adding a relevant emoji! 😁 However, I’d recommend avoiding emojis with options such as gender, hair color and skin color, as they don’t always translate perfectly between Apple and Android products.

4. Avoid Spam Filters

If you’re worried about your emails being filtered out of your customers’ inboxes, there are a few steps to take. First, the email should be formatted as if it’s a conversation between friends—kind of like the way we write on this blog—rather than a business contacting customers. The email itself might look more bland than you’d prefer, but fancy templates and designs aren’t useful if the email is never seen. Personally, I like to look through my own spam folders to gather ideas of what not to do. It’s also best to send email blasts from a regular email address, not an automatic “do-not-reply” address. When it looks like a robot sent an email, it will probably be sorted into the spam folder. Finally, one of the best ways to get your emails into inboxes is by encouraging your customers and followers to add your email address to their contacts. This way, your messages will completely avoid spam and promotional filters every time. Try out these tactics to improve your email marketing efforts and watch open rates soar. Have you discovered any other tried-and-true methods that have helped your business? If so, drop us a comment!

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