In our last blog post, Kim Walker had some great suggestions on how to catch your customers’ eye with your email’s subject line. Today, I’ll talk about some great tips for email marketing design, along with some basic “best practices” that you should always keep in mind when emailing your customer base.
How many times do you get some sort of emailed advertisement or announcement? All day, every day, I know. But how many of those do you actually READ? Most of us read maybe a couple of these emails. As email marketers, we understand that you want your clients to read your emails – especially if you worked really hard to create them! So how do you keep your customers from clicking that dreaded “Delete” button? You catch their eye right away with great design.
Instant Recognition
We’ve covered branding a lot in the 5 Stones Media blog – and for good reason. Branding covers just about everything in your business – from your website, to your print products such as flyers and business cards, your logo, and lots more. It should DEFINITELY cover your email as well. You might not be able to get your emails to look exactly like your website, but you can use the same color scheme, your logos, and any pictures you might have. As soon as a customer opens your email and gives a few seconds glance, you want them to instant recognize that “This email is from Company XYZ.” If they don’t know who it’s from, then they’ll most likely delete it immediately! Also, consistency is important with your brand – even more so with email marketing! Having a standard layout makes it easy for customers to recognize your emails. Changing up your layout every month can confuse people.
Can You Read It Everywhere?
In my last blog post, I discussed the importance of making your website responsive, since most people these days are browsing the internet on their phones and tablets. The same rule applies to your email! Make sure it can be pulled up on a smartphone. This is especially important if you have a coupon or other offer that requires the customer to either print or show it on their phone to redeem. And if you’re planning on your customers reading it on smaller screens, make sure your fonts aren’t too small!
Write for the Customer
So…your customers are getting the emails. Some of them are opening them. Now, how to keep them in reading so they’ll click through, or go to your Facebook or website? How about using just their first name? If you think an email is addressed to YOU instead of being a mass blast, you’ll be more open to reading through. Keeping it personal and using their name – ideally, their first name – will help connect you and keep them interested.
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