In today’s blog post, we’re discussing 3 Amazing Best Email & Auto Responder Practices. Implementing these practices will help you do better email marketing.
1. Use Specific Email Subject Lines
Here we talk about the do’s and don’ts when writing subject lines. To optimize your email marketing, DO NOT USE THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR EMAIL SUBJECT LINES. 🙂
Less is more. You’ve probably heard us say it before, but it’s worth repeating. Revise your subject line at least a few times after writing it. The second or fifth or tenth draft is always, always better than the first draft. Keep your goal in mind.
Be short and descriptive. Your subject lines should have no more than 4 to 7 words, or no more than 40 characters. You want to entice the reader to read more—but avoid a cliché if you can.
Keep in mind: the subject line is the first thing they see and read. How do you want to grab your reader? Keep in mind, people don’t act unless told to do so. Your subject line can give a command or a call-to-action. People also don’t really respond to numbers; they respond to what’s relevant and personable to them.
Set up subject line personalization. Their name can be set up in the email subject line. This helps create a one-on-one feeling and grabs their attention more. Hey, people like a good tease. Be concise, be creative, and show them what’s important. Why should they read your email? What’s in it for them? Those are the hard questions to answer.
WRITING TIP
When you're writing your first subject line, allow yourself to write as many words as you want. This will help you generate more ideas. Then, you can shorten it up significantly and get to the good stuff.
2. Be Mobile Friendly
We're on- the- go people. I mean, you’re probably using your phone to read this! A graphic and text on your desktop may be formatted to look great, but when it comes to mobile viewing, it will probably look stacked, inconsistent or just weird. This is why mobile optimization is important. Keep your content accessible to any device, desktop or mobile.
Your subject line should be under 40 characters. Your phone typically cuts off the subject line, so by keeping it under 40, you ensure, no matter the device, the contact will read the entire subject line.
Avoid tiny text. Use a font that’s web-safe. Don’t use more than 2 different fonts in your email. Font sizes around 14pt to 22pt are good sizes. Always preview and/or test your emails for desktop and mobile before sending emails off. Constant Contact does a good job with this.
Have you considered including Alt-Text with your images?
While it’s important to use visuals, images are often lost on mobile devices. This is because people may want to conserve data and use a setting that prevents their mobile device from downloading the image. In other words, they won’t see it. Include Alt-Text with images, in case the person can’t view the picture. Alt-Text is a short written description of the image.
3. Embrace Autoresponder Email Series
Autoresponder emails will allow you to send relevant information in a timely manner in the frequency and order in which you set them. According to eMarketer, “Subscribers who receive a welcome email show 33% MORE long-term brand engagement.” B2C, or Business to Customer marketers, who connect with customers via automated emails also see conversation rates as high at 50%. Autoresponders work, to say the least.
There’s a number of categories to choose from when it comes to autoresponder email series.
Each category of autoresponder has a specific purpose, list, and call-to-action. A few types include: Welcome Series, Call-To-Action Series, Onboarding Series (which has a very similar outline to the Welcome series).
Other autoresponder emails include, subscription or general reminders, birthday appreciation, coupons/discounts after a certain amount of time, etc.
Stay Evergreen in Autoresponders
Be aware of date-sensitive content. Keep your content universal, and don’t include specific holidays, dates, events in text or photos. When a contact receives a triggered email, meaning this can be during any time, the text they read should not be out-of-date. The text will be universal, personable, timely and relevant to them just where and when they are at.
For automated series that are active and running for a longer-period, be sure to review the content occasionally (to make sure nothing is out-of-date).
Give relevant information
Autoresponder emails can be set as a Trigger Email. If your trigger emails are about a specific topic, the email series should be about this specific topic and not something else. If a contact starts receiving an unexpected topic that disinterests them, then they will lose trust in you and unsubscribe. Tell them what the topic is and stick with that topic.
Welcome Email Series
The typical Welcome Series is always sent automatically after a person subscribes to your program. Welcome emails are so important because they will set up the right expectations for your clients.
As you're creating the welcome email, think about the clients interests and questions. Tell the client the good stuff, such as: who you are, your story, what they can expect from you, and direct them to resources on your website.
Collecting your Contact’s Information
Collecting personal details provides you the opportunity to segment your lists, thus sending targeted emails (making the content even more relevant to them!). But be careful. Don’t ask for too much information at first. First, build trust with them. Send out a few of your regular emails first, and then send out an automated series (at a later time) asking them to update their profile or personal information. Use these details from your client to set an email like an automated birthday email.
AUTORESPONDER TIP:
A way to increase your open-rate is to use automation to re-send an unopened email to your customer. We recommend only doing this with most important emails; over-emailing will definitely turn them away. Schedule the email to resend between 3 to 7 days after the original email was sent. Make sure to adjust the subject-line accordingly.
Always feel free to contact us at 630.320.2991.
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