It’s no simple feat to sell products through emails without sounding salesy. A promotional email is not an independent element in the process of enticing more customers, it’s a part of a much wider sales strategy. To write an effective promotional email that will boost conversions takes much time and energy. So, I’ve prepared some tips that will help you cope with this challenging task.
A name of the email sender should be clear
Open your spam folder. How many emails are there? A good few, yeah? As of September 2017, spammed emails accounted for more than a half of the general email traffic. People are becoming more and more worried about fraudulent activities on the Internet which results in moving suspicious emails right to spam. This happens because the recipient can’t clearly identify who actually is sending these emails.
Your task here is to leave all your creativity behind and indicate your name or your brand title in the sender’s field. It may sound like Ben from MySignature or simply MySignature. This is clear and leaves no questions. So, make sure the recipient will be able to recognize who the sender is right after seeing the name because 43% of users direct promotional emails to spam based on the “from” field and sender’s address.
A compelling email subject is your next step
Could you ever imagine that almost half of all recipients decide whether to open an email or not based on its subject line? Thus, if you write a poor subject, chances are the open rate of your promotional email will fall by half. I do not know the rules that will help you compose the subject working in 100% cases, but I know some useful tricks.
Length
10 words in a subject line are maximum. Actually, the optimal choice is 4-6 words. The thing is that many people use their mobile phones to check email and too long subject simply can’t be properly displayed. So, aim for short and simple wordings.
Personalization
One more slice of advice here. Personalize your promotional emails. According to Campaign Monitor, people are 26% more likely to read the email that includes their names. That is also what helps build trust to your brand.
Unwanted words
And the last thing considering the subject line: do not use spammy and screaming words. This can cause damage to the whole promotional strategy. You know what I’m talking about. Words like Jackpot, Action Required, Exclusive Chance/Last Chance, Free, Extra, Sale, Now, Only Today and similar ones should be avoided.
Add a “face” to the copy of your promotional email
Here the task is to get your message read by the recipient. The main recommendation is the following: do not make your email predictable. Logical format and accurate structure you are constantly using in your emails might be effective, but very often users get bored with such an approach.
Try to address the recipient as if you simply communicate and discuss some common things. Use a natural conversational voice. Make an impression that you speak to the customer directly. I mean your email shouldn’t sound like the one written by a robot. Instead, it should have a “face” and be human-like. The first draft of your email will never sound that way. You will have to edit it with an iron fist to achieve a desirable result.
Think over an effective CTA
Buttons are more effective than links. Campaign Monitor found out that promotional emails with CTA buttons have a 28% higher CTR index than the ones with links. If you decide to use a button, make sure it is distinctively colored. It is proved that orange and green buttons work best. However, take into account the colors of your brand.
The button shouldn’t be hidden somewhere in the copy. It must have some negative space around to be normally visible. Use shadows, 3D effects or other design tricks to make it stand out among other content.
