When email was first introduced to the masses, it revolutionized the entire world of communication. People started using emails to communicate with a large number of people in a short time. Slowly, social media came in and the advertising world largely moved its promotional campaigns to social media to improve the reach. But if you believe that because of the advent of social media, email marketing has lost its value, you are absolutely mistaken. Even though social media can help to potentially reach a large number of audience, it is email marketing which will precisely reach your target customers and retain the existing ones.
As a marketer of an online store, you can stay in touch with your customers through specialized and targeted email marketing campaigns.Do you know that according to Forrester, an average person in the world receives around 25 commercial emails in his/her inbox daily? So now, you face the challenge to really stand out among the host of emails.
Let us see what are the best practices for writing a good email, that will increase its chances of being read and followed.
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Have a Catchy Subject line
When you open your inbox, you just skim through the emails. After the sender of the email, the next then you look at is the subject line. For an online store, trying to promote yourself, you are second in priority to begin with. Why would you want to drive your customers away before they even check out the content of the email? Your subject line should speak to your audience and interest them.
Let us look at some examples.
Jabong uses customer in the subject line. It is not personalized. When I look at the email, I know that it is a generic promotional email. Personally, I will not bother opening it.
Whereas Zivame, sets a good example for a subject line which I would like to open.
With Zivame, the subject line calls for attention and makes the person feel special or singled out.
2. Make your content easy to glance through
With the overload of information everywhere, how many of us have the patience to comb through paragraphs and paragraphs of text?
Well same goes for your audience. Try and keep the content as short and to the point as possible.
This email from Zivame is not beautiful, but it just shows the coupon code the customer personally received. If a person wants the coupon code, they can see it and go ahead and use it. The email is simple and without any fluff. It works pretty well.
3. Include relevant and clear pictures
If you are trying to sell a product, how can you ever ignore the importance of good product pictures? With online selling, that is the only way you can get your customers close to physically seeing the products, is through pictures.
While sending newsletters try and sending pictures of the products. For a buyer who has shown interest in electronics in the past, send him a newsletter which deals especially with electronics.
Snapdeal here did a good job by sending a unique picture with a product description.
Make sure the picture is clickable and it links to the product page.
Keep your pictures easy to look at a glance– If you are trying to send a newsletter about upcoming sales and events, I understand that you want to show all the products you have the sale for.But if you make a newsletter with an image that is too long, people will not want to scroll down and they may even get confused.
A newsletter sent by Amazon, boasts all the products on sale in a clear and concise way. At one glance you will be able to distinguish and navigate to the product of your interest.
This example points out that even if you are putting ample pictures in your newsletter, make sure it is easy on the eyes.
4. Have clear and easy to click CTAs
If you are inviting someone to view your products, you need to make it easier for them to get there.
This can include,
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making the product pictures clickable,
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adding a discount coupon, or
- using a call to action button at the bottom. It can be something like ‘Buy now and get 30% off’, or a more subtle ‘Shop now at Yoursite.com’.
5. Try adding useful information or tips
Imagine having your inbox filled with emails of Buy, Buy and Buy some more! At that point you are bound to ignore them. But, if the user is sure to get some useful information, with every email he/she gets from you, the chances of them opening the email will increase dramatically!
This is where relevant content will come in the picture. Say for instance,
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If you have a store that sells beauty products and cosmetics, you can always include a tip of the day for skin care.
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If you sell clothes and accessories, how about including a fashion style for the month.
Content newsletters will give you more readership and will keep the readers in touch with what is happening on your store.
6. Keep the number of emails low
The worst thing one can do with email marketing, is spamming the inbox of your customers with multiple emails.
Try and send the emails at regular intervals and space them out. Send emails for special offers and updates regarding your website. The purpose of emails is to keep you customers engaged and informed. Do not repel them overloading them promotional emails.
7. Make your email unique
Your email newsletter, should define what your company is and what it stands for. It needs to have its own style which distinguishes it from others. Just like you take special care to know your target audience, make sure your emails spell the same sentiment.
8. Get more people on board to subscribe to your newsletter
If a customer spends a decent amount of time on your website, it is safe to assume that they are interested in what you offer. So, how can you catch their attention while they are browsing? Well, show them a pop-up message. The pop-up can be to sign up for a newsletter and stay updated. There are a few features like mail chimp which you can use. Learn how to integrate them to your Zepo store.
As an online store owner, you cannot physically greet and talk to your customers. So how you portray yourself digitally, defines you to them. Through your email marketing campaign, you have to remember to connect with them personally through every email you send. Even if the email is sent to a group of people, it is essential to cater to the motive and purpose of every individual who clicks the email. So go ahead, jazz up your email newsletters and get those customers on board!
This post was originally written by Samskrita Jain for Zepo: The eCommerce Blog for Small Businesses. We are an eCommerce Platform and we help small businesses to sell online.