Email marketing is becoming more of a challenge as more and more messages are landing in inboxes – and being deleted. Set yourself apart with an improved e-mail marketing campaign. Focus on these 4 areas of your email marketing efforts and improve your lead generation results.
Design
The design of your email is important. Keep in mind that many email readers, such as Outlook and Gmail, are now blocking images by default. If your graphics contain important information, such as a free offer or product trial, make sure you repeat the information in the text.
•Place your logo in the upper left hand corner of the email. Studies have found that people instinctively look for logos in the upper left-hand side of emails, which is where yours should be. Email marketing is just another branding opportunity.
•Make sure your email is no more than 500-650 pixels wide. Any more than that means your reader will be scrolling horizontally.
•Keep it clutter free. The less clutter you have in your email, the better. Don’t use more than 2, or at maximum, 3 typefaces.
Copy
From subject lines to the content within the email, copy is the most important part of your email marketing message. This is what draws the reader in and encourages a click through to your site.
•Keep your main message and call to action (CTA) above the fold. If your call to action is below the fold, most people viewing your email won’t even see it.
•Create an interesting, concise subject line. A relevant offer that creates a sense of urgency will be your best bet. Your subject line needs to have an incentive for your audience to open the email.
•Make sure the message is focused. While your site may have a lot going on, your email message shouldn’t. Instead of splitting up readers’ attention, focus on driving home a single-minded message.
Targeting
Make sure you are targeting the right audience with your email campaigns. Someone doing research won’t respond to a discount the way someone shopping will. Having lists in place that differentiate prospects based on interests, regions, or buying patterns can make your targeted email messages more successful.
•Send out an auto-responder message within an hour to every inbound lead and every website visitor that can be identified. Take it a step beyond just personalizing the email with the person’s name; make it relevant to their interests and/or the pages they visited.
•Region or industry demographics are great way to target prospects. You can create a more focused and direct email.
•Target email marketing messages based on behaviors such as past purchases, content downloads, pages visited, links clicked, etc.
Landing Pages
The landing pages that prospects reach after clicking through is just as important as the initial email. There needs to be a connection between the email and the page they land on once they get to your site. An email is just an initial outreach and a landing page is the next step.
•Your landing page should match the email in terms of headline, copy, and content. Use similar colors, fonts, and overall design to keep your customer on the right track and avoid confusion.
•Use tracking tools and analytics to determine which emails and corresponding landing pages are the most successful in generating leads.
•Make sure your CTA from the email has a connection to the CTA on your landing page. Again, keep the call to action above the fold and relevant to your marketing message.
Having an effective, lead-generating email marketing campaign is about being creative and concise. Reach new audiences with email segmenting and differentiation of prospects. Focusing on an incentive-based subject line, intriguing call to action, and targeted messages are three ways you can improve your email marketing message. Improve lead generation efforts by ensuring your landing pages have a connection to the email blast.
Author Bio: Erica Bell is a small business writer who focuses on topics such as opt in email marketing and direct mail campaigns. She is a web content writer for Business.com.