Before sending out an email to your mailing list, you need to make sure your campaign is primed to be as effective as possible. Here are some things you should consider when emailing your customers.
Time your emails right
You want to aim for high open rates and engagement on your emails so your emails should be timed accordingly. Research shows that Tuesday, Thursday and Wednesday are the best days to send out your email campaign, in that order. If you’re sending two emails per week, Tuesday and Thursday should be your first choice.
Most people check their emails in the late morning at 10AM, in the late afternoon at 2PM when they are drifting out of work mode and looking for distractions and at 8PM before they go to bed. Tuesday at 10AM and Thursday at 8PM are the top times for engagement on emails.
However, the ideal time for email campaigns might be different for your business or your locality. Experiment with different days and times till you find the combination that works for you and then follow it consistently.
Use compelling subjects and preview text
Most people in your mailing list have email inboxes full of promotional emails. You need to give them a good reason to open your email. Use email subjects and preview text that spark interest and make the recipient open the email out of curiosity.
What is an email preview text? It is the short summary text that follows the subject line when viewing an email from the inbox. It is an excellent opportunity to tell your subscribers what content is in store for them and intrigue them further. Here is an example:
To create maximum impact, mention the topic in your subject followed by some detail in your preview text but leave room for curiosity. If you’re promoting a sale, for example, here is a good pairing:
Keep your subject line length up to 40-50 characters and your preview text between 40-130 characters. Be careful to not to add click-bait subjects and preview text in an attempt to increase open rates. Misleading your audience violates the anti-spam requirements set out by US law and also makes it likely for your audience to report your email as spam.
Make your emails eye-catching
You might succeed in getting your subscribers to open your emails with clever subject lines but making them stay interested in your email is another challenge. Keep your email bounce rates low by adding captivating visuals to your emails that makes people want to read your beautiful email.
Avoid “spammy” language
Avoid language that might be considered “spammy” in your email. Words like “free” and “urgent” are likely to be considered spam by email services and can send you to the less-noticed promotions tab or much worse, to the spam folder.
Build a clean list
If you’ve been collecting email addresses for a while, it is likely that some people who agreed to receive your emails at one time no longer wish to receive them. You need to make it easy for such people to unsubscribe to comply with anti-spam laws. Of course you don’t want people to leave your list but it helps you to make your list even more targeted and helps you avoid spam reports.
PosterMyWall takes care of this for you by adding an unsubscribe link to all your email campaigns and automatically taking care of requests from your recipients to opt out of your campaigns.
Make your content valuable
If you provide valuable content to your subscribers in your emails, there is no reason they would want to unsubscribe and your open rates will increase automatically because people will begin to expect good content from you. Make sure that your email is relevant to your mailing list and either provides interesting and entertaining content or helps your subscribers solve a problem that they are facing.
It helps to plan your email schedule in advance so you can share relevant and timely content. For example, prepare a New Year email in advance so you can send it to your mailing list right on time without any delays.
Check out this article or the videos below to learn more about creating and publishing your email campaign.