Top 20 Tips for Email Marketing in 2021
In addition to having the highest ROI of all marketing efforts as discussed over at runrex.com, email marketing offers businesses a chance to easily stay connected with their audiences and draw attention to their sites, products, and services. If you are not leveraging email marketing, then this is the time to start. To help you get the best results, here are the top 20 tips for email marketing in 2021.
Offer incentives to get people to sign up
Offering something in exchange for an email subscription is one of the most important tips when it comes to email marketing. As per guttulus.com, this can be any content as long as it has meaning. This means it can be a resource list, a short free course, several chapters of an eBook, a previously unpublished case study, and so forth. To get this exclusive content, all your reader has to do is enter their email address. This is a win-win situation as the reader will be pleased to have high-value content while you will be pleased to continue growing your email list.
Repurpose your old content
If you have an article that you wrote which went viral and amassed hundreds of views, shares, and comments, then can repurpose that content and base your next email newsletter around it as explained over at runrex.com. Repurposing old content is always worth doing given the upside, and you should consider this strategy for your email marketing in 2021.
Get your timing right
You might write the most captivating and engaging emails ever, but if no one reads them, then it’s of no benefit to you. This is why you should send your emails during the days and times that your audience is likely to read them. According to guttulus.com, while there is no particular time that can reliably yield excellent results all the time, studies have shown that sending them earlier in the day is better. Once you find a time of day that is perfect for you and gives you the best results, which should be preferably before lunch, make sure you are consistent with it so that your readers know when to expect your next update.
Automate
Most people are afraid of automating their email marketing endeavors because of the fear that the human aspect will be erased, but this is not something you should worry about. This is because you can still customize emails your way, and then let the email automation program set it up for you. The program will even send emails allowing you to take a much-needed computer break. There are lots of email automation programs out there for you to explore.
Show off your guest posts
If you have allowed someone to write guest posts on your blog, then chances are that you have posted on their websites as well. Here, instead of showing all of the guest articles on your blog where it is likely your audience will have seen them already, consider sharing your guest posts in your email newsletters.
Check your “From” field
Another small but powerful way to create trust with your readers is by checking your “from” field in your email. This, as captured over at runrex.com, shows where the emails you are sending are coming from and it can either be your business or your name. For the best results, change this so it shows that the emails are coming from a human (you), rather than a business, as this will build more trust as it is more personal.
Optimize your emails for mobile
As the gurus over at guttulus.com point out, mobile internet use is at an all-time high, and more people are accessing the internet, and reading emails, through mobile devices rather than desktops. This means that you have to make sure that your content, including emails, is optimized for mobile.
Leverage autoresponders
Another powerful email marketing tip is using autoresponders as covered over at runrex.com. You should create a collection of autoresponders for your audience in 2021 which can be sent out weekly or biweekly, containing all your content wrapped up nicely for them. Autoresponders are also useful if you have an offer with several pieces of content inside. Introducing your content like this gives people a reason to sign up as if you give away all your best materials on social media or your blog, there will be no reason for people to sign up for your email newsletter.
Add videos to your email
Having videos in your email has been shown to minimize subscription drops by 26% while also increasing CTRs by 65% as well as open rates by 19%. This is why 2021 should be the year when you incorporate videos into your emails. You can add videos to your newsletter content or make a short clip of recent content and share it with your email list.
Use email marketing apps
Email marketing has a lot of moving parts from writing emails and recording open and CTRs to managing addresses and so much more. Email marketing tools can help make your work and life a lot easier, something you should consider in 2021. Do your research and find the best email marketing app for your business.
Send welcome emails
According to guttulus.com, the welcome email is the most effective message you can send, with studies showing that these emails have an average open rate of above 80% as well as CTRs of around 22% to 25%. Additionally, these emails help keep your list clean and improve your email deliverability as if someone enters the wrong email address, the welcome email will generate a hard bounce, and you will be notified to remove the address from your list. Welcome emails also reassure your new email recipients that the signup worked and that the information they want is on its way.
Pick the right email frequency
Once you know the perfect time to send your emails as already discussed, it is important to then know how frequently you need to send them. While finding the right frequency can be tricky, research has shown that email marketers who send just one newsletter a week get the highest average open and click-through rates (CTRs) as discussed over at runrex.com.
Test your email subject lines
As per the experts over at guttulus.com, up to 50% of subscribers decide to open a message based on their subject line. This makes sense as, apart from those subscribers who open every email, your recipients will generally only see the sender name, subject line, and preheader before they decide to open or ignore your message. This means that you should craft effective email titles, taking your time and being creative when writing them. Test different subject lines and see which ones work best.
Use confirmed opt-in
Email list quality will always beat quantity which is why you should be using confirmed opt-in. This will mean that you will have to pay attention to the people joining your email list and how, which will boost your deliverability at the very least.
Make it easy for anyone to unsubscribe
While you aim to grow your email list, it is also important to understand that some of your readers may want to subscribe at some point for various reasons such as the fact that they may not need your services anymore having changed location, among others. If you make the unsubscribe process difficult, you are risking your emails being reported as spam, which will damage your campaigns. Make unsubscribing as easy as possible for your readers.
Test your emails before sending
As discussed over at runrex.com, it is important to test your email before hitting the send button for the best result. This ensures that you don’t end up sending emails with errors such as broken subject lines, images, or inaccurate personalization. Preview your emails to popular email clients and even send the message to yourself before sending it to your entire list.
Audit and update your communication regularly
While automating your email campaigns is something you should consider doing in 2021 as discussed earlier, the gurus over at guttulus.com point out that this doesn’t mean you take a “set and forget” approach. You should remember that what you put into your email communication isn’t always going to be evergreen, and your language, images, and so forth may become outdated or even feel insulting or opportunistic over time. Therefore, make auditing your automated email communication a standard procedure.
Design emails for accessibility
In 2021, you must ensure your marketing messages are accessible. With over 2.2 billion people living with some form of visual impairment, this is crucial for the success of your email marketing campaign, as odds are some of your subscribers have visual impairments as well. As discussed over at runrex.com, some of the ways to make your emails easier for people with visual impairments to access include adding ALT text to your images as well as adding a period after the image text and checking the image contrast ratio to improve readability.
Focus on the right metrics
You should make sure you know from the beginning what you want to achieve with your email marketing campaigns. Is it more opens or conversions? Setting the right objectives is key. Make sure you are also looking at the right KPIs. The right KPIs for you will depend on your goal. The email open rate is often considered a vanity metric. The CTR is more actionable, although it doesn’t tell you how much revenue your campaign generates. Therefore, you should learn about all the key email metrics and how to choose them to suit your objectives.
Inspire action
Finally, if you want to be successful in email marketing, you must get your subscribers to take action. Therefore, when designing your emails, make sure your recipients know what to do next. do you want them to register for a webinar, download an eBook, or share your story with their network? Whatever it is you want, ask for it with a clear and visible call-to-action (CTA).
These are some of the tips that will help you take your email marketing efforts to the next level in 2021, with more on this topic, including more tips and help with your campaigns to be found over at the highly-rated runrex.com and guttulus.com.