If you have newsletters (or eBlasts) that are not converting raise your hand. If your hand is still raised, you must keep reading. This blog is specially for you to help you turn your email list into converting customers.

The littlest things can help. From the subject line to what images you show, it really can make the difference between someone immediately deleting your email to becoming engaged in your content. Therefore, the experts at Face Media Company are here to help assist you with a higher conversion rate. We are here to share some of our secrets, so you can turn readers into buyers.

Personalize it

Our first tip is to personalize your message. What does this mean? Add their name. People are much more likely to open an email if their name is in the header. You can also enter their name in the first part of the email. For example, add hello (name), and then continue with the email.

More email marketing systems will have this feature that will automatically place the users name when you insert a specific code. For example, with MailChimp, a Free (up to 2,000 subscribers) and popular emailing tool, you simply write *|FNAME|* and it will automatically place the readers name. This will increase the amount of people that are opening the emails.

Side note: Never send bulk emails from your own personal or work email account. You should always use a third-party company such as MailChimp, Constant Contact or other providers.

Add a graphic

People are of course visual. This means that correctly sized graphics are so important within the email. With that said, you don’t want too many graphics, or it can end up being flagged as spam if the reader has Gmail. Try and have at least a header. This helps to make the email look nice and put together. If you are having a call-to-action at the end and have an online store, make sure you add pictures of a deal you have going on or merchandise in general to help people see what they should purchase.

Clickable stuff

One of the best ways to track your emails is to watch your click through rate. The way you do this is to be sure to have that call-to-action clickable such as “learn more”, “buy now” or whatever your call-to-action button is. Then watch the interest for that product. Any images you have within your newsletter should be clickable, as well as any headers with your branding (e.g. logo) or virtually anything that could be clickable should be clickable.

No reply

Why do companies use noreply@theirdomainname.com? That’s because when you have a large list and you have the email going to a live email address you may get bombarded with vacation, away or other replies once your email is being sent. To curb this and reduce the large emails that will be sent back to you, create an email address that accepts these emails. Your newsletter, eBlast or whatever you call it experience will be much easier to manage.

Include great content, but not too much

You have probably heard of the term “content is king”. It is true for every part of your marketing efforts, including email marketing. If you don’t have great content written for within the email, people are much more likely to click off the email and either unsubscribe or not want to click on the email again in the future. Firstly, make sure there are no typos throughout the content. You can use a site like Grammarly to ensure your commas are where they are supposed to be. Secondly, it will ensure your business sounds educated about the subject. The way content is written either draws readers in to continue reading or has them clicking the back button quickly, always ensure your email marketing campaign is the first one not the later.

Too much content on the other hand doesn’t give you access to get them back to your website so end your message in a way that leads readers back to your website, then have that call-to-action to bring them in.

You’ll also see this technique with news articles online. You get what they feel is important and you can choose to read further by clicking the headline, graphic or button.

Let’s talk terminology…

Subject line

The subject line is like your first reaction for someone to determine if what you have to say is important to them. It’s what the reader will see first and make their decision in that moment if they want to open the email or not. This is when you can add a reader’s name in. Try and make it entice so the reader wants to find out more about the subject and that it is not just another sales email in their inbox.

5 great ways to make the reader think and to catch their attention are to:

• Make them curious
• Mention that your customers may miss out on some type of opportunity
• Personalize it
• Use a percentage fact

Preheader text

The preheader text is a summary that is short-and-sweet that is right after the primary subject line. This is a great opportunity to catch the readers attention even more and you can do that in many ways.

The preheader text typically is overlooked, however it will help people to read more and catch their attention more. The goal of the preheader text is to ensure people keep reading and read the entire email. You may want to start the preheader text with a quick sentence that sparks their curiosity. If you leave it blank, it will automatically populate to the first part of your email which will not catch readers attention nearly as much such as a company’s address, phone number, slogan or anything else that may be in the header.

Timing

Timing is everything. If you have been sending out emails for a while, you can go back through and see the analytics on what time of the day and which day of the week they are getting the most opens. What works for one business and their target market may be completely different to another business. This will also help to know where your target audience is located for their time zone. Always think about the timing of your email marketing campaign when sending out your message, it really will make a huge difference.

A few questions to consider here would be:

• Once my email is sent what time do people open it?
• What day do people typically purchase more?
• What day, or time of day do you receive more conversions such as a contact for quote form submission?

Most third-party subscriptions will offer you this analytical information once you’ve sent your email to your list.

Email lists

This part is short, but if you have an offer or a service in a area and have the opportunity to break apart your list you may want to consider it. Do you have a service that your users ask for through a quote form or contact form submission? Use it. Send specific and more targeted emails to those users.

Finish with a Call-to-Action

There are a lot of parts that go into your newsletter but at the end of the day, your email should have a goal. You want to convert those readers into customers. Whether you have a sale going on, a promotion, an upcoming event, the list can go on and on, but just make sure there is a call-to-action at the end of your email and tell readers about it. Make a quick hyperlink so it is easy for them to click on whichever website you want them to read to next. Make the link easy to both find and read. This will ultimately get you the business you are looking for.

As you can see, there are many parts to an email marketing campaign. If you are putting in the work of creating the email, you want the most amount of people to see it as possible. These tips will help to ensure that.