Using Email Marketing in the most effective way

Email Marketing may sound as a very old and not so successful method of marketing when compared to new age marketing methods like social media etc. Unfortunately this is not true. Email marketing is still the most preferred methods of Online Marketing as it speaks directly to the consumer, it reaches customers most personal and important area on the internet i.e. his E-Mail box, it is extremely cost effective and of course environmentally friendly. With over 144.8 Bn Emails are sent every day, it is foolish to consider E-Mail Marketing as an unimportant method of marketing. But with so many marketing emails reaching the inboxes, it is very tough to get your email read by the user, in fact it gets very crucial for the marketer to design or work on email marketing strategy so as to avoid the email getting it into spam. Lets discuss some of the important E-Mail Marketing Strategies that get the email actioned by the user.

Good E-Mail content would start from the subject line. Ensure that the subject line is Catchy, not too long. According to Adestra July 2012 report Subject lines lesser than 10 characters long had an open rate of 58%. Subject Line is the first touch point with the consumer in email marketing, it's very important to work around these 10-15 words, as according to convinceandconvert 35% of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone. Next part is the body of the E-Mail, the area that communicates the real message. Emails should be tidy, clutter free, well written supported with clear and acceptable imagery. Their should be for sure a way to call to action as that’s the whole purpose of sending out a Marketing Email. A freebie like a coupon or some free e-book or a guide also converts into a immediate call to action.

Personalization does help in building a relationship, but the moment that personalization has an error, it turns into an enemy. Addressing someone by name is extremely good to build a relationship with the consumer, but the marketer should be sure of the database before doing so. At times, some consumers also find this intrusive and may turn off the reader. The bottom line is personalization is good, but its better to build rapport slowly with the real information from the horse's mouth, which in turn will turn out to be a lasting relationship.

According to the study by Experian the time of the day that received the best email open rate was post 8:00 pm to midnight. In fact the average order was also highest in these time slots. The same report also researches for the day of the week and Weekends turned out to be days with a comparatively higher Email open rate compared to rest of the days.

According to Litmus September 2013 report, 47% of Emails are read online. It makes it very important to design the email to be read across all the user interfaces in the best format with no clutter. This also makes it important to make the content of the Email very crisp and direct.

It's extremely important to track and analyze the impact of the marketing email after it's sent out to the readers. The effectiveness will carve the way for the next campaign. Its very important to gauge on the factors like Open Rate, Click thru rate, percent delivered and more for the campaign and then formulating the strategy for the next sent out so that the results are better.