Email marketing campaigns are a terrific way to reach prospects and secure qualified leads. However, we know the educators you want to reach receive hundreds of emails every day – even more during prime times in the academic calendar like back to school and the spring buying cycle. How can you be sure that your company’s emails get opened and converted into new relationships and sales? Here are six tips for creating content that gets your emails opened, read, and acted on:
- Write a Winning Subject Line. It’s the first thing a reader sees and a compelling subject line will help ensure that your email gets opened so the reader doesn’t click the dreaded “X” and delete your communication. Keep it short (5-7 words) and catchy, but also be sure that it communicates by either addressing a need, talking about an issue, or making an announcement.
- Create Pithy Preview Text. Your email has survived immediate deletion and now the recipient is looking at the preview text. A thoughtful approach to writing that short sentence or two is key to having prospects read the rest of your email and take action.
- Customize Your Copy. Write for your audience. Develop personas for the customers you want to reach and then write email copy that speaks directly to them. Also, remember to segment your email marketing lists so that you can target your communications to specific audiences. A principal at a rural school might have completely different pain points and needs than an administrator in an urban district.
- Keep It Short and Sweet. Get to the point! Everyone is busy these days and no one more so than educators. While the language in your email marketing campaign needs to be interesting and address your prospects needs, it also needs to be short enough that the recipient quickly understands what you want to communicate and moves on to the next step.
- Make the Action Obvious. Make the call to action clear and noticeable. “To learn more, click here.” Be sure links are easy to see and provide the recipient with a road map to more information, a free trial, webinar registration, or whatever your offer is for that campaign.
- Be Smartphone Savvy. Make it mobile ready! We’re all reading, doing email, and even working on our phones these days and educators are no different. Be sure your email content reads well on mobile devices when testing your campaign.
Bear in mind for a successful email marketing campaign, timing is everything. You can write the most effective copy, segment your lists and have a compelling call to action, but if you send the campaign at the wrong time, your open rate might be disappointing. MDR has the insights to help you determine the best timing for reaching out to your audience and developing email marketing campaigns that generate top-level results. We’re here to help at mdrinfo@dnb.com.
