Effective email marketing in practice – where to start?
How often do you receive emails with advertisements? How many do you even open, and how many do you immediately toss into the trash without even looking? Even if you're a professional marketer and have often ignored a message that arrived.
The reality is harsh. Research shows that on average, three out of four advertising emails are deleted without being read. Yes, even those you sweated over. However, you can do a few things to increase your chances of reaching your customer. One key factor is the length of your message. Fortunately, effective emailing isn't a black art!
Email marketing—which you can also launch through marketing automation platforms like Hubspot—is one of the foundations of online customer communication. It serves not only to maintain contact with current customers but also to acquire new leads.
It's also a useful tool for remarketing. Therefore, even knowing how high a percentage of emails are ignored by recipients, it's impossible to ignore this tool.
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Effective mailing – what makes it so?
However, if you want to be effective, you need to know how to write sales emails so that they reach your target audience.
A study conducted by Boomerang suggests several key elements to pay attention to. Experts analyzed over 40 million sales emails and determined what statistically increased the likelihood of:
- will be opened at all,
- the recipient "finely" to the end of the content,
- the recipient will take the desired action – e.g. click on a link or provide a response.
What are the conclusions? In short, the implications are:
- emotional tone of the email – those “loaded” with emotions, positive or negative, brought a 15% higher probability of reaction (but be careful! You can’t overdo it with emotions – too much “sweetening” will bring the opposite result to what you expect),
- the style in which the email was written – the higher the level of “complexity” of the content, the lower its readability and, consequently, the lower the conversion rate,
- message length.
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What is the ideal length for an advertising email?
An email shouldn't be too short or too long. Valuable advice, isn't it? 🙂 But what exactly does finding this "golden mean"? The aforementioned research shows that emails containing 50 to 125 words are most likely to be read – they generated a 50% response rate.
Remember, however, that this result applies to content written in English. Translating this to the realities of our native language (where we use short prepositions less frequently and lack single-letter articles), effective content should contain approximately 60-140 words.
On the other hand, Constant Contact research shows that the highest click-through rate (CTR) is achieved by emails containing approximately 20 lines of text, which in English translates to approximately 200 words.
What conclusion can we draw from this? That:
- the email should be short and specific rather than long and verbose,
- its content should not exceed approximately 200 words.
Simple language and a clear message – how to write so that your client understands you?
While email length is crucial, it's not the only consideration you should make to ensure your message reaches its intended recipient. Also remember to:
Simple and clear messages
Your email should have a high readability index, meaning it should be understandable, more or less, by a final-grade elementary school student. And what determines the readability index? From:
- the degree of complexity of sentences – the more complex they are and the more components they have, the more work the reader has to put into "assimilating" them,
- the degree of complexity of words – words with 4 or more syllables are considered more difficult in Polish.
So, follow the rule: the simpler, the better. This way, you'll reach your recipient more effectively, who—if they do decide to open your email—will likely "scan" it rather than carefully read every word.
Always include a question
It can appear at the beginning or end of the content. Let it inspire and stimulate thought, while also encouraging interaction. But be careful! Don't overdo it. Research shows that each email should include one to a maximum of three questions. So, once again, we're back to the "golden mean."
Prepare a short and concise subject line
Apparently, 3-4-word ones work best. However, the "catchiness" of the subject line also matters – that is, how much it piques the recipient's interest. So, how do you "entice" the recipient to click?
Don't overestimate the value of graphics
A good graphic layout for a sales email is, yes, important. But if you overdo it with the imagery and it overshadows the content, don't expect a high click-through rate.
Personalize your message
The recipient should feel that you're addressing them specifically. It wouldn't hurt to use their name in the content or even adapt your address to the reader's gender.
From theory to practice – how to turn long sentences into specific messages?
Finally, a few practical tips that will help you work on the length and content of the emails you send.
- Check the text's readability factor – For your email to be effective, be sure to… read it before sending. Shorten sentences that are only suitable for this purpose. Correct typos, use shorter words, and more direct phrases – for example, instead of "worth checking out," simply use the words "check."
- Always close the email with a request to the recipient – it doesn't necessarily have to be an incentive to click. It all depends on the purpose of the message and its content. For example, if the email directs the recipient to send a short response – so that, for example, an advisor can call them back with a specific offer – include this request at the very end of the email. Build the preceding content around this request to create the appropriate context.
- Don't waste words conveying irrelevant information – you only have a few dozen of them to use. And since that's the case, skip the polite phrases like "Dear Sir" or, oh my god, "Hello" and get straight to the point. Do it creatively.
For example: "I noticed that you've been looking for information about..." or, for example, if you're writing an email for a travel agency, "Where are you going on vacation this year?" Personally, I always start my email with the classic "Good morning," but your target audience might respond better to a quick cut to the chase. - Remove unnecessary water leaks Many people tend to overcomplicate sentences, perhaps to soften the message and create a more positive impression. The point is that your message should be clear, concise, and specific. Therefore, before sending your email out into the world, look at it critically and consider whether the same thing could be said more concisely and with more impact.
This is essentially a repetition of point 1, but it's crucial, so it's worth repeating. For example, instead of writing, "I think it would be a good idea for us to analyze your needs and develop optimal solutions during our next meeting," write, "Let's meet as soon as possible to discuss how we can help you."
Developing effective email communication takes time. However, if you work at it using the tips above, you'll gradually increase your effectiveness and start seeing results.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- Despite the low message open rate, email marketing remains a key tool for communication and customer acquisition, and its effectiveness can be increased, among other things, by appropriate content length.
- Effective mailing is based on appropriate emotional impact, simple style and optimal content length, as confirmed by research on millions of sales messages.
- The ideal length for an advertising email is specific content of 60 to a maximum of 200 words, which ensures the highest click-through rate and responsiveness from recipients.
- To effectively reach your audience, write simple and personalized messages with a catchy subject line, a maximum of three questions, and a moderate amount of graphics.
- An effective email should be specific and direct, which you can achieve by shortening sentences, eliminating unnecessary pleasantries, and ending the content with a clear call to action.
