With the information overload people are faced with every day, it’s no surprise companies need to get a bit more creative for their message to be heard.  On just one of my email accounts I literally have 10,000+ unread emails, and that’s because I just can’t keep up with the amount coming in.  I’m sure most people have a similar inbox, and that just shows how important it is for companies to stand out from the flood of emails their customers are getting every day.  But don’t worry I’ve come up with 5 tips to help make your email campaigns standout!

Who is the email targeted at?

The first step is understanding which audience you are sending your email to. Is this email aimed at potential leads or existing customers?  You need to know who the audience of your email is before you can start creating your email. Understanding the audience helps tailor your messaging to meet their specific needs.  This will help not only the open rate, but will also increase the amount of people who actually click through to items in your email.  If your email is sending to a new list of customers this could also determine whether or not, they unsubscribe from future sends.

Pull them in with a catchy, unique subject line

Don’t be afraid to get creative.  That teaser with just enough information helps drive people to click in and see what you have to talk about. You probably won’t get too many people clicking on an email with a subject like “September Newsletter,” but if you jazz that up a bit to “The 5 SEO Tips you need to know about” that prompts more engagement from your audience. Remember, your subject line is the first thing your audience sees when they scroll through their inbox, so you want something that’s unique, creative and pops out at them.

Keep the branding consistent

This may seem like an obvious thing to consider, but it’s important your branding shines through in your email marketing campaigns. Of course the body of your email is going to change based on the messaging, but keep the header and footer consistent.   Keep certain elements the same, so when your customers open the email they immediately recognize your brand.

And of course the email design and layout

This is going to be unique to your brand, and it’s going to be a crucial piece in capturing the attention of your audience and pushing them to engage with your email.  A great visual, even if it’s simple can help draw your customers and audience in better than a page of text.  Make sure to add in some color to help the email pop and also draw attention to important pieces of information you want people to see.

Another important part of the layout and design is which platforms you want people to be able to view your email on.  Some platforms automatically adjust your email to fit the various devices people may be viewing it on, but others don’t. So, you need to test and make sure your email layout fits the device your audience is most likely to view it on.

An example of a template we created to send to our monthly subscribers. We change it up each month with new body content, but keep the overall branded layout the same.

Don’t be afraid to do some A/B Testing

Testing the performance of your emails is going to help determine what works best for your business.  This is where you fine-tune the process you have for creating and implementing them.  You have tips to get you started, but you still need to find the perfect pairing of all those factors for your business. Most email marketing services offer and option for A/B testing.  So, you can test the open rate of various subject lines, the time sent, or even the actual layout of your messaging.  This will help you determine what your audience really wants.

I hope you enjoy implementing these email marketing tips and feel free to contact our team if you still have some questions!