Email doesn’t work anymore.
Do you agree with this statement? If yes, let me show you how important it is today and how to write an email that really converts. If no, this comprehensive guide will help you improve the email conversion rate at no cost.
Let’s start with a few numbers:
- Email is the top connection for 86% of professionals (HubSpot)
- Email is the most widely used tactic for customer engagement in Europe, North America, and APAC. 77.6% compared to 62% and 61% produced by content and social media respectively. At the same time, 37% of respondents claim email as the most effective method for customer loyalty and retention (only 13% mentioned websites and 11% named social media) (dotdigital)
- 47% of respondents mention email marketing as the most effective marketing channel (GetResponse)
- ⅕ of the emails are opened within the first delivery hour (GetResponse)
- Compared to social media, email is 40% better at converting (The Annuitas Group)
Is email dead? Hardly so.
The next step is to define what a conversion rate optimization is and why it is important to you as a professional.
Understanding the Conversion Rate Optimization
If you are new to email marketing, let’s first find out what an email conversion, conversion rate, and conversion rate optimization are.
Email conversion is a change of the recipient’s status to an upgraded one. For example, from a cold lead to a subscriber, from a subscriber to a free user, from a free user to a once-paying, and so on. So every time a person upgrades to a higher position, this is called a conversion.
The email conversion rate is the proportion of delivered emails to the conversions. The formula is as simple as ABC:
If you’ve sent 500 emails and only 20 of them converted people, the conversion rate is: 20/500*100%=4%. Fast and easy to calculate.
The email conversion rate depends on the goal. The more goals you have, the more conversion rates you will have to calculate.
As a professional, I have to give a few numbers and disclose info on what a good email conversion rate is. I’m sorry, but I cannot do that. The reason is not that I’m too lazy to find this data on the web, nothing of that kind. There’s no exact number on this issue.
Here’s the thing. At least, there are two niches, B2B and B2C, and the CR for them varies. There are dozens of email types, and their conversions are multiple. There are hundreds of industries, and their CR differs. There are thousands of campaigns and goals, and each of them is unique.
The conclusion about the good email conversion rate is a cliche, but the truth is: the good email conversion rate is the higher one than you have now.
The email conversion rate optimization is a combination of actions aimed to improve the email conversion rate. Its importance is obvious. If you aim at high sellings and growing revenue, you aim at high conversions.
How to Improve the Email Conversion Rate
The email conversion rate needs thorough studying. With a few years in email marketing, I’ve found that the email conversion rate depends on two factors. The human (the way people perceive your message) and technical details (that do not depend upon your recipients).
How to Write a Converting Email
The email conversion mainly depends on the way you write them. The subject lines, design, appropriateness, and many other details. Here’s a shortlist for you to check whether your email is attractive and converting.
Tip #1. Persuasive subject line
The first thing that catches your eye is the subject line. It defines further interaction with an email and whether your email is doomed to success.
- 32 characters are enough; stick to 6-10 words
- Think of whether emojis are appropriate. Note that they may cause low delivery and high spam complaint rates
- Reduce spam triggers to a minimum; use conversion words
- Ask questions, create a sense of urgency, use numbers, personalize the subject line
Tip #2. Pre-header
The pre-header goes right after the subject line and it gives the readers a brief overview of what your email is about. This is the next step that tells them whether the message is worth their attention or not.
- DO write it
- The pre-header limit is 40-130 characters
- Do not copy and paste the email subject line; continue its idea
- Engage people to open the email
Tip #3. Personalization
The personal approach is the king.
To not look like a spammer who sends emails right and left, reach out to every recipient in a personal way. The name is not enough, you need to go deeper: the company they represent, the content they share, their pain point, etc. The more details, the more personal and human-like you sound.
Tip #4. Email design
The email design matters. Using colors in emails is a science. To evoke a definite feeling or emotion, you can use different colors. When crafting an email, you turn into a designer. How awesome is that?
- Don’t go over the limit of three colors
- Use corporate colors
- Implement one-column layout
- Insert many white spaces
Tip #5. Appropriate content
Two things demand mentioning.
Do not send people what they do not need. Otherwise, you are not a professional email marketer, you are a spammer.
And the second point. Share the content that aligns with the stages of the customer lifecycle. How can you re-engage someone who has just subscribed? That’s the thing.
Tip #6. Visuals
People love visuals and respond to them better. With pics and videos, you can engage and grab the attention of your subscribers and clients. On the other hand, they may have a negative impact on both the tech filters and people. To be on the safe side:
- Keep the ratio of pics to text 20-to-80
- Reduce the files’ size to make the email fast-to-download
- Use gifs and cinemagraphs if videos are too heavy
Tip #7. Bright CTA
A high open rate is great. Yet, you are searching for high conversions. To improve the email conversion rate, you need an outstanding CTA, call-to-action.
To design it, use the color that contradicts with the email background. Use a link to a purchase page or the one you need; no one will spend time redirecting from one page to another. Make the CTA short and super-fast-to-read.
Email Conversion Rate Improvement: Technical Details
You can compose the best converting email, but you may still not achieve the desired result. This could be due to not only the email content but a few tech details.
Tip #1. You are sending too many and/or shortened links
Links always have a negative impact on emails. They trigger spam filters. If your email doesn’t reach the inbox, there’s no way that the conversion will happen.
To track the links, the tracking tool covers your link with its own one. So the link doesn’t look as it is. People may get confused about it and guess it’s spam or a virus. Moreover, you may want to shorten links that influence the email deliverability and recipients negatively too.
Solution: One link per email. No shortened links.
Tip #2. The emails you send are overloaded
Attachments. These files help you disclose more info on an issue but they compromise either. They make your message heavier. Moreover, HTML-emails professionals love are heavy too. These two things can lead your emails to the spam folder.
Spam folder = zero conversion.
Solution: Avoid files within your emails, send links instead. Give preference to plain-text emails.
Tip #3. You are reaching out too rare or too often
Did you know that 48.5% of email recipients report spam if they are emailed too often? At the same time, 43.9% of respondents state that they would love to get fewer emails. Here’s what the stats show:
You can read dozens of reports and studies (as I did), but be not on time. Most researchers agree that the best time to send emails is from Tuesday to Friday in the working hours. The keyword is most. Not all. It depends on your niche, industry, target audience, and a few more details.
Solution: Research. Communicate with your audience to know how often and when exactly they need your emails.
Tip #4. No A/B tests
There’s only one link in your email, you’ve found the best time and frequency for emails. But the email conversion rate is still not as high as you expected. What’s wrong with it? As you know, the issue may be with the subject line, colors, length, CTA, or anything else.
Solution: Conduct A/B and split tests to find what doesn’t work in your emails. Draw a hypothesis, create emails for the test, and… Test them out!
Tip #5. Your emails are not optimized for mobiles
User-friendly interface and usability. Over ¾ of people check their mailbox on mobile devices. Do you realize how many potential clients you may lose if your email design slips on mobiles or loads for too long? No one will wait for an email to load or re-open it on their PC.
Solution: The email mobile-optimization is a must-have for a professional like you.
Tip #6. You are not aware of the email campaign stats
How many emails do you send? How many people open them? How many recipients convert? These and a few other metrics are vital to you. When reaching out to people by means of emails, it’s of the highest importance to follow the campaign statistics.
Solution: Choose an automation tool, like email drip campaigns, that allows you to get the fullest insight into the email campaign performance.
Convert to the Fullest
With a clear understanding of what the email conversion rate optimization is, it gets easy to realize why you need to work on it. With a clear understanding of why you need to optimize your emails, it gets easier to craft an email that will grow the conversion rate. With an easy-to-follow list of tips and solutions, it gets super-easy to compose a converting email.
Ready to boost email conversions? Just do it!
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