How to send engaging emails to increase opens, clicks & conversions
With the rapidly rising number of people connected to the internet everyday – and, with this, email users – marketers have embraced email marketing as an essential tool to reach out to potential customers. However, only a few of those email campaigns are successful enough to grab people’s attention. In other words, there’s a decent chance that your emails are getting lost in the mix or simply ignored. In this article, we’ll review some real-world pro tips to make your emails stand out in the crowd so that you can begin to send engaging emails that will allow you to build a solid subscriber list.
The importance of email marketing
The power of email marketing is not up for debate. It is still without a doubt one of the most effective ways of communicating on the internet. Even though that’s the case, let’s take a look at some numbers to illustrate the scale of effectiveness. Based on a study run by Radicati, more than 3.9 billion people use email, a number that is expected to grow to over 4.3 billion by the end of 2023. This is over half of the world population we are talking about. Another study by CMI suggests that 87% of marketers use email campaigns to nurture their audiences.
Now let’s review some of the best and proven tips to craft and send better engaging emails and then discover how you can easily create email campaigns using Growmatik.
Use a powerful subject line
The first step in sending engaging emails is writing an attention-grabbing subject line. The subject line is like the first impression and the only way you can convince your audience to open your email. Here is a checklist to help you get started:
Be straightforward and honest
Make your subject line highly relevant to the information inside the email. Don’t ever try to mislead your readers about the content of the email.
Keep it short
Keep in mind that around 40% of emails are first opened on mobile devices, where the subject line is limited to just four to seven words.
Use your sense of humor
One thing that gets people’s attention is humor. Use it to your advantage. Try to use smart puns or make jokes that are related to your industry to make your readers feel like they’re part of the in-the-know circle.
Ask a question
Questions generate curiosity, no matter if they are amusing or serious. Just keep in mind that your questions must be timely and relevant to your reader. One that they might be seeking answers to.
Create a sense of urgency
Yes! The all-time famous marketing strategy comes in handy here too. Use “FOMO” (fear of missing out) to your advantage. Your subjects must create this sense of urgency, whether it is an unbelievable sale or an awesome article or webinar.
Get personal
This is probably the most important advice. Add your reader’s name to the subject line if you can, and you’ll definitely get more people to open that email of yours.
Use emojis
Based on Swiftpage, emails with emojis in their subject line had a 29% increase in their open rate and a 28% increase in the click-through rate. But just like everything else, be careful not to over-do it.
Once you’ve taken all these tips into account and come up with the ideal subject line, then all you need to do is simply write it down on Growmatik’s email subject line. After you’ve opened the email editor, find the subject line on the top right corner of the editor, and click on Edit. Write your desired topic and confirm.
Value-driven emails work best
Now that we have a good subject line to begin sending engaging emails, let’s dive into the actual content of the email. The first thing to consider is the value you hope to bring your subscribers. Think of the real value you can offer in your email. This should be something that is relevant to your readers. It could be something exclusively valuable like free e-books, discounts or coupons. Or it could be a piece of valuable information like a tutorial or walk-through or some mind-blowing statistics about the industry that is also relevant to the reader. It could be even emotionally valuable content such as an inspirational video or some entertaining content. As long as you are trying to provide something really useful to your audience, it’s guaranteed to be opened, read and even forwarded and shared with their friends.
Make it personalized
What is the biggest pushback for an audience when they are being marketed to? The feeling that they are being marketed to. How to avoid it? Simple. Get personal and be authentic. That is of course not as easy as it sounds, but it is quite rewarding. Here are some tips to get you started:
Address customers by their names
Add your customer’s name to the beginning of your email or newsletter to send engaging emails. This is by far one of the most effective ways to grab people’s attention. In Growmatik, this is done quite easily using dynamic tags when you are building an email template. In the email editor environment, just pick the text element, place your mouse cursor where you want to address your customer and click on the Dynamic tags button. It opens a menu. Choose the first name. That’s it. Now wherever receives this email will see their name on it.
Personalized newsletters
All of us still receive a bunch of newsletters which we happily ignore or they end up in the spam folder. The main reason perhaps is not that we are busy. It is because we hate irrelevant information, and we even find it insulting. That is blind marketing and it’s not effective. What if you could send your customers the information they need or strive for? All this is entirely possible with Growmatik. It allows you to segment your audience based on their interests and behaviors. Then you can send highly targeted emails containing the products or articles they might be interested in and ultimately, avoid the spam folder.
One easy way is to open the email builder environment and use the product element and then choose Related from the options panel. This will list down the product user might be interested in. You can do the same thing in the blog element too.
Personalize your cart abandonment emails
Abandoned cart reminder emails are a great way to increase sales but you can boost it up with more personalization. In Growmatik, go to the automate section, and create new automation by clicking on the plus button, then set the condition to User behavior > Abandoned cart. Finally, set the action to Send Email. Once the email builder opens, use your creativity to style it, and don’t forget to add the customer’s name using the Dynamic tags option which was explained in the previous section.
Occasional emails
Occasional emails are usually sent on specific calendar occasions. For example, sending a promotional email on Black Friday or simply a friendly Happy Christmas email. These emails – which are highly relevant to the time of the year and holidays – are a great way to solidify your relationship with your subscribers or drive direct conversions.
Make sure to personalize the email content based on the goal you have in mind. After all, nobody is really interested in a public announcement congratulating Christmas to all! Here is a good example of a personalized email scheduled to be sent on Thanksgiving from Good eggs.
With Growmatik, you can create fully automated occasional emails. Here is how: just head over to the Automate page and create a new rule by clicking the plus icon. As a condition, select the Date > Specific date. Choose a date and save. As an action, select Send email and customize the email in the email builder. Make sure to personalize it using Dynamic tags.
Welcome emails
These targeted emails are among the most successful marketing campaigns. According to Entrepreneur, welcome emails will likely get 320% more revenue than promotional emails. It doesn’t end there though. There is a 86% improvement in unique open rate and a 196% improvement in unique click rate as well.
Welcoming new customers onboard will also strengthen your relationship with your customers because you are sending highly relevant content at the right time when they are psychologically ready. What you write in welcome emails totally depends on your business type and customers. It can be a simple greeting with some helpful links to your website, a step-by-step onboarding tutorial. Or if you’re running an e-commerce website, you can welcome customers with a list of products that are related to their last purchase. You can also incorporate a discount coupon as an incentive for their next order. Here is a good example from SAXX:
No matter what your scenario is, you can create and send these emails with Growmatik. The process is quite simple. First, go to the Automate page, click on the plus icon, and create a new rule. As a condition, select User behavior > Orders placed and set the number of orders to 1. This means you are targeting those customers who have placed only one order on your website. Save it and set Send email as an action. Once the email builder is open, start creating the content based on your goal. Make sure to use Dynamic tags > First Name to make your email look more personalized and intimate.
If you’re selling multiple products, you can take personalization one step further by introducing products related to your customer’s recent purchase. Use products element for this purpose. Then click on the gear icon to open its option panel. Select the Related option. Make sure to check mark the Products related to last purchase option. You can then increase the number of products you want to display as related.
You can also send welcome emails to your new subscribers if you’re running a blog. The process of creating it in Growmatik is the same as explained above. However, in this case, choose User behavior > Sign up as a condition and Blogs element instead of Product element. In the Blog element option, you can choose between recent, most popular or related blogs to display to your new subscribers. As a result, your new subscribers will be welcomed and introduced to some of your blog posts related to their interest. Here’s an example by Mashable:
Follow up emails to inactive users
You have worked a lot to grow an email list and collect subscribers or leads – but some of them don’t interact with you anymore. Yes, this is an industry-wide problem. According to Loren McDonald, 10% to 25% of subscribers disengage from email campaigns every year. Most companies consider these inactive subscribers gone for good. And that’s exactly where they miss a huge opportunity. In fact, as the book Marketing Metrics suggests, businesses have a 60% to 70% chance of selling to an existing customer while the probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5% to 20%. These are big numbers, meaning that your efforts to win back those inactive customers can pay off big time. Here are some helpful tips to remember when starting an email re-engagement campaign.
Segment your inactive subscribers
Everything starts from identifying your inactive customers or subscribers first. This can be simply done with Growmatik. Go to the Automate page, and, depending on what user type – lead or customer – you want to address, click on the plus icon to create a new rule. Choose User behavior > Away and set a time period of inactiveness. For Action, choose Send email and start creating the content of your follow-up email.
Personalize your re-engagement email
Once the email builder is open, start by saying hi to the user. Just insert a new text element on the top of the email and put the cursor in the right place. Use Dynamic tags and select First name. There are other ways to make your emails feel personalized too, such as adding products and articles related to the user’s interests. Also, remember to add an emotional message in your email to let them know that you miss them and want them back. Use this message in your email subject line too.
Offer discounts coupons
A good old way to attract people’s attention is by giving discounts. So if you are running an e-commerce store, think if this is possible for you business wise. In Growmatik’s email builder, insert the Coupon element. Set its associated options and done. Check out this example by Skillshare:
Remind them why they signed up
Sometimes, your emails are lost in the influx of emails your audience receives everyday. They are unintentionally ignored and your name and business ultimately forgotten. So it is a good idea to remind people of who you are and why they chose you to subscribe to. Grammarly does this pretty smoothly.
Let them know what they have missed
Again, that old precious marketing tactic is playing a major role here. The FOMO. Fear of missing out. Use it to your advantage. Just be creative about it and think of what progress you have made during their absence that could be of any interest to your reader’s attention. Check out this win-back email from Unsplash to see how neatly it accomplishes the mission:
Show them what’s new
People are always fond of new things. By shouting out about the changes you have made recently, you’re not only introducing the new features or new updates but also reminding people of your brand. That you are in business and you are actively working to make your brand better. This makes people once again curious to come and check on you. See if they can give you a try to help them with their needs. So be creative and craft a nice message with the latest news about your brand. This email from Unsplash depicts the showdown pretty perfectly.
Ask them if they still want to be in the circle
This step can be taken when you have done all you could to win back your inactive subscribers. A chance to leave. You may lose a number of subscribers – but why does it matter when they are already inactive? Instead, there is still a chance to turn some of your inactive subscribers into active ones by letting them think again whether they still want to be in or out. You can also take this as an opportunity to collect some valuable feedback on why they are leaving so that you can improve your future emails. Just make sure to incorporate an offboarding feedback form when users opt-out. Some people may ignore this form and just leave, but some may give you a chance by telling what was the reason they are leaving. Analyze the results and see if you can make improvements in your product or emails.
Shout out to your best audience
There are several ways to keep people in the circle through sending engaging emails. Motivating them by acknowledging and appreciating their presence is one of them. This is a very effective way of making your audience feel personal and solidify your relationship with them. Expressing gratitude shows your audience how much you care and appreciate their time and generosity. With Growmatik, you can send the automated “thank you” emails to your high-value and loyal customers or subscribers. Here are a few tips to get you started on your first “thank you” email in Growmatik.
Segment your loyal audience
Identifying your loyal and high-value audience is quite easy in Growmatik. If you’re selling items on your website, go to the Automate page and create a rule on Customers column and as a condition, choose User behavior > Orders placed and set a number larger than 1. It really depends on your business how many orders are considered to be of high value. Finally set Send email as an action and start crafting the content of your email.
If you’re running a blog, go to the Automate page and create a rule in the Leads column. As a condition, set User behavior > Time spent. Figure out how long of surfacing your website deserves to be appreciated and define a time length. Finally set Send email as the action and start creating content of your email.
Personalize the email and use a humanized language
Use an intimate and positive tone in your subject line and in the content of your email. Use Dynamic tags – as explained in previous sections of this article – to call people by their name. Just make it look like you are talking to them in person and show them sincere appreciation.
Offer discount coupons
To make your gratitude look even more satisfying, offer them a discount as a token of your appreciation. This can be easily done in Growmatik by using the Coupon element. Once you inserted the Coupon element in the body of email, select it and adjust the discount options by clicking on the gear icon on the top.
You can hit two birds with one stone. First, maintain a healthy and long-term relationship with your active customers, and, second, use this as an opportunity to make even more sales. Keep in mind that you can create a sense of urgency by setting an expiration date to your coupons and include that in your email content with big letters. Here is a good example of a “thank you” email from Bombas.
Offer a giveaway or free ebook
This is especially effective if you’re running a blog, but it can be used for e-commerce businesses as well. First, try to provide something that can be given away while it is highly relevant to what you do. It could be a t-shirt, a mug, an e-book or anything. Here is a good example by HermanMiller.
Keep it short
Make your emails as succinct as possible. Especially if you’re promoting an article or a video. After all, it is the click rate that matters when it comes to email marketing. So offer the juiciest tiny piece of information in your email to make the reader want to learn more by clicking on those clear call-to-action buttons.
This email from Google perfectly demonstrates the power of a short and specific message.
Just a glimpse of content to get the reader’s attention and a button to read more.
Create appealing email designs
Clear and creative email design is essential to customer engagement. Try to make the content of your email look interesting enough by incorporating relevant images with associated text blocks and eye-catching elements. Growmatik is equipped with a comprehensive WooCommerce email builder that is capable of customizing email templates to its finest bits. You have tools like image, text, social media icons, buttons, video, product items, blog items, coupons, and spacers to create engaging emails for any purpose.
Use videos to tell a story
We discussed how important it is to deliver value in your emails. One way to do this is to create emotional or entertaining content and share it in your email. Try to tell a story in your video that is relevant to your audience and business. There is a chance that your reader might share your video on social media and even forward the email to someone else.
But then you might be asking how you can insert your videos using Growmatik. Easy peasy. Once you’ve uploaded or shared your videos, copy the video URL. Back in the email builder environment, insert a new element by clicking on the plus button, and select Video. Click on the gear icon and paste the URL and click the Add button. That’s it!
Find what works for you
In this post, we’ve reviewed some of the most popular tips to create effective email marketing campaigns. However, you may need to adjust these methods depending on your industry and particular audience. Make sure to measure the performance of each campaign from time to time to see if there’s any room for improvement. In Growmatik, you can easily track your email marketing metrics by finding its associated rule in the Automate page. Then click on the rule to open the Edit rule window. Once the rule editor is open, click on the Report button on the right side to see performance metrics.
If you see your open and click through rates are not quite satisfying, it’s time to switch methods or make improvements. Make a change each time and see if the result is improving. For example, update your subject lines or adjust the number of emails you’re sending every month. Ultimately, get rid of campaigns that don’t work for you and embrace new strategies and content and repeat the cycle.
Have you ever used any of these strategies? Did they ever work? Which strategy do you recommend to create engaging emails and increase the efficiency of your email marketing campaigns? Write in the comments to let us know.