44 unread emails in my inbox… after the holidays, I found my mailbox almost as full as my stomach after Christmas lunch.
How many of these emails will I read? And how many will I delete without even opening them?
More emails are sent every day than there are people in the world. Email and, by extension, the newsletter have become one of the most powerful digital marketing tools. Their interactivity, flexibility and low cost make them a perfect channel for communicating with our customers and/or prospects.
Once we’re clear on what we want to communicate (strategy: branding, acquisition or loyalty), to whom (database) and how (planning: segmentation, personalization, send frequency, etc.), we must make sure our message is effective. To do so, we not only need a good open rate, but also need to produce the “desired effect” in the recipient. Our best ally for that is design.
«The ultimate goal of all commercial communication is not only for the recipient to receive the message “technically”, but for it to have an expected, positive impact that drives them to act»To design the different elements of an email well, we first need to understand the general process our email will go through.
1) The newsletter reaches the recipient’s inbox, provided the email address is valid, it gets past any (spam) filters and there’s no technical issue preventing delivery. We need to make sure the recipient sees the email and reads our subject line.
2) The recipient has seen and read our subject line. We need to grab their attention so they open the email and view its content.
3) If our strategy is branding, the process would end with the previous step. However, if our strategy is acquisition or loyalty, we must offer engaging content so the recipient takes action: usually clicking a link that takes them to the desired site.
4) Finally, if our mailing campaign’s ultimate goal is to get a “lead” (whether a sale or a subscription), we’ll seek a response from the user to our newsletter.
«When designing an email, we must keep in mind that it should be conceived to make it all the way through the process, not fall by the wayside»
If we want to create an effective newsletter, we need to know the different elements of an email and how each one affects every step of the newsletter journey, so we can optimize the “impact” of each.
What elements make up an email?
• The Sender: usually an email address that tells the recipient who sent the message. It’s the first thing they read and therefore the first filter recipients apply when deciding whether to keep reading, delete, archive or postpone it.
Tip 1: Make your email account instantly recognizable to the recipient and/or trustworthy.
• The Subject: an explanation or summary of the content (in a newspaper, it would be the headline). Once past the sender barrier, we need to spark the user’s interest so they open the message.
Tip 2: Write short subject lines with the most appealing information up front to grab the user’s attention as soon as possible. If you can, personalize them (with the recipient’s name) and use attention-grabbing elements such as:
• Questions that spark interest: Want to know how companies are searching for you?
• Offer a gift, a freebie or a discount: Get a free iPhone!
• Share valuable and/or useful information: Did you know some fruits contain anti-aging compounds?
• Present breaking news: Marc Márquez has just won his second world title.
• Set a very short deadline or signal scarcity: Today only! Last spots!
• Use the “magic words”: exclusive, urgent and free
• Congratulate or send good wishes: Have a great vacation, Happy birthday
• Message Body: the main part of the content and the core of the communication, unless there are attachments. Even if the recipient opens the newsletter, we still have to beat the dreaded “skim read”: the reader takes a first glance to decide whether to keep reading or discard the email for good.
Tip 3: Design the message body with the clear goal of prompting action. Make newsletters attractive and eye-catching (play with colors), fast-loading so readers don’t lose interest, and make it easy to reach the site where you want to take the user.
• Footer or signature: the sender’s signature and legal text. It sits outside the commercial message and has no advertising purpose. It’s one of the most neglected parts of emails. Be smart and make the most of it.
Tip 4: Add links to your main website, blog, partner sites, trust seals and social profiles.
Every user receives lots of emails every day. Many we never asked for and they don’t interest us at all. Many others are of little interest at first glance and we’ll only open them in certain circumstances. Finally, there are the emails we are interested in: we open and read them right away. We hope this post helps you remove the unread label from your newsletter in people’s inboxes.
