Be it driving traffic, generating leads, or improving SEO- landing pages are indispensable for all businesses out there. But have you ever wondered what separates high-converting landing pages from the rest? Why do certain pages spur you to action more effortlessly than others? Copy; it all lies in the copy. Writing effective landing page copy is a complex skill to master, but once you get the hang of it, converting visitors to leads becomes a breeze. In this blog, we are going to walk you through a host of different techniques that will let you exercise a firm grip over this craft. Sounds exciting? Well, dive in already!

Structure Your Content Neatly

Imagine opening a brand’s landing page only to be greeted by a seemingly ceaseless monolith of text. How quickly will you bounce from there? Therefore, deftly arranging your copy is extremely crucial for it makes your landing page more readable and easy to navigate. So, what can you do to improve the structure of your landing page copy?

• Clearly demarcate headings and subheadings: We know this sounds like pretty staple advice, but you’d be surprised to find out just how many businesses fail to implement this on their landing pages. When a visitor arrives at your landing page, rarely are they looking to read it in its entirety. Rather, they aim to find something that’s directly relevant to them at the moment. Having dedicated headings and subheadings for different content verticals on your landing page, thus, makes matters incredibly convenient for your visitors. 
• Use pictures: Irrespective of how gripping your landing page copy is, it will fail to attract the attention of visitors if it’s not interspersed with relevant and attractive visual aid. Brands are typically advised against making their landing pages text-only because it proves to be rather exhausting for visitors. On the other hand, when your copy is smartly punctuated with images, icons, illustrations, and other visual elements, its appeal enhances by leaps and bounds. Subsequently, such a landing page invites greater engagement, fetching you more conversions in the process.
• Use bullet points: Say your product or service has several alluring features, and you want to list them all out on your landing page (as you should). How do you go about it? Do you pile sentence upon sentence to construct one huge wall of a paragraph, or do you lay them down neatly using bullet points? Really is a no-brainer, isn’t it? 

Litmus’  landing page copy is an ideal illustration of what we discussed in the points above. 

Make The Copy Customer Focused

Whether you are writing landing page copy, social media copy or email copy, this piece of copywriting advice holds true for all occasions. Don’t just go off rambling about how virtuous your product is. It will instantly put off your customers. Instead, talk about how your offerings are relevant to your customers’ pain points. Imagine you are trying to sell a car. Sharing with them the ratio in which rubber, carbon black, and sulfur are mixed in your model’s tire isn’t really going to make much sense to them, is it? However, if you were to tell them how this very mixture renders the tires with a prolonged lifetime, that will surely get their ears all perked up, no? 

This is precisely the approach you should aim for while drafting your landing page copy. Remember, customers are not oblivious to the deluge of options that the market has in store for them. To be able to outshine your competitors, you must successfully demonstrate to your target audience how your solution aligns directly with their needs and requirements. 

Let us break down Peloton’s landing page copy, so you get a clear idea of what we are talking about here.

Notice how the landing page copy over here is intended to illustrate the benefits of the app rather than emphasizing Peloton in and of itself. Every single segment that you come across discusses with absolute clarity how the Peloton app is designed to ease the lives of its users. Without taking a boastful tone, this copy skillfully addresses the concerns that one might have when they are considering investing in such a tool via its detailed FAQ section. Such a copy not only holds the attention of visitors but also encourages them to take action. 

Leverage Success Stories And Customer Testimonials

Nothing can convince a prospective customer more about the reliability of your offerings than a glowing review from another fellow customer. An extremely potent marketing tactic, leveraging social proof can do a world of good to your conversion rates. With your landing page copy, you can go only as far as narrating the experience your products and services are capable of offering. But it is the customer testimonials and success stories that serve as a solid validation of these claims. Now you understand why they are so compelling, don’t you? Some brands even prefer putting up a picture of the customer alongside their testimonial to seal their credibility. 

Take a look at how Tushy goes about the customer testimonials on its landing page.

Write Intriguing Headlines

As we mentioned earlier, visitors don’t (sadly) really pore over each word of your landing page copy. Rather they just skim through it. What really catches their eye in this exercise are the headlines of your content sections. Now, should they be magnetic, you have a good shot at nudging them to dive deeper. 

So, what goes into writing a smashing headline? 

• Don’t sound vague. Brand vision or product features- whatever you might be talking about, make sure your headline conveys it unambiguously. Often in a bid to be witty and humorous, brands try too hard to incorporate metaphors and wordplay into their headlines. If you are able to do so without compromising on your headline’s clarity, go ahead. If you have second thoughts, though, we suggest you refrain from using them. The primary objective of your headline is to be clear, not clever. You will always have room to showcase your wit in the subheadlines and body copies. But, your visitors will reach there only if you are able to hook them in with your headline in the first place. 
• Practice message match. From where did your visitors get directed to your landing page? Was it a Google search ad? In that case, you must look to match your landing page headline with your ad copy. Likewise, your headline should reflect the same if the channel is social media. Essentially, you should create a different landing page with corresponding headlines for each one of your channels. Why is message match important? It informs your visitors that they have arrived at the right page. In turn, this reduces your bounce numbers.
• Showcase empathy. Your headline must convince your visitors that you understand the root causes of their problems. An ideal headline is one that not just highlights the pain point but also offers a solution.

Framebridge’s landing page is a masterclass in writing impactful headlines.

Keep the Language Simple

If you think writing your copy in flamboyant language is going to fetch you dramatic results, we’d ask you to take a moment and reconsider. Now, technically, there’s no problem as such with using language that can put bestselling authors to shame. But, here’s the thing- a landing copy is not really meant for putting visitors in a literary trance; its job is to drive conversions. And for that, simplicity is the best suit. Keep your sentences short, your words accessible, and make certain that they ooze clarity. That said, don’t pepper your copy with buzzwords (“state of the art technology,” “integrated solutions,” and the like). Audiences will see right through it. 

Sound Human

How often have you come across landing pages where you couldn’t distinguish whether the copy was written by a bot or an actual human being? Here are some tips, so your landing page doesn’t leave your visitors in the same dilemma. 

• Try writing the way you speak. Don’t try to sound overly formal or restrained. It is perfectly alright to maintain a slightly casual language with your visitors. Even if your brand identity requires you to maintain a formal tone, ensure that your copy doesn’t sound impersonal.
• Draft your copy in the first person. This will help you establish a personal connection with your visitors.
• We know we said that the purpose of a landing page copy is to generate conversions. But that doesn’t mean that you frame it as a sales pitch. When people pick up on the fact that you are trying to sell them something, they immediately stop responding. Hence, the best course of action is to write your copy as a conversation.

Wrapping It Up

If you are new to landing page copywriting, the chances are that you will not get it right on the first attempt. And that’s perfectly alright. All the delightful copies that you see around you are the results of years of practice and experience. Soak up on the insights shared above, carefully analyze the examples, roll up your sleeves, and get going! We promise you, the magic isn’t far away.

The post Landing Page Copy Best Practices To Ramp Up Your Conversions appeared first on Email Uplers.

Building an email list takes a lot of effort. Imagine all the sign-up forms you have placed on the website and PPC landing pages, the header on the home page, and social media sponsored ads. Now, what if people visit your website but do not take action? How do you bring them to convert and achieve your sales target? The answer is popup forms. 

Popup forms can be of three different types, according to the triggers you set:

1. Time-based delay:

Such popups appear when a visitor has been on your website for a certain amount of time (which you can set). 

2. Scroll-based popups

These popups will be displayed when a user will scroll to the middle of the site or the bottom. They are triggered according to the visitor’s activity on your website.

3. Exit-intent popups

When a prospective client is about to leave your site, exit-intent popups will show up. 

Through this article, we will focus on exit-intent popups. 

We shall talk about their mechanism of action and advantages, and share some inspirations to help you execute this tactic effectively, 

Defining Exit-intent Technology

Exit-intent technology tracks the mouse movement of website visitors and identifies when they are going to leave the website without taking action or providing their information. 

Exit-intent popups are of three different types:

1. Cart abandonment popups: 

Appear when a person is about to leave the items in the cart without taking action

They have an average conversion rate of 17.12%.

2. Feedback popups:

Used to collect user feedback.

They have an average conversion rate of 12.62%.

3. Email signup popups:

Employed to build email lists.

They convert at an average rate of 5.10-7.65%.

Source: Optimonk

Advantages of Exit-intent Popups

1. Once a visitor makes up their mind to click on “close window” (the back button on mobile phones), they are ready to take up the next task. That’s the perfect time to grab their attention with a relevant offer. 

2. Showing the visitors an engaging popup free from distractions helps them process the offer faster. If it is relevant, they will be more open to sharing their information or availing of the offer.

3. You can offer something of a higher value in the exit-intent popup. That increases the likelihood of conversion. As a best practice, do not feature the same offer in the popup as your landing page.

4. Exit-intent technology helps in attracting more leads and building the subscriber list.

5. In the eCommerce sector, it assists the cart recovery program and brings back the cart abandoners, encouraging them to complete the purchase. 

6. As exit-intent popups increase the time people spend on your website, it enhances your search engine rankings. If you are a content marketing site, you can promote an insightful resource or gated content through the popup. 

7. You can use exit-intent popups to promote the special offers during the Holiday season. As people are ready to spend during such days, they will be keener to convert and buy from you. 

How to Use Exit-intent Popups?

Exit-intent popups furnish the perfect scaffold to highlight an exclusive offer that is not promoted anywhere else on the landing page. As an instance: Suppose a visitor lands on your eCommerce website through a PPC ad. They browse through the page and then decide to leave. At that exact moment, you can show a popup that says “Oh wait. You are forgetting the 15% Off.” Such exit-intent messages help bring back the customers and contribute to your conversions. 

Best Practices for Exit-intent Popups

Of course, there is no “one size fits all” when we talk about such lead-generation tactics. But we surely have some best practices and popular approaches that are most likely to work. 

1. Highlight the “benefit” with a succinct message

Exit-intent popups are targeted at people leaving your website. So, you have to give them something that will make them stay. Let the readers know what’s in store for them with an engaging copy. If needed, offer some incentive too so that they are compelled to take action. You can even offer them a free trial or demo of your product. Agencies can offer a free consultation to their clients through the popup. 

2. Ask for necessary details only

You do not ask too many questions in the ice-breaker conversation, do you? The same applies in the world of marketing. Ask for necessary details only in your exit-intent popups. The thing is that the person has already made up their mind to leave and asking too many questions would defeat the purpose of getting action from them. 

3. Create tailor-made popups for different pages

Just like you customize your personality to suit the kind of person you are speaking to, you must modify the popups according to the pages they are added to. For instance, if you are in the eCommerce sector, you can have different popups for the home page and product pages. You can offer a discount coupon code in the popup and feature your USPs like free shipping and easy returns. 

4. Incorporate user testimonials

Include user testimonials and address the objections that the customer might have before making a purchase. That’s the best way to gain the visitor’s trust by showing them that users love your products. 

5. Reinforce your message by creating a sense of urgency

“Last few hours to avail 50% off” — Use such phrases in the exit-intent popup to boost instant conversions by generating a sense of urgency. It will trigger the fear of missing out and drive action from the readers. 

6. Go the innovative way

Innovation is the only way to win – That’s the best message Steve Jobs has given us. As marketers, you must live by this principle for all the tactics, including exit-intent popups. Experiment with some animations and interactivity in the popups. Try something like “Spin the wheel to unlock your offer” to inspire more people to sign up. 

Tools to Create Popups

There are various tools that can be used to build exit-intent popups. 

They are:

1. Mailchimp

Mailchimp exit-intent popups are easily customizable and can be connected with Shopify, WooCommerce, and PrestaShop.

They can be placed in three different ways, according to your preferences:

a. Default form: Placed in the center of the site. It is also known as a modal or lightbox. 

b. Slide-in: Appears like a chat window at the bottom right corner of the website. 

c. Fixed or Email bar: Remains at the bottom of the website until someone signs up or clicks the close link. 

Once you have created these popups, you can combine them with automated email workflows to send a welcome email and subsequent marketing communications. 

2. HubSpot

Like Mailchimp, HubSpot’s popup forms are easily customizable with multiple form styles. You can choose the one that perfectly suits your website design. 

It enables automatic data entry into your CRM and facilitates personalization using the same. You will get detailed insights into people who viewed versus completed the popup forms. You can set up HubSpot exit-intent popups instantly and embed them onto your website without any technical resources. 

3. OptinMonster

With the help of OptinMonster’s exit-intent technology, you can convert an additional 2-4% of visitors into email subscribers and paying customers. It allows you to create targeted campaigns like:

a. An invitation to chat with a customer service representative

b. An exclusive discount offer to trigger instant purchases

c. An invitation to download your lead magnet and join the email list

Exit-intent Popups You Can Recreate For Your Website

1. Tough Mudder

Tough Mudder uses a clever headline: “You’re so close” to let the readers know that they can easily avail the offer of 15% discount. They only need to enter their email address without any additional information. Generally, we are hesitant to “decline” an offer that is in our favor so the CTA “Decline offer” is a smart move. They have created a sense of urgency by mentioning that this offer is available for 10 days only. That further encourages the user to make the purchase before missing out.  

2. MAC Cosmetics

You can target first-time visitors with a popup that features an exclusive offer for them. Here’s how MAC Cosmetics does it by offering 10% Off on the first purchase. It is a good way to build an email list and acquire new customers. 

3. Macy’s

It is quite likely that people visit your store from a different geographical location. They might not be aware that you ship to their country, so they plan to leave your website. 

You can target such subscribers with an exit-intent popup that detects their location. 

For instance: Macy’s targets the Indian visitors with a popup that lets them know that they ship to India so that they continue shopping. They have addressed all the objections by highlighting the USPs. Moreover, they have also offered 25% off to the people who sign up for their emails.   

Wrapping Up

Exit-intent technology helps you eliminate the “would-have-been” and “almost” scenario by taking that one extra chance for conversion. You surely don’t want to regret that a bit of effort from your side would have brought you some more sales, right? That’s exactly why exit-intent popups exist. And of course, they add some qualified leads to your email list too, who are ready to hear from you. 

So, are you ready to take the plunge? Do it right away!

The post Exit–intent Popups: The Finest Approach to Build Email Lists (& Prevent Abandonment) appeared first on Email Uplers.

What is Email Fatigue?

Yes, email fatigue is very real. What is it, you ask? Simply put, it is when a subscriber stops engaging with your emails, presumably disenchanted by the manner in which you are communicating with them. Well, with over 333 billion emails (jaw-dropping, we know) being exchanged daily, it’s pretty much an inevitability, we’d say. 

Every passing second brings with it a new competitor, making it extremely difficult for you to secure the attention of your target audience. On top of that, should your marketing efforts (somehow) end up afflicting your subscribers with email fatigue, the damage to your business can be rather irreversible. There are many factors that contribute to email fatigue- irregularity in email timing and frequency, irrelevant content, and unclean email lists, to name a few. So, how exactly does email fatigue hamper your campaigns? And what steps can you take to overcome it? We answer all your questions in this blog. Read on!

Reasons You Should Dread Email Fatigue

As an email marketer, the last thing you would wish for your campaigns is to stay stagnant and unopened in your audience’s inboxes- a fate that awaits you if you aren’t insured against email fatigue. Listed below are some ways in which email fatigue impedes your campaigns.

• Plummets your engagement: Connecting the dots for this one is pretty straightforward, isn’t it? A fatigued audience doesn’t open any of your emails, bringing down your interaction and engagement numbers in the process. In fact, constantly decreasing open and click-through rates can be a suggestive indicator of your audience suffering from email fatigue.
• Increases your unsubscribes: Subscribers hit with email fatigue would naturally want to opt out of your communications, resulting in your unsubscribe rates going through the roof. Besides thinning your email list, a high number of unsubscribes can also earn you the scorn and suspicion of ESPs (email service providers), affecting your deliverability in the process.
• Fetches you more spam complaints: The first thing you should do if you happen to pick up on any signs of email fatigue among your audience is immediately stop messaging them for a while. Because if you continue emailing them using the same strategy (of which they have grown visibly weary of), you will simply be encouraging them to mark you as spam. Subsequently, this will affect your email deliverability.
• Diminishes the visibility of your campaigns: With growing spam complaints and unsubscribes, your sender reputation will ultimately be sullied by a great deal. As a result, both ISPs (internet service providers) and ESPs will subject your emails to immense scrutiny. This, in turn, will result in a substantial chunk of your messages getting filtered or blocked. The reach and visibility of your email campaigns, thus, will decline significantly. Remember, when your incoming emails get filtered, they do for everyone in your contact list, not just the fatigued ones. 

How Can You Avoid Email Fatigue?

To keep your customers free from email fatigue, it is important that you keep them at the very core of your email marketing strategies. Aim, at all times, to deliver a peerless user experience to your audience, and the results will automatically follow. 

In this section, we will walk you through the practices that will help you keep email fatigue at bay.

1. Maintain Email List Hygiene

If you want your email campaigns to fetch you maximum results, you must work toward maintaining a highly engaged email list. Along with adding new contacts, it is equally important to weed out unengaged and dormant ones from your list. 

The damage caused by such contacts is primarily twofold:

1. They prevent you from obtaining a clear picture of your campaign’s performance.
2. They harm your sender reputation and deliverability, bringing down your engagement and visibility.

Creating an email campaign takes up considerable time and effort. Why would you want to send them to contacts who are least interested to hear from you? (or to those who are not even active anymore?) 

Being sound with your email list management is key to battling email fatigue. Here are some list management techniques you should take stock of.

• Add fresh contacts to your email list strictly via opt-ins (it doesn’t matter single or double). Therefore, it is essential to set up your opt-in forms properly. At the outset, you must be extremely transparent with your opt-in form offerings. Including misleading promises to acquire more subscribers is a ploy that is severely frowned upon in the email community. Additionally, look to it that your opt-in form has as few data input fields as possible. What do you need, really, to add a new contact to your email list? Their name and email address, right? The ideal opt-in form, hence, should have no more than 2-3 fields (sparing one extra field for contact number).

Take a look at frank body’s opt-in form, for instance.

• Rest control in the hands of your subscribers. Email fatigue plagues your recipients when they start getting overwhelmed by the frequency of your emails. To avoid this, it is best to let your readers themselves decide how regularly they want to hear from you. You can do so by providing them with an “Update Preferences” link. 

• Allow your contacts to unsubscribe. Right from your welcome series, include clear instructions as to how they can opt out of your communications should they ever wish to. This serves two purposes- first, it helps you earn the trust of your subscribers, and second, it spares you from the effort of manually pruning disengaged and disinterested contacts.
  
• Deal tactfully with unengaged subscribers. Of course, you can’t impress each and every one of your contacts with your brand of communication. But, if a large number of them are expressing their displeasure, something’s definitely off about your strategy. Start with figuring out all the possible reasons that might be causing them to lose interest in you. Next, address these issues with targeted re-engagement and follow-up campaigns. Only when all these efforts fail to bear fruit, consider the idea of removing these contacts from your list. The cost of acquiring a new customer can pinch your wallet five times as much as retaining old ones. So, make certain that you have exhausted every trick in your customer retention book before taking any drastic measures.

• Meticulously segment your email list. Sending personalized messages down your recipient’s inboxes is a surefire way of avoiding email fatigue. But, to implement personalization, you first have to divide your customers into different segments on the basis of several parameters like age, gender, occupation, past purchases, preferences, and the like. Practicing segmentation allows you to increase the relevancy of your messages, thereby ensuring that your audience always keeps looking forward to your emails.

2. Ace Your Email Timing

Even the most diligently crafted email marketing campaigns out there will come up short if they aren’t delivered at the right time to your subscribers. Email timing is a rather tricky business, for it is highly subjective. The browsing behavior and internet habits of your target audience will obviously be different from those of your competitors. While scanning through multiple reports and surveys might lead you to a few reliable conventions, when it comes to email timing, the writing can never be set in stone. At the end of the day, you will have to experiment with different times, days, and email types to understand what best suits your target audience.

Keep the following pointers handy to get your email timing spot on.

• Familiarize yourself with your audience’s demographic. Their age, location, occupation, and other related data points will help you narrow in on the optimal day and time to email them.
• Different industries time their campaigns differently. B2B, SaaS, and eCommerce players enjoy success by reaching out to their customers during business hours on weekdays. At the same time, businesses part of the entertainment, fashion & lifestyle, and food & dining industry register greater engagement by emailing their readers over the weekends.
• Be conscious of your email frequency. Bombarding subscribers’ inboxes with emails is what leads them to be fatigued in the first place. How often a particular recipient wants to receive your emails is quite tough to determine. Hence, as we said earlier, the best course of action is to let subscribers specify the frequency themselves.

3. Test Your Emails Across A Smaller Section

Irrespective of how seasoned an email marketer you are, you can never be completely sure of what will resonate with your audience. Therefore, the wise foot forward is to test your emails across a small pocket of your target audience, gauge the response, work in the necessary modifications, and then execute the campaign in its entirety. What parts of your email should you test, you ask? Well, just about everything- subject line, headline, preheader text, CTA (call-to-action), images, custom fonts, and offers. Of course, you can only test one element at a time. So, to facilitate a smooth testing process, we’d suggest you to prioritize your elements, depending on which aspect you are unsure of the most.

Wrapping It Up

Email marketing is the go-to marketing channel for numerous businesses for various reasons- it offers high ROI, lets you implement personalization at scale, and enables you to build a unique brand identity, among many others. However, if you cannot tackle email fatigue, you will not be able to avail yourself of these virtues. We hope the tips and tricks shared above arm you with enough insight to overcome it!

The post Email Fatigue – Everything You Need To Know appeared first on Email Uplers.

Smart brands understand that customer loyalty is the most valuable “currency” they can earn because it dictates the brand’s value, credibility, popularity, and profitability. One of the best ways to earn this currency is through marketing.

Brands can earn and nurture customer loyalty by understanding their needs and pain points, creating accurate buyer profiles, and by personalizing their marketing campaigns. And all of this is easier to do with the right marketing CRM. Here’s where Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) comes in.

SFMC enables companies to find and understand their target audience and design impressive email marketing campaigns to build closer customer relationships and garner their loyalty. Moreover, by using SFMC, many companies have increased revenues by 25% and customer satisfaction by 35%.

However, a lot of brands find it a challenge to leverage the full potential of SFMC. Many struggle to invest the time, effort, and funds required, while others can’t take full advantage of its huge range of features because they lack technical expertise and skilled resources.

Sound familiar?

The good news: Your brand can make the most of SFMC to enhance email marketing and earn customer loyalty. Outsource implementation to a dedicated, skilled, and trusted partner.

Here are 5 reasons to outsource SFMC implementation and management to a dedicated partner.

Get access to world-class expertise and in-demand skills

As more businesses adopt SFMC for their marketing programs, the demand for Salesforce experts is constantly growing. According to one IDC report, Salesforce cloud services will add about $1.56 trillion in revenues for companies and lead to the creation of 9.3 million new jobs by 2026.

But do you have the skilled Salesforce developers you need to give a boost to your email marketing program and increase your revenues? If not, outsourcing to an implementation partner is the best bet for your brand.

Companies specializing in SFMC implementation have mastery over the platform and its many tools and features. They know how to use Email Studio, Journey Builder, Data Management Platform, Einstein AI, and a host of other capabilities in SFMC to:

• Create journey maps and deliver 1-to-1 customer experiences at every touchpoint
• Design and deploy personalized email campaigns that impress and delight customers
• Build customer relationships with unique campaigns tailored to the needs of each subscriber
• Analyze campaigns to continually improve customer engagement and retention
• Automate campaigns to save time while also staying connected with each subscriber

The right implementation partner understands marketing trends and customer needs. They also know how to best leverage SFMC to align with these trends and create marketing campaigns to meet these needs. If you lack these capabilities in-house, outsourcing is the way to go.

Reduce operating costs and increase ROI

According to some estimates, the average salary of a junior developer in the USA is $111,103. This amount goes up to $159,299 for senior developers. Do you have the budget to hire, train, and nurture these SFMC resources in-house?

Of course, salary is just one cost that you will incur with in-house resources. Add in the costs of training, onboarding, allowances, leaves, bonuses, etc. and the total cost of a single SFMC resource can go up very quickly and by a substantial amount.

You don’t have to spend so much. Instead, you can use this money for other higher-value activities related to marketing strategy and customer experience. With an outsourcing partner, you can reduce overall marketing cost by 30%. Moreover, a partner will remain with you for the entire period of your contract so you can avoid yet another cost – the cost of employee turnover and replacement.

You can also avoid the costs of maintaining bench resources and paying in-house resources even when they are not required. If your business is experiencing a slump or if you don’t need to put campaigns out for some reason, in-house resources will be sitting idle but you will still have to pay them. Outsourcing will give you the flexibility of using outside resources on-demand and thus, better control over your resourcing costs. Lower costs can increase your marketing ROI and ultimately, your revenues and profits.

Get campaigns out faster

Many B2C companies scale up their SFMC email marketing programs during the holidays and just before special days, such as Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, Black Friday, etc. But this requires a lot of preparation and a lot of effort.

Is your in-house marketing team prepared for the surge of work that will be required to design, develop, test, and track these campaigns? For instance, here are some tasks that will need to be completed to create a successful email campaign:

• Define the campaign goals
• Create an email list
• Choose a design from SFMC templates or create your own
• Create the copy that will go into each email (multiply this effort for multi-email drip campaigns)
• Personalize the copy and subject line for each subscriber
• Create an appropriate CTA and insert it into strategic locations throughout the email
• A/B test each email
• Set up the campaign schedule and send times
• Set up tracking KPIs and other metrics in SFMC
• Monitor progress in line with these KPIs
• Tweak campaigns as required

A business-friendly ESP like SFMC provides everything you need to complete these tasks and create amazing campaigns. And yet, the effort can be overwhelming for in-house teams. An expert implementation partner can help reduce the overwhelm. They will have the resources and expertise to complete all of the above activities seamlessly. Plus, the best partners follow proven best practices to guide their tactics and strategies. All of this can help ensure that your campaigns go out to the right audience and at the right time – with minimal pain and friction for your team.

Reduce risk and increase quality

There’s no formula or “right” answer when it comes to email marketing. To get it right, a lot of research, thought, and effort is involved. Successful email marketing requires zooming into the correct target audience, understanding who they are, where they live, what they want, and where they face challenges. If you can get these aspects right, the probability of success goes up exponentially. But if you don’t, you risk losing customers, their loyalty, and their sales.

By working with an experienced implementation partner, you can reduce these risks. They will focus on your needs and customers, tailor SFMC implementation for your brand and create campaigns that are unique to your business, audience, and use case. They will create high-quality emails for each sub-segment in your subscriber list. They will also set up relevant metrics and KPIs to track each campaign and consistently improve its quality. All these abilities will reduce the risk and enhance the quality of your emails and messaging. Moreover, they will always keep customer experience in mind, ensuring that your subscribers get value from your email marketing messaging.

Get ongoing support

How do your employees proceed when they get stuck? If they need help on a particular aspect of the SFMC ecosystem – which is vast – who do they turn to? Google? YouTube? Or do they make assumptions and guesses and hope that their ideas will work?

While there’s nothing wrong with self-learning, there may be occasions when quick decisions and nimble actions are needed more than experimentation. In such situations, you may not have the luxury of time to try different things or to hunt for answers in different places. Here’s where an implementation partner can provide support whenever you need and as soon as you need it.

A good partner’s job doesn’t end with SFMC implementation or campaign deployment. They will also offer extended and ongoing assistance to address all your support and maintenance needs. Their SFMC and email marketing experts will manage your ESP and email marketing program and make all the necessary adjustments in line with your brand’s goals and customer base.

The partner will reduce the burden on your in-house marketing team by taking care of the nitty-gritties of managing your SFMC project. And if an issue arises, they can act quickly and proactively to troubleshoot and fix the problem before it can affect your program or its customers. They can also help you build a strategic SFMC roadmap so you can continue to take advantage of the platform and scale it as your business grows.

Ready to Outsource SFMC Implementation to a World-class Partner?

Outsourcing Salesforce implementation to a skilled and experienced partner can streamline your email marketing program and ensure it delivers expected results. It can help you save money and time, and boost your business and marketing ROI. The partner will take over the day-to-day management of your SFMC-based email marketing program, so you can focus on strategic activities and take your business to the next stage of competitiveness and growth.

Dozens of companies benefit from the SFMC services and expert resources of Email Uplers. If you are ready to join their ranks, please reach out to us. Or if you are looking to hire a certified SFMC resource to work remotely for you, you can onboard a talent from our pool of pre-vetted resources.

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The email marketing community is no stranger to Artificial Intelligence. From refining personalization strategies to optimizing email timing and frequency, marketers have a lot to thank AI for. Of late, however, a specific AI use case has invited a lot of chatter, leaving the community fairly divided in the process- email copywriting. 

On the one hand, there’s tangible excitement about the possibility of churning out massive volumes of content at breakneck speed, while on the other, there’s genuine doubt regarding the nuance of said content. As we speak, many brands out there are already using AI-powered models to generate new content ideas for their various platforms. But, nobody has yet relied on AI to write full-blown content pieces. Human intervention is regarded as paramount (for the moment, at least). The question is, how far are businesses from making that leap, really? To hand over their email copywriting responsibilities, hook, line, and sinker, to AI? 

To answer that, we first need to understand the pros and cons associated with writing email copy. Let’s dive in, shall we?

The Benefits

Writing your email copy with artificial intelligence can brighten the fortunes of your email campaign in many ways. The topics listed below illustrate how.

Improved Quality

Come to think of it, AI copy is basically text generated with the help of natural language processing tools. You need to feed a set of parameters to your machine depending on the length and nature of the email you are writing. With your directions at its disposal, the system then proceeds to analyze matching content already present on the web. At the end of this scanning, you get your copy. Keep in mind that the machine creates this content after having processed almost millions and millions of email copies on the internet. Therefore, you have an extremely good shot at obtaining high-quality copy by making use of artificial intelligence. However, the internet is rife with both good and bad copies. And the machine will be consuming them all. This means, that the probability of you obtaining a subpar copy isn’t that low either.

So, how do you judge whether the copy generated by your AI tool is impactful or not? By ensuring that it abides by certain characteristics.

Wondering what the characteristics of an impactful email copy are? Take a look.

• Your email copy should always be crisp and to the point. Remember, you are not the only entity mailing your target audience. Their inboxes are bombarded by several emails from your competitors too. So, how do you come up trumps? By infusing brevity into your email copies. On any given day, your subscribers would rather prefer to engage with an email that has a concise copy over one that extends the length of a novella (okay, we might have exaggerated a touch there, but you get the point, don’t you?) Besides, the average consumer attention span in 2022 stands at 8 seconds. That’s definitely a compelling reason to keep your copy short and sweet, isn’t it? Most importantly, a brief copy helps make your emails accessible. Individuals using assistive technologies such as screen readers might have trouble inferring the key aspects of your message should your copy be lengthy. 

Take a look at this email by Kate Spade for instance.

• Keep your lines short and simple. Facilitating readability should be among your topmost priorities while drafting your email copy. Steer clear of long and winding sentences. They can greatly discourage your readers from interacting with your content. Additionally, always be conscious of your word choice; make certain that it is accessible to a broad spectrum of your target audience. 

This email from Framebridge is an excellent illustration of what we are talking about.

• If you are using hyperlink text in your email copy, make them descriptive to a fault. If your link is going to lead them to a blog page about writing successful email copy, let your anchor text read “Read our guide to winning email copy” rather than “Click Here.”
• Avoid jargon like the plague. Imagine trying to read an email from your favorite brand only to be thrown off by jargon peppered all through the email copy. You wouldn’t really look forward to your future communications, would you? Companies operating in the B2B and SaaS domains typically tend to use a lot of industry jargon in their emails. As a result, the readability of their communication suffers. Such businesses deal with extremely complicated products due to which they deem using technical language necessary. 

Sure, a term here or there is unavoidable, we understand. However, if your entire copy reads as if it’s an entry from a peer-reviewed scientific journal, you will never be able to invite sufficient engagement and interaction. The best course of action is to think from a customer’s perspective. Say you are dealing with solar panels. What would a prospective customer want to know from you? The charging duration of the panel, the amount of energy it can generate, the appliances it can power, and its cost. Hence, your copy should revolve entirely around these aspects. Other information, such as the chemical composition of the cells comprising the panel, is completely irrelevant to them and should be omitted from your email copy.

Here’s an email from Invision that aptly summarises what we just talked about.

• Always make the copy about your customer. Nothing puts people off more than brands that incessantly toot their horns in their communications. The objective of your email copy should always be to establish a personal connect with your readers. To achieve this, you have many tricks in your heart. To begin with, try writing your copy in the second person. This will help make your email’s tone conversational. While talking about the salient feature of a product or service, explain how it addresses a specific pain point of your customers rather than rambling about its virtue in and of itself.

For example, take a look at this email by Peloton.

This way, by introducing a little bit of human moderation, you can gather absolutely top-notch copy from your AI writing tool.

Impactful Subject Lines and Preheaders

An email’s subject line and preheader text are the first things a reader notices about it. If they are unable to attract your subscriber’s attention, your emails are most likely to go unopened. Now, the ideal subject line and preheader are tough nuts to crack. Not only do you have to abide by all the best practices, but you also gauge how your audience is responding to it. Hence, to maximize your chances of success, you should come up with several subject lines and preheaders for a single email, test them all with your audience, and choose the best one accordingly. That said, coming up with scores and hundreds of options is no walk in the park either, except if you are an AI writing tool. They can generate multiple subject lines and preheaders in a breeze, making matters incredibly convenient for you.

Never Miss a Beat with Personalization

In this age of email fatigue, to cut through the noise, sending personalized messages to your audience is the only way forward- you know this, we know this, every email marketer knows this. So, if this is such common knowledge, why do brands still struggle to execute personalization to perfection. Well, in most cases, the main culprit is a resource crunch, something that an AI writing tool can help you address. You see, when you have an extensive contact list, you will obviously have a great number of unique customer segments (divided based on many parameters such as age, gender, occupation, past purchases, position in the sales funnel, and the like). 

Now, writing personalized emails for all of them is a massive task, even with the services of email automation and a decent-sized team. And the job doesn’t end with sending emails. You must also brace yourself for their replies, ensuring that you revert with the same tone. Sounds rather stiff, doesn’t it? This situation becomes much more manageable when you have an AI writing tool on deck. From sending personalized emails corresponding to every segment’s individual buying persona to mirroring the customer’s tone while reverting, it can take care of it all for you.

Channelize Time in Other Directions

Email copywriting takes a substantial amount of time during the design of an email campaign. Goes without saying, if an AI tool deals with it end to end, you will have a lot of time on your hands, which you can then divert to other aspects of your campaign. For starters, you can focus on dialing up the visual appeal of your email template. Your email design goes a long way toward consolidating your reach and visibility. Content that is compelling and exciting will go unnoticed if it is not married to an equally magnetic visual layout. Likewise, you will also have the room to spend more time on improving your deliverability and performance measurement. 

The Drawbacks

At its core, the copy AI generates is simply a replica of all the various copies it scans on the web. Simply put, this copy isn’t really a conscious creation but rather an imitation of what the model has consumed before. And therein lies its biggest drawback.

Lacks a Human Touch

AI copy is often devoid of empathy, creativity, and context- elements that lend life to a piece of context. That way, if such a copy is used as it is without subjecting it to human intervention, it might fail to evoke any feelings or sentiments from your readers. 

Not Free From Errors

While AI copy is, obviously, free from human errors, it is not bereft of the mistakes that might have crept in while designing the AI model in the first place. If left undetected, it can greatly affect the quality and reliability of the copy it creates. Even text written by the most sophisticated AI writing tools at present contains quite a few grammatical and structural errors. So it is always recommended to edit such copy prior to using it. 

Doesn’t Have Intuition

How often have you changed a perfectly well-written and appealing copy at the last minute simply because it felt inappropriate for the situation AND proven right eventually? What was the driving factor behind taking this call? Your gut and intuition. An AI model would never be able to take such calls.

AI Writing Tools You Can Consider Using

• Copy.ai: Used by a deluge of top brands out there including Microsoft, Nestle, and Ogilvy, Copy.ai is a powerful AI content generator that is making lives easier for blog writers, social media managers, and email marketers alike.
• Wordtune: With Wordtune, you can iron out the wrinkles in your existing content piece, increasing its tone, flow, and readability by leaps and bounds. Wordtune is not exactly a copy generator but more of a word processing tool.
• Copysmith: From generating ideas to rewriting content to crafting product descriptions- Copysmith’s extensive suite of features enables you to effortlessly scale up your eCommerce business.
• Wordsmith: Using Wordsmith, you can process large data sets into meaningful content narratives. This tool comes in particularly handy with respect to financial reporting.
• Writesonic: Writesonic doesn’t just enable you to come up with top-tier copy but also helps in amping up your website’s SEO, driving increased traffic in the process.

Wrapping It Up

As we can infer from the arguments stated above, though there is a lot to be gained from writing email copy using AI, setting the whole arrangement to autopilot is rather infeasible in the current scheme of things. Nobody knows what might be possible a few years down the line, but at the moment, marrying top-tier tech with top-notch talent is the only surefire formula to creating successful email campaigns.

The post Using AI to Write Email Copy- Navigating the Pros and Cons appeared first on Email Uplers.

As parents and children gear up to wash themselves excited with the thrills and frills of the back to school season, marketers prepare to tap into the generous consumer spending that is characteristic of the season. With one in four already claiming to have spent more on school supplies in 2022 than in 2021, this back to school season is all set to be competitive like never before for businesses out there. To cut through the noise, you would need to enchant your audience with pixel-perfect and impactful campaigns. Wondering how you can go about it? Why, by picking up a trick or two from the stunning email inspirations we are going to showcase in this article, of course!

 Smockingbird Kids

Subject line: Last Chance Order New Back to School Today

Using GIFs in your email’s hero section is an excellent ploy to attract your subscribers’ attention. No, you don’t have to take our word for it. All you need to do is direct a single glance towards Smockingbird Kids’ delightful back to school email over here. 

What we particularly love about this email design is the manner in which they have showcased their products. Besides including high-quality pictures of their dresses, they have also highlighted the unique features of each. Taking the help of illustrated arrows to call the reader’s attention to it is a brilliant touch too. 

The email has been crafted in a single-column layout which makes it accessible and mobile-friendly. Not to mention the smooth navigation it facilitates. Every content segment has its own CTA (call-to-action) button, which makes matters quite convenient for the subscribers. The buttons are prominent, for they contrast sharply against the email background and are quite enticing, thanks to the smart CTA phrases they have been provided with.

Shein NL

Subject line: Don’t Miss the School Bell! BACK TO SCHOOL is back!

Shein’s hero image perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the back to school season. To spark their reader’s interest, they have highlighted their special offers using bold typography. The email is heavy on images which renders it a high visual appeal. And the best part is that the visual elements aren’t present to just serve as eye candy but to make the overall content more comprehensible for the audience. For instance, one can instantly identify the different product categories in the email even without reading the text. Simply looking at the images that accompany them provides you with more than enough context.

Kidbox

Subject line: The BACK-TO-SCHOOL List Is Here!

If you have different products and want to learn how you can cleverly segment them in your email using design, look no further than this email by Kidbox. Apart from placing their blocks in three different blocks, they have also used separate background colors for each to make the sections visually distinctive to a fault. 

The email doesn’t tire the readers by overusing a single element- while it uses images for tees, denim, and backpacks, it employs illustrations to denote the “mystery grab bag,” essentials, and free shipping. Mixing up visual elements in this manner is a good tactic to keep audiences glued to your email.

Tiny Cottons

Subject line: Back to School

Nothing screams back to school more than using a notebook-themed background for your images, isn’t it? Our favorite thing about this email is that it has the visual aesthetic of a page taken from a student’s scrapbook. The email copy is crisp, to the point, and has a friendly tone which makes you want to take action against the CTA that follows it. 

Sparkle In Pink

Subject line: Guess what’s back?

Sparkle In Pink’s back to school email is a masterclass in how businesses can make use of bold typography to make their emails visually breathtaking. In most cases, the absence of a variety of visual elements tends to make the email monotonous, but here, just the usage of bold typography holds up well simply because the email is extremely brief, to begin with. 

To highlight their discount, they have used a combination of different typographies, making the resultant output highly pleasing to the eyes. Here, Sparkle In Pink utilizes icons to provide additional context for their intangible offerings to their readers.

The TouchPoint Solution

Subject line: Your July 2021 Update

From a consumer’s perspective, the back to school season isn’t just about spending money on school supplies. It is also about dealing with a host of emotional and psychological factors that are associated with sending their children back to school after a long break. The TouchPoint Solution addresses precisely this topic in their email. Given the sensitivity of the subject at hand, they have made skilled use of illustrations to keep it from appearing overwhelming. 

Even though the email is text-intensive, it has been laid out in such a manner that it appears uncluttered. 

Munchkin

Subject line: Let’s Get Personal for Back to School

Now, isn’t this hero image among the cutest you have ever seen? What we really appreciate about this email is its choice of typography. Often, brands make the mistake of using an overly formal typography in combination with playful text. As a result, the overall tone of the email becomes rather confusing. 

Here, Munchkin have perfectly synced the wavelengths of their typography and visual elements. The images of the products have been accorded ample white space, which makes that complete section appear neat and quite pleasing to engage with.

The Happy Planner

Subject line: 6 Tips to Prepare for Back to School!

Designing your email with motifs that unambiguously represent the occasion you are talking about is a great way of generating interest in your readers’ minds. This email from The Happy Planner drives our point home perfectly. Pencils, pencil shavings, scissors, sharpeners, markers, erasers, and rulers- when you spot all these elements in an email’s hero image, you will instinctively understand that this is a back to school email. Once the theme of your email is established, pitching your offers becomes that much more easy. 

Cozy Earth

Subject line: Back to school tiring you out?

We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again- we are a huge fan of brands that somehow manage to make their offerings relevant to the occasion at hand. Case in point here is this email by Cozy Earth. While businesses dealing with school uniforms, stationery, and tiffin packs are expected to steal the show during the back to school season, if you are as innovative as the folks at Cozy Earth, you will always stay ahead of the curve. 

The design of the template is unfussy, laced with high-quality images, stylish typography, and witty copy. (Just us or you would also want to keep staring at that delightful background color all day?)

Marshalls

Subject line: The back-to-school excitement is real

This back to school email from Marshalls is bound to grab its reader’s attention the minute they open it. An attractive GIF with a clever copy- you can’t do much wrong with that combo, can you? If you observe closely, you will notice that apart from the hero section, the rest of the email is quite minimal. Pretty smart, if you ask us. GIFs are visually rich elements. Introducing other design elements along with it can cause your templates to look cluttered. 

SmartyPants Vitamins

Subject line: Our #1 back to school recipe

Who would bounce from a back to school email whose hero image is as vibrant as that of SmartyPants Vitamins over here? The email is punctuated with extremely simple animated elements at regular elements to make certain that readers don’t lose interest and scroll right to the end. Another thing that stands out in this email is its humor. Such an email never fails to charm its audience.

Surf Dive’ n Ski

Subject line: Head Back to School In Style

There are many things to love about this back to school email from Surf Dive’ n Ski, but we will start by addressing the most obvious bit- the back to school-themed video game animation. The GIF cleverly addresses the products that consumers should be aiming to add to their cart during this season. To maintain consistency, the GIF’s font has been extended to other aspects of the email as well. The prices of the products are mentioned in the email itself to fast-track the customer’s decision-making process.

Wrapping It Up

Now that you know how the best in the business go about their back to school emails, we hope you have gained enough insight to launch winning campaigns for your brand. We can’t wait to see what you come up with! 

Need help with creating back to school emails for your brand? We got your back. 

The post Email Inspirations To Get Your Ball Rolling For The Back To School Season appeared first on Email Uplers.

Good design is one of the chief components of a smashing email template. Irrespective of how original and insightful your content is, at the end of the day, if your presentation is not up to the mark, your campaigns won’t be able to charm your audiences in the manner you wish them to. Designing an email template is a nuanced affair, and to get it spot on, one must factor multiple aspects into consideration. New to the game? Worry not, we have got you all covered! In this blog, we will be walking you through the ins and outs of email template design. Excited? Well, dive in!

Table of Contents:

• Why is Email Design Important?
• Evergreen Email Design Trends You Ought to Take Stock of
• Critical Design Components of an Email Template
• Mobile-friendly Design- Why You Should Embrace it Now
• Tricks Email Designers Can Pick from the Book of Web Developers
• Wrapping It Up

Why is Email Design Important?

Whether it’s a small or mid-sized business or a multinational conglomerate, almost everyone out there uses email. So, what can you do to set your campaigns a touch above the rest? Establish a unique visual identity for yourself. Of course, that’s not the sole parameter. You also need to focus on regularly churning out compelling content, pruning your contact list, and measuring your performance. However, these efforts will bear fruit only if you have a distinguishable and attractive brand identity to begin with. 

The points listed below illustrate how good HTML email design helps your business.

• It enhances the appeal of your email content. Imagine you are given two emails- one is composed in plain text, and the other is laced pleasingly with images, illustrations, and GIFs. Which would attract your attention sooner? The answer is rather obvious, isn’t it? Subsequently, emails with stunning design are able o invite greater interaction and engagement, paving the path for increased conversions. 
• By helping you create a strong brand identity, email design, in essence, opens the doors to building strong and lasting relationships with your customers. As a result, they become highly responsive to your communications and voluntarily spread the word about your brand. This, in turn, goes a long way toward consolidating your position as a figure of authority within your domain.
• It lets you track your performance effectively. With plain-text emails, you don’t get the scope of monitoring key metrics such as clicks, unsubscribe rate, list growth, conversions, email forwarding numbers, and the like. You can only do so with HTML emails.
• The presence of design and visual elements helps reduce the cognitive load of your readers. Parsing through big chunks of texts is quite an exhausting task. However, if the same text is interspersed with visual elements at regular intervals, going through it becomes a breeze all of a sudden. Of course, we would never recommend you to write a lengthy email copy in the first place. But suppose you have, good design will increase the probability of your recipients going through the entirety of it. 

Evergreen Email Design Trends You Ought to Take Stock of

Email marketing is a constantly evolving landscape. Every year brings with it a slew of new and exciting design trends. However, there are certain trends that remain ageless and timeless. Let’s take a look at some of them over here.

Minimalism

“Less is more” has been the go-to motto of designers for a long while now. It was only a matter of time before minimalism took the email world by a storm, and over the last few years, it certainly has. In this age of information overload, it is enabling brands to put out neat and ultra-focused emails, thereby keeping them ahead of the curve. In a minimalist email, your message shines bright and is conveyed with absolute clarity to your audience. All the elements present in your email have ample breathing space, allowing you to deliver a splendid user experience. 

Minimalism fosters improved navigation as well. Lastly, since minimalist emails have few elements, they tend to have small file sizes. As a result, they have excellent loading times. 

Looking for some inspiration? These delightful minimalist emails will certainly help.

Dark Mode

From making your email templates aesthetically pleasing to promoting greater readability, the dark mode has a long list of virtues. It is no surprise, thus, that it is among the most popular email design trends. With major email clients like Gmail, Apple Mail, Yahoo Mail, and Outlook embracing this state, it has now become pretty much imperative for businesses to design two variants of their emails- one for the light mode and another for the dark mode.
That said, not every email client extends the same degree of support to dark mode. It’s best that you prepare yourself for the following three scenarios.

1. Your email remains as it is- This takes place with clients (Mos who offer absolutely no support to dark mode. Even when the user turns on dark mode on their device, these clients effect no change to your email’s design. Except in cases where your email has a light or white background, this scenario is pretty manageable. 

2. The colors in your email get inverted- This is the scenario that comprises the nightmares of email designers. Here, the client attempts to make a dark mode version of your original design by simply inverting the colors of your email background, fonts, CTA button, and other elements. Depending on the client, the inversion might be partial or full.

3. You get to specify a custom dark mode- Goes without saying, this is the best case scenario one can hope for. Clients such as Apple Mail which offer full support to dark mode, allow email marketers to add custom CSS to have separate versions of their campaigns for light and dark modes.

With that covered, let us take a look at a few things one should keep in mind while designing for the dark mode.

• Always try to use image file formats that support transparency, i.e., PNGs and GIFs. They take up background colors when inverted by the email client, preventing your design from getting compromised. 
• If your image has text, add an outline- a stroke, a glow, a soft shadow, or anything similar- to it so that it remains accessible and legible when consumed in the dark mode. 
• Always ensure that there’s ample contrast between your text and background. You don’t have to do it manually. Take the help of Contrast Ratio, Monsido, Contrast Finder, Coolors, and many such tools available online.
• Use a font size that is a few points greater than what you are using for your light mode designs.

Animation

What can you use to communicate expressions that transcend words, emoticons, and images? Animation! A surefire way of electrifying your emails, animation lets you unleash your creativity to its fullest. Emails with animated elements- be it the hero image, the text, or the CTA button- capture the imagination of readers without skipping a beat.

Showcasing your offerings ingeniously, breaking down a complex idea, livening up your product descriptions, and representing customer data in an attractive and accessible fashion- the use cases for animation are plenty!

Given below are the three kinds of animated elements that are typically used in emails.

1. GIFs: Hands down the most popular as well as the tried and tested option out there, GIFs have been a darling among email marketers for a long time now. Since they are so thoroughly engaging, they contribute towards improving your click throughs and conversions, reducing your bounces in the process. Keep in mind that GIFs are made up of multiple frames. And the greater the number of frames, the more will be your email file size. Large file sizes hamper loading times, hence the best course of action is to compose your animated GIF using as few frames as possible. Additionally, certain email clients, such as Outlook, don’t support GIFs. Subscribers opening their emails on Outlook will only be able to see the first frame of your GIF. So, always try to design your GIFs in such a manner that the first frame itself conveys the most crucial bit of your message. 

2. CSS3: CSS3 lets your craft responsive email templates with ease. This is because, with CSS3, developers are spared from writing different codes for different platforms. Using CSS3, you can elevate your backgrounds, add captivating borders and images, and spruce up the overall visual aesthetic of your campaigns. However, because multiple email clients don’t support it, CSS3 animation is yet to be used at large.

3. APNGs: Animated PNGs or APNGs are, conceptually, similar to GIFs- a sequence of images. But, with APNGs, the images are exclusively in the PNG format. And that makes all the difference. GIFs generally permit up to 8 bits per pixel. This means you can have 256 colors at best. In the case of APNGs, however, you can exhibit millions of colors, thanks to the PNG-24 format. Therefore, APNGs tend to be visually richer than GIFs. 

Additionally, APNGs are more dark-mode friendly as well. Why? Because they comprise PNGs which, as we have discussed earlier, support transparency. What’s more, APNGs are supported by a host of major email clients, too, including Apple Mail, Samsung Mail, iOS, Outlook.com, AOL, and Yahoo. Across Gmail, Gmail app, and Outlook (Windows), you will be able to see just the first frame.

Here are a few email examples where brands have made masterful use of animation.

Illustrations

Email design isn’t just about dialing up the visual appeal of your emails. It is also about amplifying your storytelling. This is where illustrations come in handy. They are excellent for communicating abstract and conceptual ideas. As they have an element of imperfection about them, they are effective at disarming your subscribers’ defenses. And we all know that customers warming up to your communication always augurs well for your brand reputation. 

There are various ways in which you can use illustrations in your emails. Take a look.

• Spot illustrations: Spot illustrations refer to small drawing without backgrounds and borders. Typically, they serve to supplement your copy and visualize your message, giving your email a quirky and playful look. Brands prefer making use of spot illustrations to highlight the salient features of their products or services. For offerings that are non-tangible in nature, spot illustrations prove to be downright invaluable. 
• In animated GIFs: Animated GIFs are already a potent tool by themselves. Can you imagine how much more striking they would be if their constituent frames were illustrations? Well, don’t just sit wondering. Try it out in your next campaign!
• With photographs: Using illustrations in conjunction with photographs can help you etch a lasting impression on your audience’s minds. With this technique, you can establish a novel visual brand for your business.
• With typography: By combining illustrations with typography, you can lace your emails with wonderful illustrated text. Don’t have any offerings to promote and yet want to spark a visual interest among your readers? Use this technique without sparing a second thought. Illustrated text also goes very well with image-heavy emails.
• As a divider: Facilitating smooth navigation for your readers include ensuring that the transition between the different content sections in your email is not visually jarring. Using illustrations to break content is a great ploy to both, improve readability as well as add a lively touch.

Take a look at these examples to get your creative juices flowing.

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Gradients

The gradual blending of two or more colors or of various shades of one color is called a gradient. Immensely versatile in nature, gradients lend depth to your design. Emails that have gradients as backgrounds are incredibly eye-catching, calling readers attentions effectively to the message they hold. Want to include an element of visual intrigue in your email template? Look no further than gradients!

Interactivity

Introducing interactivity into your emails is a surefire way of inviting audience engagement. The greatest virtue of interactive elements, possibly, lies in the fact that it lets your subscribers complete certain actions without quitting their inboxes. Examples include making purchases, RSVPing to events, booking appointments, and rating products or services. For high traffic times of the year, such as the holiday season, many brands embrace gamification- including a simple, interactive game in their emails. Goes without saying, such campaigns fetch them tremendous results. 

The only caution that you need to exercise while dealing with interactive elements is this: Ensure that you aren’t implementing interactivity simply for the sensationalism aspect of it. They must be in tune with your overall message, and more importantly, offer value to your audience.

Critical Design Components of an Email Template 

A standard email template consists of multiple constituent parts. In order to craft a pixel-perfect specimen, you have to ace the design of every single component. Let us take a closer look at them.

Header

Your email header is the first thing that readers notice upon opening your email. Want to effortlessly familiarize audiences with your visual identity? Hit all the right notes with your header.

The following points illustrate how you can go about it.

• Ensure your logo is prominent in your email header. Among other things, the header informs the reader about the email sender. A clear logo, thus, essentially brands your email, earning the trust of your subscribers in the process. Along with the logo, a few brands also prefer to add an introductory line or two in their header to further consolidate their branding. 
• Be mindful of your header size. Ideally, it should be under 200 pixels. Take a look at these headers, for example.

• Insert a “view in web browser” link in your header. Emails that are heavy on images, animated GIFs, and interactive elements might occasionally fail to render properly. In such scenarios, the view online link gives subscribers the choice of opening the email outside their email client, on a web browser, where they can successfully view all the email elements. 
• If your business is running any special offers or promotional codes, you can include the link of the same in your email header to increase their visibility.
• While it’s not absolutely mandatory, we’d recommend that you include a simple navigation menu in your header. This way, you can prioritise the content you want your recipients to see. To make your menu tabs attractive, you can write them using custom fonts. 
• Design different headers for the holiday season. Maybe put a Christmas cap on your logo for Christmas, an illustrated shamrock for St. Patrick’s, orange-colored confetti for Halloween, or animated eggs for Easter- you get the gist, don’t you? After all, if the entire population is dressed in ceaseless fervor, why should your email headers be any different? 

Preheader

If your subject line gives readers a sneak peek into your email, the preheader builds upon it, providing additional context to your subscribers. 

Here are some things you should keep in mind to craft a winning preheader.

• Your preheader should be crisp. The ideal range for preheaders is 40-130 characters, which translates to 5-8 words. So, draft it accordingly. 
• Do not convey any independent or new idea with your preheader. It must be related to your subject line and extend upon the idea that you have teased there. 
• Including a call-to-action in your preheader is a good way to spur your readers into action.

Logo and Colors

Your logo and color scheme are both an integral component of your brand identity. Listed below are some best practices you should take into account while dealing with them. 

• As discussed earlier, dark mode, at present has been adopted by all popular email clients out there. Therefore, you must design two versions of your logo- one each for the light and dark modes. 
• Try to create your logo in the PNG format. This will allow you to work with transparency, which will make matters convenient for you while dealing with the dark mode. 
• Familiar yourself with color psychology prior to chalking out your brand’s color scheme. Different colors convey different emotions- green is associated with tranquility, blue with security, yellow with creativity, purple with royalty, black with authority, red with passion (as well as urgency), and the like. Hence, pick your color scheme carefully because it goes a long way towards shaping people’s perception of your brand.
• As mentioned earlier, to foster accessibility, make use of contrasting colors for your email’s foreground and background elements.

Images

Every marketer out there loves punctuating their emails with images, and well, why wouldn’t they? They infuse an incomparable energy into campaigns, help create an emotional connect with readers, and enhance your copy’s appeal (among other things). 

That said, one must keep the following things in mind while using images.

• Always use high-quality images in your emails.
• Try to maintain a ratio of 80:20- 80% text and 20% images. Failing to comply with this will earn you the suspicion of spam filters.
• Make sure that the images you use are relevant to both your brand image as well as your email copy.
• Write descriptive alt texts. People using assistive technologies such as screen readers rely on them to interpret your images. 

Copy

The manner in which you present your copy goes a long way toward shaping your engagement and interaction. Implement the following techniques to get best results. 

• Never write your copy in chunky paragraphs. It instantly puts off your readers. Preferably, your content should either be laid out in short paragraphs, each consisting of 2-3 lines, or in bullet points. Additionally, to improve structure, use headings and subheadings wherever necessary.
• Be conscious of your font size. No one would want to squint hard at their screens to read your emails. For desktop emails, the ideal font size is between 10-12px, and for mobile emails, it is 16-18px.
• Make your sentences short and crisp. Long, winding sentences will discourage subscribers from engaging with your message.

Call-to-action

The CTA button of your email is arguably its most crucial component. And designing a high-performing CTA is a task and a half. Keep the following pointers handy to ensure smooth sailing. 

• Pay attention to the placement of your CTA button. If you want readers to take action against it, you have to first make certain that they are able to spot it without difficulties, right? What we would recommend is keeping your primary CTA above the fold itself. That way, your subscribers will be able to see it immediately opening the email (and without having to scroll down). Additionally, if you have multiple content sections, you can consider keeping a separate CTA for each.
• Another thing that contributes towards making your CTA button prominent is its color. Choose such a shade that it contrasts sharply against the remaining elements in your email. 
• Preferably the size of your CTA button should be between 45-55 pixels at least. This way, it will be accessible for both desktop and mobile users.

Footer

Sure, the email footer might be the last component of your template, but it is just as important as the rest. A meticulously designed email footer secures your credibility, helping you cast a positive impression in your audience’s minds. 

Here are a few things you can do to make your email footer eye-catching. 

• Make sure that the footer contains all important information pertaining to your brand, such as contact information, postal address, website link, and, of course, the company logo.
• Your footer should contain an update preferences or unsubscribe link. Allowing people to opt out of your communications is as important as adding new contacts to your list with their explicit consent.
• While including the icons of your social media platforms in our footer, look into it that their design aligns with your email’s overall design language.

Mobile-friendly Design- Why You Should Embrace it Now

With nearly half of all emails being accessed from a mobile device at present, failing to make your communication mobile-friendly will significantly hamper the reach and visibility of your campaigns. 

So, how can you optimize your emails for mobile? By taking stock of the following tips and tricks. 

• Design your emails in a single-column layout. This will let you steer clear of overflowing text, overlapping columns, shifting of images, and other rendering issues that are typically encountered with multi-column layouts.
• Optimize your subject lines and preheaders.
• Make your CTAs prominent.
• Try to use as few images as possible because most mobile email clients block images by default.

Tricks Email Designers Can Pick from the Book of Web Developers

• Establish a visual hierarchy in your emails. This will make navigation smoother for your readers.
• Use the technique of “progressive disclosure” to deal with text-heavy emails. This practice involves hiding text segments beneath interactive elements.
• Implement heatmaps to understand how subscribers are interacting with your emails.

Wrapping It Up

The next time you sit down to design your email template, we hope that the insights shared above are able to guide you!

The post A detailed guide to help you ace your Email Template Design appeared first on Email Uplers.

Customer experience is what people share with their peers about your brand. It is like you have written an exam and they are the judges. 

The first step to creating a memorable customer experience is putting yourself in the customers’ shoes and seeing through their eyes. Customer journey maps come into play at this point. 

The cardinal objective of customer journey mapping is to work as a mirror to show you the customer’s experience with your brand. It also gives you an insight into the objections that stop them from purchasing (again) from you. It is possible to improve the customer experience only after understanding the existing customers’ perspectives. 

Have you heard about market orientation? It means that you are in sync with your customers and what they think, believe, feel, and want. It looks like a cakewalk on the surface and every brand seems to be doing it. But when you dive deeper, you realize that we are suffering from the cognitive bias of “in-group favoritism”. We form a specific worldview and limit ourselves within an auditorium of like-minded people. We assume that everyone shares the same point of view as us and forget the element of empathy. Customer journey mapping helps us redeem it. As a result, we can improve communications and processes more meaningfully. 

What is a Customer Journey Map?

A tool that helps marketers identify, organize, verify, and socialize the customer experience is known as a customer journey map. It also allows marketers to understand customer needs and figure out gaps in the customer experience. Then, you can utilize these learnings to fill these gaps with effective solutions. 

A customer journey map gives you a visual perspective of how a customer interacts with your business. In simple words, a customer journey map works like a microscope for the purchase process and allows you to streamline the customer experience while warranting long-term customer success. 

Challenges in creating a customer journey map

According to the rule of seven, a customer has an average of seven interactions before they decide to make a purchase. They engage with businesses across multiple channels and devices. It includes organic search, social media, and referral sites. Every customer interaction needs to be perfectly identified to prepare a perfect customer journey map. 

ENTER MARKETO  ↵ 

Marketo furnishes a powerful scaffold to create effective customer journey maps and speed up the deal velocity across different stages. 

Your customer journey map could look something like this:

Advantages of Customer Journey Mapping in Marketo

1. You can recognize bottlenecks and prevent them

Customer journey mapping helps you track and quantify the number of customers in every stage. Accordingly, you can recognize possible bottlenecks between stages.            

2. It helps formulate the marketing strategy to drive conversions

Customer mapping allows you to design the marketing strategy in such a way that you can move the customers closer to conversions. You can spare enough time to understand the customer interactions and make necessary iterations. The customer journey throws light on the customer’s pain points at different stages of the purchase process. Accordingly, companies can reduce friction and objections to drive conversions faster. Drawing insights from the customer map will enable you to allocate the budget to things that are most important for business growth. Through the Marketo customer journey map, you will be able to connect the lead and account program data. It will let you see how customers are proceeding in the funnel. In case you detect any low-performing stages, you can channel your sales and marketing efforts in that direction. It will also improve the accountability between the sales and marketing departments by using timed stages. 

3. You can impart a consistent experience to customers

As customer journey maps let you see the world from their eyes, you can figure out the gaps in customer experience. Consequently, you can ensure a pleasant customer experience by optimizing customer service management. If there is any discrepancy between the desired and real customer experience, you can overcome it through customer maps. 

4. It allows you to take a futuristic approach

Creating customer journey maps will help you understand how customer interactions change over time. They help in tracking the dynamics of customer expectations and adjusting your marketing strategy accordingly. 

A Step-by-step Guide to Customer Journey Mapping

1. Define your goals

Everything in business comes with a “why”. Customer journey mapping is no different. Identify your goals and the type of customers you want to target. Your customer journey maps will determine the future processes. So, make sure you give enough time to this step.

2. Collect user information

After you determine the objectives, you must collect all the necessary customer information. Every customer interaction should be recorded. Make sure you include qualitative and quantitative data in the customer journey map. Cross-departmental information will be of great help while preparing the customer journey map. 

3. Prepare customer personas

In addition to the information gathered from the second step, use questionnaires and surveys to create detailed customer personas. 

You can include questions like:

1. How did you come to know about us?

2. Why did you choose us?

3. Was our website easy to navigate?

4. How was your interaction with the customer support team? 

5. What are the main challenges that made you purchase from us?

6. Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve our products/ services?

Note that you will be able to create a number of customer personas with these surveys. However, you must focus on one or two for the customer journey maps to be effective. Marketo gives you the functionality to design customer lifecycle models more effectively with their drag and drop model builder, templates and custom models, and model management and cloning

4. Acknowledge all touchpoints

Touchpoints are the channels that your customers interact on. Whether it is opening an email, clicking through a link in a newsletter, liking or commenting on a social media post, or adding an item to the cart — all these are considered touchpoints. If you are a Marketo user, you will get to use lifecycle phases, stages, and transitions to structure linear as well as complex success paths. You can track the customer traffic for every stage and then automate the transitions between two phases. 

• Multiple Phase, Stage & Transition Types
• Anonymous Visitor Stage & Tracking
• Lifecycle Stage Transition Automation

If you think that your customers are not interacting with adequate touchpoints, your website is not effective enough to drive a decision. Contrarily, if there are too many touchpoints, it means that your website is difficult to navigate through and there are too many roadblocks to conversion. 

5. Choose the type of map

According to the goals you have determined, you can choose the type of customer journey map.

They are of three different types.

a. Current state

This is the most commonly used map. It lets you perceive the actions, thoughts, behaviors, and emotions that your customers experience at the moment. 

b. Day-in-the-life

As the name suggests, this type of map helps to understand the customer’s habits and activities throughout the day. It may or may not include the brand interaction. 

c. Future state

The future state customer map predicts the actions, thoughts, behaviors, and emotions experienced by your customers in the future interactions with your brand. 

6. Plot the customer journey

By now, you have a clear picture of your target audience and customers. The next step is to plot the customer journey. You must concentrate only on the actions in this step and the time when they take those actions.

7. Experience the customer journey hands-on

Take the customer journey as you have plotted in the previous step. Note down the customer’s challenges and instances when you have to look hard for the information you need. Determine whether you are getting the experience you expect for your clients. Assess the actions that your customers would take and the reasons for the same. 

This experience will help you understand if your customer’s needs are met. It will help you ensure delivering a useful and intuitive experience to the customers by solving their problems. It will add a personal touch to all the engagements and instill trust in their minds.

Wrapping Up

To sum it up, a basic customer journey map would look something like this:

According to your industry, you can include additional layers of tracking on this map. Just make sure that you do not consider microscopic interactions and add only critical digital interactions to the list. 

If you need any help, our Marketo experts are always there to help you. 

The post Everything you need to know about customer journey mapping in Marketo appeared first on Email Uplers.

Expert Interview Series: Part 6

Unraveling the Fundamentals of Email Deliverability

One of the most tricky aspects of email marketing is deliverability. You can crack ways to increase the open rate, get high click-throughs, and drive conversions. But email deliverability rate remains a mysterious metric that needs the perfect balance of technical know-how and understanding of the customer psychology.

Although it can get complicated and messy at times, big data is transforming the way businesses work. The worst nightmare for any marketer is when they put in time, resources, and money in an email that does not make it to the inbox. To help our fellow marketers keep away from the spam filters and ensure an optimum deliverability rate, we picked Scott Hardigree’s brain.

Scott is the Founder and CEO of Email Industries, a recognized email deliverability expert, and the company behind the AlfredKnows email list hygiene service.

Let’s start with busting some myths. People often use the terms email delivery and email deliverability interchangeably. How are they different?

Scott : A message may be delivered (delivery) to the recipient’s mailbox provider but not delivered to the recipient’s inbox. That is the difference between delivery and deliverability. Deliverability is getting mail to the inbox, delivery is simply passing mail to the email mailbox provider.

Scott : It is definitely not a myth. It is possible to send an email and achieve 100% inbox placement, this however is only likely if the email you are sending is to only a small handful of people known to you. Where it becomes increasingly difficult to achieve 100% inbox placement or ‘deliverability’ is when sending campaigns at scale. Invariably some mail will be filtered to spam or have other labels attached to them as a way for the mailbox providers to quality control their filtering systems. In this way, even the best senders of high volume mail will find at least some of their messages are filtered and thereby excluding them from achieving 100% deliverability.

Which factors influence the landing of email in the inbox?

Scott : Factors that will impact your ability to inbox successfully includes the basics, that is to ensure your domains are properly configured, your DNS and email authentication is set up and you have working mailboxes in place for the email addresses for which you are sending. Thereafter, it gets more complicated as it is the volume of mail, consistency of that mail, and your sender reputation which influences your inbox placement and how consistently inbox placement can be achieved.

Your sender reputation is made up of any number of factors depending on the recipient’s mailbox provider. It is widely believed, and experience suggests it is true, that those senders whose emails are opened and engaged with, that are manually moved from junk to primary, and similar positive interactions by your subscribers will lead to a more positive sender reputation.

Your sender reputation can be harmed by a multitude of factors including complaints and sending to unknown users. This is why it is important to keep your lists clean.

Is executing BIMI for email deliverability worth all the effort and investment? What kind of businesses can benefit the most from this technology?

Scott : BIMI in itself is not for email deliverability. It may help with brand recognition in the inbox leading to greater engagement and therefore a better reputation which will result in enhanced inbox placement. Retail businesses and consumer brands are the most likely to see an uplift in engagement rates as a result of implementing BIMI.

Pruning the email list is mandatory to ensure a good email deliverability rate. What is the best frequency for list cleaning?

Scott : It is definitely not a myth. It is possible to send an email and achieve 100% inbox placement, this however is only likely if the email you are sending is to only a small handful of people known to you. Where it becomes increasingly difficult to achieve 100% inbox placement or ‘deliverability’ is when sending campaigns at scale. Invariably some mail will be filtered to spam or have other labels attached to them as a way for the mailbox providers to quality control their filtering systems. In this way, even the best senders of high volume mail will find at least some of their messages are filtered and thereby excluding them from achieving 100% deliverability.

How to combat the commonly encountered challenges of fraudulent sign-ups and emails landing in spam folders?

Scott : If you’re receiving fraudulent human signups you’ll first want to look at what you use to incentivize those signups. Incentivized signups can lead to abuse. However, if you’re receiving non-human signups, there are a number of anti-bot type security you can put in place.

There are controversial opinions on the impact of MPP on email deliverability. Can you reveal the truth to our readers?

Scott : In a nutshell, you need to find more meaningful ways to gauge engagement than using open rates, which are increasingly less accurate. In fact, open rates have never truly been accurate. The fact that open rates are less meaningful for large swathes of a subscriber list is certainly problematic for those who relied heavily on open rates as a metric, it is ever less meaningful.

Scott : Yes and no. If your sender reputation is strong enough they really do not matter very much at all and are unlikely to have much of an impact. The impact of spam weighting on languages and words has far more impact in a B2B setting and where messages are being sent in the English language.

How to determine whether someone needs an email deliverability audit? How often should we audit the email deliverability reports?

Scott : We recently published “Do You Need an Email Deliverability Audit? Let’s Find Out.” which goes into more detail but suffice to say it is worth doing a deliverability audit any time you’re experiencing a deliverability issue or you make significant changes to your DNS, your email vendors, your emailing practices, or any other significant changes to your program. Outside of this look to have an audit every twelve months at least to get a check on the state of your deliverability.

Maintaining an optimum deliverability rate has gotten tougher in recent times as spam filters are getting more advanced. Does it mean that the email deliverability rate will go further down in the future?

Scott : Deliverability rates fluctuate a little year to year but there is no overall downward trend when looking over a three or four-year period. It generally hovers around the 90% mark for good senders in the US, Europe, and the UK. A few percentage points here and there. Oftentimes, improvements in deliverability rates can be tied directly to new legislation forcing marketers to do better in terms of permission and relevance.

So how does one ensure minimum deliverability challenges in the future?

Scott : This has really never changed: send email that people expect to receive. It’s that simple.

After this insightful conversation, I believe that our readers will be able to think like an ISP and prevent their emails from going to spam. Email deliverability is not as complex as you think. Just keep an eye on the email cadence and quality of your list. Note that ISPs are stricter with people who send emails every day. So, schedule your emails accordingly and keep pruning your list. That sums up all of it!

The post Expert Interview Series: Part 6 appeared first on Email Uplers.

[This post has been updated on 3rd June, 2022]

“The only thing worse than being blind is having a sight but no vision” – Helen Keller

That’s exactly the case with email marketing practiced without any audit.

It is interesting to know that approximately 74% of client-side marketers consider email as an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ marketing channel. Carrying out an ‘email marketing audit’ helps you to measure the performance of your email marketing strategy and make the most of it.

So many marketers overlook this approach thinking that it is not worth their time and money. However, the fact is that email audit can enlighten the marketers about the shortcomings in their strategy and help them make the necessary amendments.

Importance of Conducting Email Marketing Audit – It helps you bring a vision

An email marketing audit can come to your rescue if you are facing any challenges or if you want to rediscover new opportunities with your email campaigns. It paves new avenues for you to try and test. Businesses usually prefer a quarterly email audit approach. However, if the number of emails that make up your strategy is too low, you can consider a half-yearly approach for the audit.

Let experts audit your email marketing campaign and help you optimize it.

Know more>>

It is debatable whether you should perform an internal audit or an external audit. But, an external audit is more beneficial in the following aspects:

• You can receive impartial inputs from an expert professional.
• An external audit considers the latest trends and gives the organization a direction or vision to invest in.
• Trivial things go unnoticed when audited internally.

Let’s take a simple example. It is advisable to use live text instead of slicing fonts in email. This could seem an unimportant fact, but it goes a long way in enhancing the subscriber experience.

• When new legal policies are rolled out, an audit can let you recognize how and to what extent you need to modify your strategy. Remember GDPR implemented on 25^th May 2018? If you are not yet sure if your emails are GDPR-compliant, an audit can figure it out for you.

By running an email campaign audit, you can take important decisions like upgrading to a new email service provider, improving deliverability or changing the day/time of send. Moreover, it allows you to have an exhaustive understanding of what’s working for your emails and what isn’t. Through the conclusions derived from the email audit reports, you can improve your business outcome by revising the key elements of your email marketing strategy.

Factors included in Email Audit

Many clients who approach agencies for email audit are not sure of the parameters included in it.

Email Uplers is an full service email markeging agency which provides extensive email audit, some of the criteria that they keep in mind are shared below:

1. What is the current trend in the email industry?

They go through the emails and share the elements that are most relevant for that particular industry, based on the latest trends. This information is more likely to bring good results for the clients.

Let’s say, for one of the clients, typography is working better than plain fonts like Times New Roman. They should design emails keeping this fact in mind.

2. What kind of CTAs contribute to the better performance of the email campaigns?

The audit experts have a close look at the kind of CTAs that drive subscribers to visit the website.

It could be rounded buttons, CTAs using first person narratives, a specific color in the CTA text, etc.

3. Does the email design instill trust?

Even a glimpse of the email should build credibility and instill trust in the minds of the subscriber.

The audit helps in verifying whether the brand guidelines are being met.

Foundation Stones of Email Audit

The most frequently asked question regarding email audit is this- How do we gauge the email marketing performance?

So, here’s a sneak peek into the same.

Email list

A subscriber list is the most important part of email marketing. The first concern is to determine whether the email list is organically built or purchased. Purchased lists seldom perform well on the charts of email metrics as you do not have explicit consent to send them any marketing email communication. It is, therefore, advisable to have a prominently placed sign up form on your website or promote informative downloadable resources as gated content to get more subscribers.

Pro-tip: Carry out regular email list cleaning to maintain proper list hygiene and enhance deliverability.

Segmentation criteria

Email marketing does not work if your email does not reach the right set of people. An audit checks the email list and ensures that it has been segmented based on the right criteria. Taking into account the industry and type of business, it can suggest the best segmentation parameters that would work for you.

For example: If you are a retail store owner, you should segment on the basis of age, sex, and geographic location. This will give you a better chance of conversion through personalization by creating more relevant ‘promotional’ emails.

Here’s a real-life example to inspire you.

Formaggio Kitchen has a long signup form, but it is the perfect example to enable smart segmentation.

I received this email because I expressed my interest to receive regular updates on weekly dinner menus. This implies that they have added me in that particular mailing list.

Sender name and email address

Have a trustworthy name and email address as the email sender. Rather than sending an email with an unrecognizable name and a no reply email address, it is always better to have your brand name as the sender name with the email address ‘contact@abc.com’ or ‘news@xyz.com’.

No reply email addresses evoke the feeling that the sender is least interesting in hearing from the subscriber and that certainly impacts the email performance.

Check out the example below

Subject lines and preheader text

If your emails are not bringing the desired open rates or if the email opens are consistently below average, the main suspect is bad subject lines. An email audit carefully analyzes the subject lines by exporting the email campaign reports and deduces the findings based on the subject line best practices.

Another culprit for low open rates is the absence of pre-header text. Marketers often send emails with the preheader text – ‘View this email in browser’. That is certainly a waste of content space. Based on this information, the audit experts share their recommendations in different stages according to the priority of their execution.

Uncommon Goods does a good job at drafting concise subject lines with interesting preheader text – “Did you get your Father’s Day gift yet?”

Subject line: Morning, sunshine!

Pro-tip: Personalization and emojis in subject lines are the growing trends that email enthusiasts look forward to seeing in the future emails, not to forget a preheader text that elaborates the subject line.

Our email experts can help you with ESP integration and migration across 50+ ESPs. Learn more>>

Email copy

Your click-through rates rely on your email content. It is, undoubtedly, the age of visual marketing but RELEVANT CONTENT combined with appealing visuals is what your subscribers look for. An audit considers the top performing email campaigns of the concerned brand to ascertain what kind of email copy resonates the best with the target audience.

In most of the cases, a succinct copy that delivers value to the reader along with some visuals (only if needed) is the safest bet.

Airbnb sets a good example of enticing copy supported by related visuals.

Image Source

Design of the email

The expert professionals have a sharp eye for spam triggers and designing flaws. They are enlisted below.

• Unnecessarily flashy emails
• Non-adherence to branding guidelines
• Skewed text to image ratio
• No alt text for the images
• Too large email size
• Missing unsubscribe button
• Inaccessible emails
• Some coding pitfalls that lead to rendering issues in some email clients

Your email design should be attractive, but you should not underestimate the importance of creating responsive emails to cater to mobile users. Having designed 60,000+ templates, Email Uplers has an extensive experience in sharing the best insights as per the industry standards.

Pro-tip: Your CTA placement and design matters a lot when it comes to driving high click-through rate and conversions.

Send time

Let’s be practical and honest. There cannot be a ‘best’ time to send emails. It is a subjective concept. Past performance and industry average help to determine an appropriate (we are not using the word ‘best’) send time that can get you better open rates and click-throughs.

Pro-tip: A/B testing can come in handy to eliminate any uncertainty about what will work the best for your email campaigns.

Sending frequency

Many email marketers follow the approach of ‘batch and blast’ emails five days a week. That is one of the most damaging email marketing practices. Inform the subscriber right at the outset (in the welcome email or during the time of signup) when can they expect an email from you, or maintain a consistent email sending schedule.

For example: If you send out an email every Friday at 9 PM, your subscribers are surely going to appreciate the consistent marketing strategy that you follow.

Email Deliverability

An email audit helps you find answers to questions like:

• How many of your emails are landing in the inbox of your subscribers?
• What is the IP being used to send an email?
• How good is the delivery rate of your campaigns?

Wrapping It Up

Your email audit will guide you through the roadmap to creating better emails. Be it building the email list (acquisition stage), setting up well-designed email campaigns (nurture stage), or optimizing your emails for unmatched results (grow stage), Email Uplers can take care of it all.

It all depends on whether you have the time and resources to run an audit or not.

The bottom line is doing an audit is crucial and you can think of approaching external audit experts to help you out.

A detailed email audit can cost you $499.

…BUT you can test it for free >>

The post Email Marketing Audit Checklist appeared first on Email Uplers.

The 4th of July is one of the most celebrated occasions in the USA as it honors the American glory of Red, White, and Blue. If we look at the 2021 trends, 84% people planned to celebrate Independence Day last year. Out of them, 29% planned to purchase additional patriotic items. 

People are looking forward to parties, shopping, and hanging out with their near and dear ones. To keep driving sales during the entire 4th of July week, you must put your best foot forward when it comes to planning the marketing strategies. As emails bring the maximum ROI of $36, marketers must pay special attention to this channel and start planning well in advance. 

We have curated 20 of the best email designs that will give you several ideas to plan your campaigns. 

Are you ready to get inspired? Let’s go… on an email spree….

1. The Foggy Dog

Subject line: Just in: NEW July 4th

People love buying patriotic items for themselves as well as their pets to celebrate the 4th of July. The Foggy Dog has promoted their products with attractive images. The visuals show the usage of those items and entice the readers to make the purchase. The images are accompanied with engaging text that talks a bit about their products. The best part is that they have not overloaded the email with too much information or CTAs. 

Toward the end of the email, they have promoted their summer collection too. Also, notice the cute illustration that brings attention to their philanthropic approach. 

2. BauBax

Subject line: Surprise! Independence Day Sale Continues

The subject line itself conveys what the email is about. Interested users will surely be tempted to see what’s in store for them. The GIF displays their pretty footwear in the hero image along with their promo code. The next fold talks about their extended sale of an extra 20% OFF and creates a sense of urgency by using phrases like “available until midnight” and “before it expires”. It would be a good idea to promote their social media handles in the footer to get organic followers. 

3. Vavoom Vodka

Subject line: Discount To You Or Your Friends

If you are looking for ideas to acquire customers this Independence Day, check this email by Vavoom Vodka. They have subtly asked the readers to forward the email to 5 friends and promote their 4th of July sale. The fireworks in the hero image set the user in the Holiday vibe.  

Pro-tip: Include something like this to make the new users a part of your email list (even if they do not make the purchase).

4. EMF Harmony

Subject line: Use code: JULY4-20OFF for 20% OFF

I like such subject lines that do not beat around the bush. It will provide the user with all the required information that can help them decide whether or not to open the email. Every fold in the email has something unique for the reader.

First fold: Gradient with a muted color palette showing an entire family using their products. 

Second fold: Countdown timer to drive instant purchases.

Third fold: Reiterating their offer and letting the users know the usefulness of their products. (Also, the subtle gradient again!)

5. Grace and James Kids, LLC

Subject line: RWB 30% Off! Shop Now!

Grace and James Kids, LLC has started promoting their 4th of July sale from May itself. That’s what planning in advance looks like!

They have tactfully used a perfect combination of red, blue, and white to promote Memorial Day, 4th of July, and summer patriotic products. They have used a GIF to make sure that the readers do not miss out on the same. In case the user has images blocked on their email client, they will be able to get the message from the copy below it. This is important from an accessibility point of view too. In the subsequent sections, they have added images to endorse the lovely products on sale. The last fold recapitulates the offer to reinforce the customer’s impulse to shop.

6. Lenox.com

Subject line: The Celebration Ends TONIGHT!

Lenox.com has sent an email to remind the customers about the final hours of the 4th of July sale. The email keeps it simple with a fireworks animation to promote their 25% Off sale. In the next section, they have promoted different types of products (Eat, drink, decorate, gift) available in their store. If your copywriter has left for greener pastures (or is on leave), you can focus on visual marketing as shown in this email. 

7. Zak Designs

Subject line: Happy 4th of July

Very few brands focus on bringing attention to their logo. Zak Designs is one of them. They have garnished the logo with clever animation. It is a good way to make people remember your brand. The hero image with red, blue, and white shades conveys the patriotic sentiment. The copy lets the users know about the features and vision behind their products, followed by a clearly visible CTA. The email is short and engaging enough to prompt people to convert. 

8. Unique Vintage

Subject line: Up to 80% Off > Fireworks & BBQs

Emails are the perfect channel to promote your social media handles. That’s exactly what made this email stand out. Besides promoting their summer and 4th of July sale with a starry animation, they have drawn attention to their Instagram handle with a simple GIF that emulates Instagram stories. Furthermore, they have also promoted their rewards program to increase the likelihood of conversion. The entire email offers multiple options to the users to take action. You can either take this approach or go the minimalist way and focus on one thing to promote.  It depends on your target audience, the type of business, and the objectives of your email campaigns.     

9. L By Miss L-Fire

Subject line: Final call for VIP discount

All images and no text make emails a dull entity. L By Miss L-Fire strikes the perfect balance between visuals and words in their Independence Day email. Rather than using fancy typography, they have formatted the text with a red and blue color font face. The red CTA is prominently placed and in contrast with the remaining email. 

11. Fragrant Jewels

Subject line: Reveal a 4th of July surprise!

Fragrant Jewels has taken an interesting approach to get people to purchase from them on Independence Day. The email simply taps on the inquisitiveness and “FOMO” instinct of the users, to get them to click on the CTA. 

On clicking through, the users will be redirected to a landing page that asks them to pick their ring size. Once the user does that, they will be asked to “click to peel” and an exciting prize will be revealed.

https://www.fragrantjewels.com/lpsrv/671_patriotic_unicorn_peeler_sizes.html

Their Independence Day email campaign is a perfect example of an omnichannel experience in which the email as well as the landing page are perfectly in sync with each other. 

In case the user does not open the email, the same email will be deployed with a different subject line – Re: Your 4th of July bonus gift is waiting…

12. Weight Watchers

Subject line: Red, white, and just for YOU

If you are looking for some inspiration for a creative animation, take a look at this email. It is a minimalistic yet visually rich email design. They have chosen the perfect combination of muted and vibrant colors to match the Independence Day mood. The centrifugal type of GIF draws attention to their Holiday offer. The CTA verbiage, design, and placement is perfect to draw maximum click-throughs.

Oh, and did you know how we have been helping Weight Watchers consistently since 2017?

We have created more than 1900 templates for them so far. 

Read the case study here: How Email Uplers and its dedicated cross-functional team helped Weight Watchers

Wrapping Up

Animated typography, fireworks GIF, illustrations, aesthetic images, gradients, innovative CTAs, and minimalism are some of the design elements you can use in your 4th of July emails. You can even try out interactive elements like countdown timers, hover effect, and gamification in these emails to enhance the visual appeal and subscriber engagement. 

Looking for such stunning email templates and to ace your email strategy like Weight Watchers?

Get in touch with us NOW>>

The post 4th of July Email Inspirations to up your email engagement (& conversions!) appeared first on Email Uplers.

Email marketing for the education industry operates with several objectives like:

1. Engaging students with news and regular updates
2. Keeping alumni informed of the activities at the institution
3. Encouraging prospective students to enrol into different programs
4. Promoting offers that would entice students to get referrals
5. Communicating with staff and stakeholders

It is different from other B2B or B2C email communications as the audience of these emails include students, applicants, partners of the educational institution, and its employees. There is a huge competition and you need to communicate at several touchpoints on a daily basis.

Marketing for a university, educational institution, or an online learning and teaching marketplace is not just about “promotions”. It is about building lifelong relationships and imparting a memorable experience to the recipients. 

Advantages of Email Marketing for Education Industry

Of course, social media and moment marketing with memes and GIFs sounds like the most attractive thing for marketing to the young population. But email marketing outshines all these tactics. A report by SendinBlue has revealed that 71% of millennials will take action from an email having the preferred content. It shows that emails are more effective to reach the millennial generation of students. 

Millions of students are applying to colleges, universities, and online courses. They compare different programs to determine the one that suits them the best. That’s where email marketing can help overcome the competitive bottleneck and persuade students to enrol. 

Email marketing not only helps convert the prospective students but also in retaining the enrolled students. If a student is happy with your university, it is quite likely that they will continue their education or take up another course from you. 

Points to Remember While Planning the Email Strategy

1. Be consistent in all your communications

Follow the brand guidelines in all the email communications. Whether it is the colors, the mascot or logo, or the messaging tone, keep it consistent throughout.

2. Personalize the emails according to the recipients

Segment your target audience according to their interests and preferences to personalize the emails. In the education industry, you can segment the subscribers based on the courses they have expressed interest in and the degree they are pursuing in your university. Besides addressing the users with their name, incorporate dynamic content in the emails to create hyper-personalized messages.

3. Send interesting content with actionable CTA

Relevance is key if you want to get conversions from emails. Draft engaging content considering the purpose of the email and target audience. Add relevant visuals with an actionable CTA that will prompt the user to take action. 

Now, let’s explore the email automation strategy for the education industry.

1. Welcome the prospects or students with a compelling email

As soon as someone signs up and expresses interest in your courses, you must welcome them with an introduction email. Through this email, you must talk about your university, the programs you cover, and reasons why students should choose you over other universities. 

Take a look at this welcome email by Thinkful. 

They have invited the prospect into the Thinkful community and explained the program structure. They understand that the subscriber might not be sure which course to take up. So, they have offered an introductory call to help. The email also encourages the readers to take a look at their offerings and must-read blogs. They have also highlighted their free events and online learnings that will support active learning. 

ASU sends out a professional yet aesthetic email to senior year students. It is an informative email that explains how a student can start planning for college. They have asked the students to review their admission requirements and then apply to be a Sun Devil (represented by their mascot). 

They have even invited the students to their free event in which they allow the students to visit the campus, get answers to their questions, and explore all the opportunities that ASU has to offer. 

2. Inspire the prospects to apply for the course

After the introductory call, you will get an idea about what the prospect is interested in. Then, you can send out an email that thanks the student for their time and recapitulates the discussion. The aim of this email is to gently nudge the prospect to take action and apply for the course. 

Take a look at this email by Upgrad. It is the main touchpoint that convinced me to apply for the digital branding and advertising course. They have shared the brochure as well as the contact details of the admission counselor to address any objections that I would have. 

3. Keep the students motivated to continue learning

Often, it so happens that the students enrol for your course and then get distracted, busy, or simply disinterested. You must use emails to keep such students motivated. 

Duolingo has gamified the entire learning experience by dividing it into various levels and challenging the users. 

Take a look at this email that reminds the subscriber to continue learning to reach Level 7. 

LinkedIn learning also follows the same tactic, without any gamification principle.

4. Try to retain the existing students 

Retention is important for every business. Education industry is no different. You can retain the students by inviting them to start a new course with you like Highbrow has done in this email. 

Alternatively, you can also launch new courses to get the students interested and continue learning with you. 

Check this email by Foreign Policy Design that promoted their Summer School during the pandemic. It is an off-site program, suitable for young designers as well as seasoned studio owners. The email also covers the different topics included in the program and their instructors. The copy at the outset subtly compels the readers to scroll till the end by mentioning about a “surprise”. It is a good way to increase the reading time and subscriber engagement. They have ended the email with a discount code that will entice the readers to register for the program.

5. Keep the alumni engaged

The alumni are your most priceless possession. They are the ones who can bring you new students with word-of-mouth publicity and make the university flourish. You must keep them engaged and informed about the events, updates, and everything that they should know about. 

The email by Wharton University of Pennsylvania reflects how much they value their alumni. It shares details about the transforming campus, customized career resources, upcoming events, and other curated content pieces. In addition, they have also offered a 25% discount and invited the alumni to apply for open-enrollment Executive Education programs. Now, that’s a great way to get new students and retain the old ones. 

6. Send occasion-based emails to (almost) everyone on the list

If you search for “Education industry email templates”, you will find many examples from Arizona State University. Here’s an email they sent to their subscribers on Valentine’s Day. 

Given the serious nature of the education industry, it is tough to imagine such visually rich emails with animations, right? But your students are humans too and they would appreciate such fun elements in the email once in a while. 

The email has an exclusive Spotify playlist and 6 printable messages for Valentine’s Day. It will surely garner click-throughs and engagement from the readers. Take a bow, ASU people!

They never miss out on wishing their students for the Holidays too. 

7. Send promotional offers to your subscribers

Promoting discount offers looks like a universal marketing tactic. Do not limit your offers to special occasions like Christmas. Take some inspiration from Americademy Inc. and see how they have offered $200 off their weekly summer camps

8. Automate your referral marketing strategy

Acquiring new customers is difficult… but it becomes easy if you have your old customers vouching for you. That’s exactly what referral email marketing is all about. You incentivize the referees and referrals for choosing you over the competitors. 

See how Internshala trainings has promoted their referral marketing strategy to get more people to sign up for their courses. 

9. Re-engage the dormant students

If you are an online learning portal, people might go dormant over a period of time. You must try to win back such learners by sending a re-engagement email. 

This re-engagement email by Duolingo is a nice example of the same. They have not expected much from the reader except a 5-minute lesson. The emotional appeal of the email is likely to draw the subscriber’s attention and get them back on track. 

10. Maintain the list hygiene with automated unsubscribe emails

Create an automated workflow for students or prospects who have not engaged with your past communications over 6-12 months. 

Udemy sends a simple and straightforward email that informs the readers that they have 5 days to stay on the mailing list. It also incentivizes the ones who click on the CTA and choose to stay on the list. Such emails are good to maintain the list hygiene and ensure an optimum deliverability rate. 

Wrapping Up

If you are an email marketer from the education industry, these examples and tips will surely inspire you to create more impactful emails that will help engage, retain, and acquire students/customers. 

Still unsure how to go about it? 

Hire our dedicated resources for your university or educational institution and let them execute your email marketing strategy. 

The post Education Industry Email Automation: It’s not as difficult as you think appeared first on Email Uplers.

The verdict is in: personalization matters.

Salesforce found that 66% of consumers expect brands to understand their needs. Another 52% expect offers to always be personalized. But 66% also say that brands still treat them as “numbers”, not unique individuals.

Lack of personalization can have a tangible impact on your brand’s performance because:

• For 70% of consumers, brand loyalty depends on how well a company understands their needs.
• 72% will only buy from brands that send personalized marketing messages.
• 80% consider personalized experiences as important as products and services.

One of the best ways to incorporate personalization into your brand’s messaging and content is via email marketing. Fortunately, personalized email marketing is not as difficult as you might think with an Email Service Provider (ESP) like Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC).

This guide will show you how to leverage SFMC to understand customer behaviors, sentiments, and preferences and then to use this data to guide your personalization efforts. Thanks for reading!

Collect the Right Amount and Type of Data

You’ve probably heard the phrase “data is the new oil”. The data you collect about your customers is as precious as oil because it can help you create personalized email campaigns. The right amount and type of data removes the need for guesswork so you can take better decisions that generate desirable outcomes like more email opens, more click-throughs, more subscriptions, and more buys.

Start by first identifying the data you will collect:

• Demographic/identity: Location, age, gender, marital status, etc.
• Behavioral: Pages viewed, CTAs clicked, emails opened, etc.
• Descriptive: Lifestyle, career, family, etc.
• Qualitative: Opinions, attitudes, motivations, pain points, etc.

You can collect all this data from customer surveys, interviews, post-purchase feedback forms, and social media engagement. But it’s not enough to simply collect data. To understand customers better and to enhance your email personalization capabilities, you need actionable insights.

To garner these insights, you must connect the various data points to create a cohesive picture of each customer. For this, SFMC is ideal. With SFMC and its Customer Data Platform (CDP), you get a 360-degree view of every customer. You can understand their history, interests, and behavioral patterns in order to:

• Design relevant email messaging and experiences tailored to their needs
• Personalize every moment of their brand journey
• Continually assess campaign performance to meet your goals and elevate your brand’s value

One way to design personalized experiences in SFMC is via AMPscripts in Email Studio. With AMPscripts, you can automatically clean and format customer data and create personalized commercial or transactional emails based on this information. You can also add dynamic content to emails to impress customers and track impressions to gauge and optimize campaign performance.

Segment Your Audience Based on Behaviors

Behavioral segmentation is a useful and effective personalization strategy. It involves assessing customers’ behavioral patterns to improve email marketing personalization. By reviewing how customers have behaved in the past, you can understand what they like, don’t like, and prefer. Then you can create a unique profile about each customer which can help you design personalized email campaigns that resonate with them and bring them closer to your brand.

There are multiple ways to implement behavioral segmentation in SFMC:

• Occasion-oriented: This is when someone purchases a product for a specific occasion, such as a holiday (Christmas), special event (Black Friday), or a personal milestone (birthday).
• Usage-oriented: Observe the number of times a consumer uses your product to guide your personalization strategy.
• Loyalty-oriented: Focus on loyal customers to boost your customer retention rates.
• Benefit-oriented: Try to understand the benefits that customers are looking for in your product: price, design, variety, luxury quotient, etc.

Behavioral segmentation requires active listening. Why do customers behave a certain way? Are these behaviors determined by their backgrounds or lifestyles? Do behaviors change with the seasons or due to a particular event. Use this information to tweak your campaigns and ensure that consumers’ needs are met.

With SFMC, you can use real-time segmentation and its sophisticated Einstein AI engine to inform your behavioral segmentation needs. Thus, you can:

• Define segments using user data
• Compare engagement levels between audiences to modify your campaigns
• Analyze segment membership trends to improve campaign performance
• Deliver behavior-inspired and contextually-relevant experiences that move customers to take action

Leverage SFMC Preference Centers

What better way to give customers what they want than by asking them?!

The purpose of your website’s preference center is to give control to your subscribers about what kind of emails they want to receive from you and at what frequency. Through the preference center, they can quickly change their subscription details and opt-in or unsubscribe from different email streams. 

Use SFMC’s subscription center to manage and leverage your subscribers’ preferences and to create subscriber profiles. This is important because 74% of them find “living profiles” valuable if they are used to curate the experiences, offers, and products they receive from a brand.

A preference center goes beyond simple profile or subscription centers.

A profile center is a webpage where subscribers provide and update their personal information and basic preferences. A subscription center is also a webpage that identifies which messages a subscriber receives from your brand. 

Here’s what a profile center may look like:

Your subscription center may look like this:

A preference center enables users to provide both profile and subscription information, thus providing you with a one-stop shop for user information and personalization. You can easily build a preference center in SFMC. Make sure it includes an unsubscribe option for compliance (e.g., CAN-SPAM). Apart from this, keep some design considerations in mind to build a preference center that generates useful customer information for your personalization requirements:

• Make it mobile-friendly and accessible for all subscribers.
• Ask for preferences or personal interests only if they relate to your brand or its email marketing content.
• Use this information to guide your communication strategy (why are you collecting it otherwise?)
• Clearly state why you are asking for information about their preferences. They should understand what benefit they can expect to get by providing this (precious) information.
• The unsubscribe section should be clearly visible and easy to use.
• If you provide opt-down options for subscribers who want to receive fewer emails (e.g., a monthly newsletter instead of a daily digest), honor those preferences. If you don’t, you will annoy them and may even lose them (“Unsubscribe” or “Mark as Spam”).
• To manage your communications based on the data collected from the SFMC preference center, you can use publication lists or master data extensions (DE).

• With lists, you can either create a custom preference center with SFMC Smart Capture within a landing page OR you can use SFMC Web Collect to add or remove subscribers from lists.
• If you use DE, you can create a custom preference center in SFMC CloudPages and use publication lists to manage subscriptions OR create an external page to update subscriber preferences on a DE via an API.

Managing subscriber preferences will help you know your audience and optimize your email personalization strategy. That’s why you should take the time to get it right.

Use Sentiment Analysis to Personalize Customer Journeys

Sentiment analysis – also known as opinion mining or emotional AI – is one of the best ways to understand the emotional tone (sentiment) behind a customer’s brand opinion, feedback, or attitude. With SFMC and its Einstein AI engine’s Sentiment Analysis API, you can understand if a particular customer’s words have a positive, neutral, negative, or mixed tone and use these valuable insights to improve your email targeting, segmentation, and positioning.

The API has two complementary Natural Language Processing (NLP) features:

• Einstein Intent: Text mining algorithms to understand the global meaning of the text and what your users are trying to accomplish.
• Einstein Vision: An image analysis tool, which can recognize and count the objects in a particular picture.

Use these capabilities to:

• Understand how subscribers view your email messages
• What they say about your campaigns on social media
• Ask subscribers who speak positively about your brand to become brand ambassadors
• Understand the reasons behind the discontent of a subscriber who speaks negative about your brand and its messaging

You can also use Einstein to create personalized recommendations for each subscriber. With Einstein Recommendations in SFMC, create customer profiles. Then based on their behaviors and intents, design tailored email content and recommendations that makes subscribers happy.

Conclusion

Personalized subject lines can improve email open rates by 26% and CTAs perform 202% better than non-personalized CTAs. Email personalization can bring a lot of tangible benefits to your brand. By understanding your audience, you can garner these benefits and give them the personalized experiences they crave. And for this, Salesforce Marketing Cloud is an ideal partner.

For more such insightful content, explore our blog. And, if you are looking for a trusted partner for your SFMC email marketing, we can help.

The post How to Use Customer Behaviors to Personalize Your Email Marketing Campaigns with SFMC appeared first on Email Uplers.

Let me start this article with an enlightening comparison:

Now, as it is evident from the table, offshore hiring gives you the best of all worlds. It eliminates the risk associated with freelancers and gives you reliability just like hiring an in-house professional. As a bonus, you get flexibility, affordability, and accessibility to a large talent pool. 

The only challenge with hiring an offshore team is communication. 

However, you can easily resolve this issue by following certain guidelines.   

Before we discuss how to curb this problem, let’s understand the “why” around it. 

Challenges With Setting Up Clear Communication In Offshore Hiring

1. The professionals are based in different time zones

Nowadays, Google Meet, Skype, and Zoom calls have facilitated communication in remote settings. However, time zone barriers still exist. Offshore hiring becomes challenging because of this. For example: 10 AM in California is 7 PM in the Netherlands. In other words, the day ends in the Netherlands when it starts in California. It will obviously be somewhat challenging to work in such a scenario. [A tad funny because Good Morning at one end will be Good Evening/Night elsewhere.]

It leads to asynchronous communication in which you do not expect the people to reply at a particular time. 

2. Language is a barrier

Let me talk about a personal travel experience. I had gone to Paris and my cab driver could not understand English. Thanks to Google and my elementary level skill in French, I could converse with him and let him know where I had to reach. That’s exactly what language barriers are. No wonder, certain provinces have made it compulsory to learn their language before granting the visa to immigrants. The same holds when you have to hire an offshore professional. You may not be well-versed with their language and vice-versa. 

3. It can be a tough task to manage too many remote professionals

If you have an entire team working remotely, it can be daunting to manage them and understand their individual responsibilities. Communicating with all of them one-on-one becomes too time-consuming. 

4. The planning and documentation is not upto the mark

Most of the time, bad planning and inadequate documentation leads to communication problems. Working with offshore teams becomes difficult if you do not define the scope of work properly. An incomplete brief will lead to long, time-consuming discussions. It can also lead to multiple revisions in some cases. 

Weighing up these issues will help come up with solutions to overcome them. So, let’s unfold ideas to enable easy communication with offshore teams. 

1. Share the knowledge with your remote team

Knowledge sharing is the basis of seamless communication. Give access to your technical documentation, guides, presentations, and spreadsheets that contain your brand guidelines, processes, tasks, and workflows. It will help the offshore team in doing their job perfectly without any miscommunication and rookie errors. 

If you are skeptical about sharing such confidential information, get an NDA signed from the offshore team. 

2. Set the right expectations

Every professional in the offshore team must be clear about the weekly tasks, the to-do list, point of contact in case they have a question, and the project ownership. Keep the message focused without any irrelevant information. For example: If you have hired an offshore email developer, share the email design in JPG format. Also, include the PSD, Figma, Sketch, AI, or PDF file along with it. Let the developer know all the relevant details like:

1. Fallbacks to be included in the email for custom fonts, rich media elements, or interactivity
2. Alt-text for the  visuals
3. Links for the CTA
4. Preheader text
5. Editable blocks of the email
6. Dark mode compatibility
7. Whether you need any ESP for the email

Note: If you need a Dark Mode compatible email, you must provide the design file with transparent images. Remembering all such minute details will make it easier to work with an offshore team. 

3. Take the help of collaboration tools 

Make use of collaboration tools like Slack, Google Meet, Skype, and Zoom calls for frequent communication with the offshore team. Do not shy away from scheduling follow-up calls and catch up with the professionals working remotely. You can also use project management software like Trello and Proofhub to maintain the to-do list and track the status of the tasks.

Furthermore, you must take an inclusive approach and keep everyone in loop whenever you are taking any important decisions. This will make sure that even the offshore professionals do not miss out on any critical piece of communication. 

4. Explain in simple words 

An offshore team might not be well-versed with your language. So, avoid using any jargon or fancy words. Keep the verbiage as simple as possible. Explain in the simplest language. You can confirm whether they understood it by asking them to repeat the same. 

5. Document all the important communications

As mentioned above, asynchronous communication is more about keeping the communication in the written format. Rather than cribbing about it, see it as an opportunity. When you work with an in-house team, it is more about face-to-face conversations. It has a greater chance of getting misinterpreted. On the other hand, email is the commonly used communication medium for offshore professionals. Therefore, everything is documented. It has a lesser chance of getting misinterpreted and people can read the message whenever they want to. 

6. Communicate during the overlapping hours

If you are still uncomfortable with the thought of “waiting for a reply”, use the overlapping hours to communicate with the offshore team. For example: If you are working from India with an email developer based out of Paris (France), communicate with them during the day. Contrarily, communicate after 8 PM IST with the developers based out of Houston (Texas). Alternatively, you can modify the shift timings of the in-house or offshore team to overcome the timezone barriers and enable continuous communication. 

7. Try to understand the cultural beliefs of your offshore team

Working with an offshore team is a great experience as you get to learn about different cultural beliefs. Communication becomes easier when your in-house and offshore team are familiar with each other’s culture. As an instance: If you have an offshore professional working in France, you must be aware of the Bastille Day celebrations on 14th July. It will make the offshore professional feel that you care about their tradition and reduce any conflict. 

Apart from cultural beliefs, take time to learn about work culture too. People in certain countries do not work during the weekend and you must respect their personal space. It will help you keep away from any unrealistic work expectations and eliminate unnecessary friction because of that. 

8. Allocate the responsibility thoughtfully

Every professional in the offshore team has a different level of expertise and skill set. Consider this fact before allocating any task. When choosing a project manager, make sure that the person knows how to prioritize work and delegate the tasks correctly. They must also be able to make quick decisions if there are any changes in the schedule. A project manager should know how to address any exigencies. For instance: If an email is deployed to the wrong segment, the project manager should know what to do in the best interest of the business. They must be able to send a sorry email as soon as possible for effective damage control. Having a proactive offshore professional will automatically ensure seamless communication. 

Wrapping Up

Consistency in the processes, staying organized, and using the right communication tools are the key drivers to streamline the communication with offshore teams. Of course, communication can get a bit problematic, but ensuring clarity in the instructions and keeping things straightforward means half the battle won. The rest, your skilled offshore professionals will manage!

The post 8 Tips to Streamline Communication With Offshore Team appeared first on Email Uplers.

[This post has been updated on 24th May, 2022]

Development of an HTML email code is almost like metamorphosis of a tadpole into frog. It undergoes so many changes right from the conceptualization to the final delivery of the HTML email template. Once the email marketer determines the purpose of sending an email, the copywriter drafts the email copy according to the wireframe. Subsequently, the email designer works on the email design according to the wireframe. After the design gets approved, it is assigned to the email developer who transforms the PSD or AI or PDF file into a pixel perfect HTML email. This file is loaded in the ESP and deployed after thorough testing for flawless rendering. Most of the marketers send HTML email rather than a plain text email because of its enhanced aesthetics.

As a number of people are involved in the creation of an email HTML, even a minor change can take too long to ger resolved. In fact, it roughly takes 4-6 hours to develop an email template. The intricacies of the process add to the time taken in developing a single HTML email template. Of course, you can create free HTML email from the options available online but custom-made emails perform better than those free templates.

Through this article, we will show you how to create simple HTML email template, which you can refer to for basic troubleshooting of your email template HTML code.

Table of Content:

• How to Prepare your simple HTML email template?
• How to Style and design HTML email?
• What does the Final <head> code look like
• How to build your Email <body>
• Points to remember while creating HTML email templates

HTML Basics: How to Create Simple HTML Email Template?

A basic HTML email template includes two parts:

1. Header section: Any code placed between <head> and </head> is referred to as the header section. All the media queries, styling and CSS animations are specified in this section.
2. Body: Any code placed between <body> and </body> is the body section and the rendering engine uses the code to create HTML email structure.

Text formatting

In case you need to add a centralized formatting condition (shown below) for any text, you can specify the attributes in the specific class of the basic HTML email template.

e.g. in order to disable text decoration in hyperlinks, add

Media Queries

In case you are coding a responsive email template, the media queries need to be added in the following format.

For example, consider the following media query in the email HTML code:

When the HTML email design is viewed in a device that is between the screen width of 481 and 699px:

• The width of the email (em_main_table) is forced to be 100% owing to “width: 100% !important;” attribute.
• The section that is associated with em.hide class shall be hidden due to “display:none !important;” attribute
• The section that is associated with em.h20 class will have the fixed height of 20px due to “height: 20px !important;” attribute
• Any element associated with class em_padd will have a fixed padding of 20px (horizontal) and 10px (vertical).

P.S: !important forces the rendering engine to not make any alterations to the media query.

To create responsive HTML email example, separate media queries are specified to be activated at screen widths lesser than 480px.

The media queries you have learned till now will render in a few mobile layouts. But rendering in some of the layouts require a specific set of media queries, and only an expert developer can help you do that. You can learn more about the challenges and opportunities of responsive email template in this blog.

Interactivity in email
In case you wish to send HTML email example with interactive features, the CSS part of the code is to be added before you close the <head> section.

Interactivity in HTML emails is hard to code and requires a lot of testing to render perfectly in email clients. There might be email HTML code available on the internet, but it still requires a lot of coding experience to build interactive emails. You can learn more about interactive HTML emails in our infographic – Interactive Email Design Elements. Here, you will also be able to download samples of each interactive element that can be added in HTML email template code.

Want us to create awesome interactive emails for you? click here now>>

So, we start with a body of 100% width with color #efefefef.

In this we add a table that is center aligned at 700px in the HTML email design.

Now, we will include a pre-header text and “view online” as a part of a cell, made by nesting another table in the above-mentioned table.

Now, we add the hero image in the HTML email format.

Now, we add a separate table for the email copy:

Now, we add a CAN-SPAM compatible footer in the HTML email code:

Now, before we close the HTML email body, we add the following code:

This adds extra spacing to force the desktop layout in Gmail

So, your final email template HTML code should be:

There you go! You’ve successfully created an HTML Email! You can use this HTML Email Example and create your own.

Desktop Version

Mobile View

Points to Remember While Creating HTML Emails

Creating HTML emails is technique-sensitive subject as you have to bear in mind many dos and don’ts to ensure flawless rendering across different email clients and devices.

1. Avoid using JavaScript and complex CSS coding

Website developers heavily rely on JavaScript for interactivity and visual richness. However, email clients do not support JavaScript in the HTML email format. If you still want to incorporate interactivity in HTML email code, you can use AMP in HTML emails. Currently, AMP components in email are supported by Gmail, Yahoo!, and Mail.ru.

Sometimes, you can experiment with CSS3 and HTML5 in your HTML marketing emails but make sure you test the HTML email design with its complicated coding before hitting the “Send” button.

2. Make use of font stacks

While converting email to HTML, pay attention to the fonts used. Write an HTML email with proper font stacks, thereby ensuring proper readability and rendering across different email clients.

While creating HTML emails, use email-safe fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, and Courier New. Provide fallback fonts in your HTML email design regardless whether you choose web-safe fonts or not. It is always advisable to do so as all email clients do not have the same support for fonts.

How to create a font stack in the HTML code for email template?

Font stack is a strategic compilation of fonts according to their priority in the HTML email format. You must place the font you want to use in your HTML email body at the top. Mention the email-safe alternatives and default font below that.

3. Monitor the loading time of the HTML email template code

If your email takes too long to load, it will turn off the subscribers and affect the performance of your HTML marketing emails. Therefore, you must use images and visual elements judiciously in your HTML email examples. When you build HTML email, make sure you do not add too many high-quality images. For every new image loaded in the HTML email body, a new request is generated to the server. Your loading time is directly proportional to the number of requests. So, how to design visually rich HTML email free from any rendering issues? The answer is to optimize your image size and set the content width to 600px. Also, add suitable alt-text with the images when you code HTML for email.

Use HTML minifier to remove unnecessary code from the HTML email format. Do not copy-paste from Microsoft Word when you code email to HTML. It will add too many additional codes.

4. Pay special attention to accessibility in the HTML code for email template

If you want to write an HTML email that reaches to all subscribers, you must follow accessibility best practices. When you convert PSD email to HTML, choose the visuals, font size, color contrast, and CTA button size in such a way that everyone can access it. Send HTML email with proper lang attributes and semantic tags so that screen readers can interpret the email HTML formatting. Arrange the HTML email template code from left to right and top to bottom for better readability. Single column layouts are the best bet to create accessible HTML email examples.

Wrapping Up

With the help of this step-by-step guide, you can build an HTML email template that can be used for your email marketing strategy. The above methodology is just one of the many processes used to train our developers and test the email templates rigorously using tools like Email on Acid to deliver pixel perfect results as per our clients’ requirements. You can easily use this HTML Email code to create Mailchimp Email Templates, Pardot Email Templates, Marketo, Salesforce Email Templates and many other ESP newsletter templates as well.

Ideally, being an email marketer you need to dabble into various aspects of email, including email design, email coding and template testing. At the same time, most brands and agencies partner with us for their email template production needs to deliver high converting email marketing campaigns.

The post A Step-by-Step Guide to Create Your Own HTML Email appeared first on Email Uplers.

[This post was originally published on 9th June 2020. It has been updated on 23rd May 2022.]

Packed with handy templates, forms, buttons, text and a whole plethora of other user-friendly features, Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) Email Studio is perfect for brands looking to build automated and engagement-worthy custom email campaigns that delight their audience and at the same time elicit interaction from them.

Now, now matter how stunning your 1-to-1 email marketing campaigns with SFMC Email Studio turn out to be, it won’t amount to much if at the end of the day very few recipients interact with these emails. If that’s the case, chances are that you probably have a deliverability problem on your hands.

Email deliverability is the foundation upon which email marketing is built. It is not the same as email delivery. Email delivery is when an email is successfully delivered to the receiving server. Email deliverability on the other hand, is when an email successfully arrives in the recipient’s inbox. It is entirely possible to have good email delivery but poor deliverability, say, because the email landed in the recipient’s spam folder rather than their inbox or because their email address itself is invalid.

Deliverability is often impacted by a number of factors, including Internet Service Providers (ISP), Mail Transfer Agents (MTA), bulking, spam, throttling and bounces.

In this guide, we touch on email deliverability in the specific context of bounces. We will cover bounce mail management in Email Studio, some ways to analyze the root cause of bounces, as well as some best practices to set up SFMC for good email deliverability.

But first, let’s start with the basics.

Unpacking The Meaning Of ‘Bounce’

In simplest terms, an email that can’t be successfully delivered and is sent back to SFMC by the ISP is said to have bounced. A subscriber or recipient is also marked as ‘bounced’ when their receiving email server rejects an email sent from SFMC. ISPs send messages back to SFMC explaining why the email bounced. Analyzing these responses can help the email marketer understand root causes so they can find ways to fix the underlying problems.

Bounce rate is a metric that refers to the percentage of total emails sent that could not be delivered to the intended recipients’ inboxes. If a recipient’s email server accepts the email, their status remains Active in SFMC, but if it rejects the email, their status changes to Bounced.

There are mainly 4 types of bounces that email marketers should be aware of:

1. Soft bounce

This is a temporary occurrence and can be re-tried every 15 minutes for 72 hours (288 tries maximum). When the system stops further retry attempts, the subscriber appears as Bounced. If the email is delivered during one of these 288 attempts and the subscriber opens it, their status is set to Active.

A soft bounce can be caused by a full mailbox, an inactive account or a temporary domain failure. Usually, soft bounces begin with a 4xx explanation.

2. Block bounce

This is a type of soft bounce that occurs when the email server rejects the email due to reasons like a blacklisted IP address, lack of proper authentication, URL blocks or content filtering.

3. Technical bounce

This is also a type of soft bounce that occurs due to technical issues like a busy server, network error or data format error.

4. Hard bounce

This results from permanent conditions like invalid, non-existent or closed email addresses, or a bad or non-existent domain. Since emails will never be successfully delivered, no further attempts are made to send them to this subscriber. If the subscriber’s status was Active, their status now changes to Bounced.

Hard bounces generally begin with a 5xx code.

How To Track Bounces In SFMC

Email marketers can easily track and review bounced emails within SFMC. All they need to do is:

Click the Tracking tab -> Click Sends -> Click My Tracking

Click the job for which you want to view tracking and then view the ‘Send Performance’ area. This will show you a graphical view of the total number of emails delivered, number of hard and soft bounces, number of clicks, etc.

You can also view detailed bounce data for emails from your SFMC account by querying the bounce data view in Automation Studio. Here’s how to interpret some of the fields in this data view:

1. SMTP response code

This is the code returned by the receiving email server, indicating the status of message delivery. A bounce (hard or soft) gets logged by interpreting the specific response code (5xx or 4xx) related to unsuccessful message delivery. SMTP responses are of three types: bounce reason, message (from the mail system) and error code.

2. Bounce codes

SFMC also defines some fields based on the SMTP data sent from the recipient’s Mail Transfer Agent. These fields include:

·         BounceType

·         BounceTypeID

·         BounceCategory

·         BounceCategoryID

·         BounceSubcategory

·         BounceSubcategoryID

Other fields in bounce data view that can be helpful in analyzing bounced emails include SubscriberID, Domain and EventDate.

Furthermore, when exporting subscriber data (individual or an entire list), one of the fields that can be included for analysis or filtering refers to subscribers’ email status. Each subscriber has one of these statuses, each of which is color-coded accordingly:

·         Active: Green

·         Bounced (Returned): Yellow

·         Held (Undeliverable): Gray

·         Unsubscribed: Red

·         Deleted: no color

It helps to note that Unsubscribed subscribers (in the context of SFMC Bounce Mail Management) do not get that status because of a bounce, but due to one of these reasons:

·         They clicked on an unsubscribe link in an email

·         They chose to unsubscribe in a profile center

·         They reported an email as spam to an ISP with which Marketing Cloud has a feedback loop

·         Their status was manually changed by an SFMC user

More On How To Interpret Email Bounces In SFMC

This diagram illustrates how a subscriber’s status changes from Active to Bounced to Undeliverable. A knowledge of these linkages can help with bounce investigation and mitigation.

When investigating bounces in an email campaign, a ‘holistic’ approach is best. This means that instead of looking at a particular status code by itself (eg: BounceType or BounceCategory), the investigator should try to interpret all the reply codes. This is especially important because different servers use the same reply codes in different ways, which makes it difficult to be certain about the meaning of each code.

SFMC Email Studio provides several reporting options to track email campaign performance and troubleshoot issues. We have already seen My Tracking in the previous section. Other options include:

·         Email Performance by Domain: This report is especially useful if you have domain-specific deliverability issues such as blacklisting or spam complaints

·         Spam Complaints over Time: This report shows you how many complaints are received from specific domains that offer spam reporting back to SFMC

·         Bounce Event Extract File: This report provides granular information about SMTP error codes for each bounced subscriber

These reports offer specific metrics that can boost your investigation results:

·         Bounce rate/delivery rate: A rate below 98% may indicate a deliverability problem

·         Open percentage: When plotted over time or per domain, it can provide insights into which domains are under-performing

·         Click percentage: This is most useful when receiving domains do not report back on deliverability to SFMC

4 Tips To Set Up SFMC For Good Email Deliverability in SFMC

1. Configure your Sender Authentication Package (SAP)

SAP configuration in SFMC and your DNS ensures that email providers see you and your domain as legit. It also enables you to set click-path in links and image location to your company domain, configure reply mail management and assign a dedicated IP to your SFMC setup – all benefits that improve email deliverability.

Once you  finish this setup, you should also give email servers some time to get used to your IP address. Start with smaller or individual Journey Builder sends then gradually increase the number of bulk emails sends.

2. Be aware of ‘reputation’ factors

Building a reputation takes time but losing it can be next-to instantaneous. Keep in mind these critical factors that can impact your reputation (and consequently deliverability):

·         Sending frequency

·         Blacklists

·         Legitimacy

·         Subscriber reactions

·         Compliance with CAN-SPAM and other regulations

·         SPAM trapped

3. Manage subscriber data

You should only email people who have specifically opted-in. Otherwise you run the risk of sending emails to spam traps which can trigger sending bans.

Once in a while, you can also create a journey or run a campaign on ‘Inactive’ subscribers to weed out the ones who should not be in your subscriber group. If there are no engagements or other account activity from their side, delete them from your subscribers’ list.

4. Make use of Content Detective

Content Detective in Email Studio can help you test your email by simulating content filters in real sends. If there are content issues, the detective will tell you so you can take necessary action before sending the emails.

Wrapping It Up

As an email marketer, you probably spend a lot of time creating compelling email marketing campaigns with SFMC Email Studio for your audience. But don’t ignore the role played by email deliverability and make sure you follow the best practices for improving email deliverability in SFMC! We hope this guide to Bounce Mail Management in SFMC Email Studio enables you to get your lovely campaigns the mileage they deserve.

The post The Definitive Guide to Bounce Mail Management in SFMC Email Studio appeared first on Email Uplers.

Can you believe that email marketing is more than 40 years old? Has email marketing changed over the years? Some will say no, while others will say it did. 

One thing is certain, the pandemic has changed how consumers and society as a whole behave. People want to be entertained while feeling safe at the same time. To an extent, email is still considered a personal communication channel that isn’t a physical touchpoint but also provides entertainment value to customers. 

With the continued growth and popularity of personal communication channels, digital privacy is also on the rise. Not only with website tracking but also with email marketing. 

One of the biggest changes to email marketing came last Fall when Apple announced Mail Privacy Protection (MPP). The new feature in iOS 15, iPadOS, and macOS Monterey helps protect the privacy of email users, which makes it harder to track email opens and location information. You can learn more about how it affects marketers, here.  

This means that marketers need to build awareness and gain trust from the moment they acquire a new lead or prospect to keep them engaged with their email and other marketing campaigns.

With the recent changes to email marketing, it is important to stay up to date and ensure that you are adapting your email campaigns to meet the changes. Here are three ways you can ensure success in 2022 and beyond.

Lead Nurturing

First and foremost, marketers need to prioritize providing value and entertainment alongside driving conversions. No one wants to hear that, but consumers are very careful about how they spend their money and who they give it to, which means lead nurturing is more important than ever.

Lead nurturing, also known as drip campaigns, is the process of sending a set cadence of emails to your subscribers when they are added to your automated email sequences. If you do not strategically plan your nurture campaigns, your efforts will fall on deaf ears. 

To set up an effective, informative, and valuable lead nurturing campaign, it is important to get to know your subscribers and send the right amount of emails to them. You do not want to send ten emails if you can convey the same information with fewer emails and be just as effective. 

Nurture campaigns are also useful for selling a product or service. More specifically, you can create a drip campaign with one email listing the features and benefits of your product and service. A follow-up email within the campaign can provide testimonials, reviews, and informational videos to positively influence the buyer’s decision. Other emails can help explain your support or return processes to make buyers feel comfortable about their purchase. Simply add as many emails that make sense for your need without overloading your prospects and subscribers. 

You may have noticed that the initial emails are valuable and informative, not pitching a sale just yet. Once you’ve sent a few emails you can then include an incentive that leads to buyer action. You can include a coupon code or other calls to action like setting up a call or signing up for a demo.

Remember, each email should create excitement and interest, and provide value. Tell our subscribers what is coming in future emails so they look forward to it. By creating a “series” of educational and valuable emails, you generate curiosity. Television shows do this by teasing what is coming in the next episodes, and it works!

Don’t forget to use personalization and valid customer data to create a better experience and increase engagement. You are able to make an email feel like a one-on-one conversation through personalization. You can greet your subscribers by their first name and include content that matters to them by using data you have accumulated such as survey information, purchase history, engagement history, and more. 

Make sure to ask your subscribers to also follow you on social media to increase engagement and your branding efforts. The more channels you can get subscribers to follow you on, the more opportunities you have to create brand awareness, develop a relationship, and convert more sales. 

Now get out there and create your next drip campaign in a way that fills up your sales “bucket”, rather than creating waste. You will sleep better at night too! Speaking of sleep, want to see a great example of a drip campaign? Look no further than Casper Mattress.

Measuring Success

The first way you can ensure that your email campaigns are still relevant today is to adapt how you are measuring success with your email campaigns. 

Even though open rates may not be accurate, opens are still valuable. Use them as a guide, but opens should move from being the North Star, a single point in the sky, to a cohesive collection of stars…a constellation if you will.  

All of these stars (or metrics) in a constellation make up a larger, more clear picture of your campaign’s success. Don’t focus on one metric, instead start to focus on other data points to tell a story. 

Get to know your program so that you can identify what truly influences it. Although I can’t tell you everything to look at because each program is driven by factors unique to its purpose, we can share some influential items you should begin to consider.

As mentioned earlier, clicks are going to be relatively unchanged and can be a good signal of campaign success. Look at your click-to-open rate. To figure the click-to-open rate, divide unique clicks by unique opens. 

While clicks may be a good metric for some marketers, conversions might be better for others. If you are an eCommerce marketer, analyzing conversions from email is a better metric than opens or clicks. You will be able to use Google Analytics to review how much revenue is being generated from email, and even from each individual email!

It is worth mentioning that list hygiene has changed since opens are no longer accurate. It is crucial to send emails to only those who want to read your emails. By cleaning your list of disengaged subscribers, you can save money with your ESP as well and ensure positive email deliverability. Before cleaning your list, consider creating a re-engagement campaign to win back disengaged subscribers.

Let’s talk through setting up a re-engagement campaign using clicks rather than opens since we now know that clicks are still an accurate metric.

1. Depending on how often you send, create a segment or automation trigger of subscribers that have not clicked on an email in a certain amount of time. It could be either the last six months or a year, or even the last 20 emails. 

2. Set up your email or automation to send out once the segment criteria are met, or do it manually.

3. Set up a cadence of 1-3 emails to send to this segment, giving them an opportunity to re-engage. Make sure to create a call to action that asks for a click so that you can count them as being re-engaged. 

4. Remove any subscribers that have not engaged with the email or series of emails since they are considered dead weight. 

Developing New Ways to Grow Your Lists

I am not sure if you heard, but QR codes are making a comeback. Not only are they great for touchless menus at restaurants, but they can also be used to drive potential subscribers to a landing page to sign up for your newsletter. Sure, there was a QR rebirth when the pandemic arrived, but they will probably live on after it is long and gone. With new smartphone capabilities, they are easy to use! Add codes to landing pages, flyers, cards, presentations, stickers on windows, business cards, your car, everywhere!

Another simple way to grow an email list is to add a link to sign up in email signatures, yours and anyone that is public-facing. This is normally effective in transactional or relational emails. Emails from support, “thank you” emails, and emails that are sent out from employees as one-off sends. Use a simple call to action asking the recipient to sign up or get creative!

Conclusion

It does not take a lot of effort to bring your emails into the new era. Keep following best practices and unique ideas, like the ones outlined above. Nurture your leads, measure your data effectively, and make sure to keep growing your email lists. You cannot go wrong. 

Did I miss something that you feel can help bring your email marketing into the new era? If I did, let me know in the comments!

The post Three ways to bring your email campaigns into a new era appeared first on Email Uplers.

You have pored meticulously over your email copy to make it crisp and impactful, ensured your design is top-notch, adhered to all email accessibility best practices, made your templates responsive, pruned and segmented your contact list, and delivered your emails after thoroughly testing them across different email clients and devices. Good job! But, that’s only 50% of what goes into a successful email marketing campaign. The remaining half is shaped by how effectively you measure your performance. Sure, email offers a staggering ROI of 3800%, but it’s only up for grabs for those who are ticking all the right boxes. And how can you get there? By having an airtight email campaign report at your disposal.

Here, we are going to show you a host of different metrics that you MUST include in your campaign report. In the process, we will explain how tracking them will allow you to stay on top of your efforts at all times. Excited, already? Let’s dive in!

Clickthrough Rate (CTR)

The clickthrough rate is a measure of the number of subscribers who clicked on the links attached in your emails. Suppose you delivered 500 emails and registered 10 clicks, then your clickthrough rate would be 2%. As you can already observe, CTR is an excellent indicator of your campaign’s performance. It helps marketers understand the efficacy of every single email they are sending to your contacts. The CTR sheds light on how much engagement and interaction your campaigns are able to inspire. If your percentage is leaning towards the lower side, treat it as a strong sign to urgently revamp your strategy.

Listed below are a few techniques that can help you fix your CTR.

• A/B test your subject lines. Your subscribers can be convinced to click into your emails only if your subject lines are able to effectively grab their attention. A compelling subject line is a tough nut to crack, and even if you feel you’ve got it right, you still have to test it with your audience to determine if it resonates with them or not. Create at least two versions of your subject line, pit them against one another and use the one which comes out on top.
  
• Pay attention to your link placement. For people to take action against your links, they should first be able to spot them clearly, right? Use your copy and design to guide your subscribers toward them. If your email body has a catchy visual element, try to place your links in that very vicinity. This way, your recipients will face no trouble locating them.
  Take a look at this email from Vacasa. The links are as prominent as it gets.

• Keep your copy crisp and to the point. Copy that is long and winding does nothing but exhaust the reader and pushes them to bounce from the email even before they have encountered your offer link. Let your offer link be your email’s primary attraction and the copy, just the compass which guides your customers to it.
  Here’s Piecework’s email, for instance. Short, sweet, and thoroughly impactful.

• Include social sharing buttons. So what if a certain user isn’t interested in your offer? They might just know someone who would be. By including a social sharing option, you are basically making it convenient for them to spread the word about your offer. Subsequently, this can give a significant boost to your CTR.
• Send targeted content. Imagine you have two emails in your inbox. You are a recurring customer of both the brands from whom you have received these. The email from the first brand alerts you to a sale where you can avail of attractive discounts across all their products. The email from the second brand also alerts you to a sale, except this one talks specifically about the discounts that are up for grabs on items that you frequently purchase from them. You’d be more tempted to click on the second brand’s offer, wouldn’t you? Well, that is the magic that targeted content casts on customers across the globe. But, to effectively target your customers, you first need to segment your contacts into different pockets based on parameters like age, gender, location, preferences, buying patterns, position in the sales funnel, and the like. This will allow you to discern the unique needs and requirements of each section of your target audience. Accordingly, you can compose your emails.
• Optimize your emails for mobile. At present, as many as 85% of subscribers use smartphones to consume their emails. Hence, if your emails are not mobile-friendly, you will never be able to get your CTR on the right track.

Conversion Rate

Your email’s conversion rate is determined by taking into account the total number of recipients who not just clicked on your link but also went ahead with completing the desired action. For instance, if the link invited your recipients to purchase a particular product, your conversion rate would tell you what portion of them actually bought it. The conversion rate is an extremely critical metric for it helps you understand how effective your messaging is. A high percentage essentially means that your copy, design, and CTA (call-to-action) are all working well in unison to elicit the desired response from your subscribers. Additionally, it provides you with clarity regarding your ROI. It helps you determine whether the investment you are putting into a particular campaign is worth it or not.

Bounce Rate

The bounce rate refers to the total percentage of sent emails that did not land in your recipients’ inboxes. There are two kinds of email bounces:

1. Soft bounce- This happens in cases when your recipient’s inbox is full or their server is down. Sometimes, it’ll also occur if your email is too large for their inbox. As you’d have already guessed, soft bounces are temporary in nature and get fixed the moment any of the circumstances cited above get resolved.

2. Hard bounce- Permanent in nature, hard bounces typically occur when your recipient’s email address is either invalid or non-existent.

Your bounce rate is a very reliable indicator of your email list’s quality. Should it happen to be chock full of irrelevant addresses, your bounce rate would go through the roof. When you try to send emails to such addresses, you do nothing but invite the ire of ISPs (internet service providers). This, in turn, can get you blacklisted, damaging your email sender reputation beyond repair. 

There are a couple of practices you can adopt to keep your bounce rate in check.

1. Never buy email lists. Building an email list can be rather challenging. And we understand that. But the best lists out there are those that are constructed organically. It doesn’t matter if it took you a month to add 30 contacts (we’ll talk about list growth shortly); it is better any day than adding 300 contacts from a purchased list. Such lists harbor invalid and non-existent addresses, which won’t get you anywhere. Besides, if at all you are able to mine a few valid addresses, you’ll invariably get marked as spam (if not blocked) upon mailing them because you would be doing so without their consent.

2. Always request your recipients to whitelist you. This will drastically reduce the possibility of your emails getting wrongly classified as spam or junk mail, providing a massive boost to your deliverability in the process.

Sur La Table, in all their emails, include a small request to be added to their recipients’ address books. You can spot it in their footer section. Here’s one, for example.

Unsubscribe Rate

The name’s pretty much self-explanatory, isn’t it? The unsubscribe rate helps you understand what percentage of your subscribers oped out of your communication. Unsubscribes, as any veteran email marketer will tell you, are not necessarily a bad thing. It is always better to have unresponsive contacts unsubscribe themselves than to let them consume your time and energy. 

However, if there’s an alarming rise in your unsubscribe rate, you ought to examine the matter closely. In most cases, people unsubscribe due to either of the following two reasons.

1. They feel overwhelmed by the frequency of your messages. Now, this can be easily fixed. All you have to do is provide them with an “Update Preferences” link so that they can define a frequency they are comfortable with. 

2. They don’t find your content appealing. In this case, you must get to the root cause of the matter to close the gaps in your content game. Of course, you can’t impress all, but your content has to win over the major chunk of your recipients.

Giving your contacts the choice of unsubscribing is as important as onboarding them with their explicit consent. Therefore, your emails must always contain an unsubscribe link.

List Growth Rate

For businesses to survive, they have to focus on continually growing their lists. This makes the list growth rate an essential metric in your email campaign report. It gives you an excellent insight into the potency of your lead generation campaigns. Keep in mind that all email lists suffer an inevitable decay- approximately 22.5% every year. So, take stock of your list growth rate and focus on adding new contacts at a healthy rate.

Wrapping It Up

Crafting an email campaign report by including the metrics mentioned above will allow you to make the most out of your marketing efforts and stay ahead of the curve, always!

The post What Makes A Sublime Email Campaign Report? Let’s Find Out! appeared first on Email Uplers.

A decade ago, if you would have told someone that a few years down the line, they would be able to access emails on their wristwatches, they would have probably clutched on to their sides, rolling on the floor with a violent fit of laughter. Well, look who’s had the last laugh! Desktops, mobiles, tablets, smartwatches- now, we’re able to consume emails across all these devices. But, this scenario also presents businesses with a mild conundrum—that of figuring out the ideal email template size. There are no two ways about it; cracking the email template size code is crucial to determining the success of your campaigns. 

The size of your email template is dictated by myriad factors- template width, template height, file size, header height, and footer height, to name a few. In this article, we’ll shed the spotlight on each of these components. 

But, before that, another topic demands our attention.

Responsive Email Templates- Why Are They So Important?

Responsive emails refer to those that render optimally across all devices. And in 2022, if your templates aren’t responsive, you are not even running the same race as your competitors, let alone beat them. Over the years, email marketing has become largely consumer-centric. Now, what you share with your subscribers isn’t the only factor that draws them to you; how you do so plays an equally pivotal role. In fact, as many as 79% of subscribers admit they would delete an email if they are unable to consume it on a mobile device. With the number of mobile email users growing exponentially with every passing day, failing to design responsive templates can deal a body blow to your overall reach and visibility. 

So, how do responsive emails work? They use CSS media queries that make images and fixed-width tables on desktops compatible with smaller mobile screens. They do so by first monitoring the screen size in which the email is currently opened and then disabling different sets of rules accordingly. 

Finally, let us take at two essential responsive email best practices.

• Using single-column layouts: With single-column layouts, you eliminate the risk of overlapping columns, overflowing text, shifting of images, and other rendering issues that you are likely to encounter with a multi-column layout. Not just that, single-column layouts are advantageous from an email accessibility perspective as well. How? Most HTML emails across the globe are coded using tables. Specifying the right content order becomes highly critical in this arrangement. If your content sequence doesn’t adhere to the standard left to right and top to bottom reading order, subscribers using assistive technologies like screen readers won’t be able to interpret your emails properly. 
• Prioritizing content for mobile display: Content-heavy emails don’t make for a good viewing experience on mobile screens. Therefore, for your mobile layout, prioritize the content you absolutely want your subscribers to see and hide the rest.

Now that we have discussed the significance of using responsive emails, let us get into the specifics of every constituent dimension of an email template.

Email Width

The golden number that email designers are typically advised to stick to while specifying the template width is 600 pixels. Even popular marketing services such as Mailchimp and Klaviyo give templates whose default width is 600 px. That said, it is not really a hard and fast benchmark; you are allowed to go a little over up to 700 and 800 px. Earlier, Gmail used to block the background colors for email templates exceeding 640 px. However, that’s not the case anymore. So, if you feel that a wider (even beyond 800 px) template better suits your requirements and you want to go ahead with it, you are free to do so. Just make sure to run it across different email preview tools to get clarity regarding how it will appear to your readers.

Email Height

When it comes to email height, there are no set benchmarks as such. That doesn’t quite mean you get to exercise a free hand. Keep the following tips in mind:

• A taller email allows you to convey more information, of course, but you also have to make sure that your reader doesn’t get exhausted in the process. Hence, going beyond 3000 px is generally advised against. Most experts recommend 1500-2500 px as the ideal range. 
• Remember, the objective of your email is to hook in your subscriber the moment they open it. This can either be a visual element or the kernel of your email’s message. Whatever it is, make sure it occupies the first 350 pixels of your template- roughly the area that remains above the fold. Keep in mind that many email clients block images by default. So, if you are using a picture for this section, test your email thoroughly before delivering.
• Your email type is an important factor that shapes its height. For instance, if it is a simple transactional email, the only content it will have is a brief thank you message followed by the recipient’s order details. For this, you don’t need to design a template that is 2000 pixels long. On the other hand, if it is a newsletter, it can easily occupy anywhere between 2500-3000 px. But, as mentioned earlier, if you are making your emails lengthy, make certain that it packs enough substance to effectively hold the attention of your readers. With the human attention span dwindling with every passing day, the odds are, of course, stacked against you. But, well, good content always finds a way.
  

For instance, take a look at the length of this transactional email from Fast.

Compare that with this transactional email from Target.

Email File Size

With marketing emails and newsletters that usually span between 2500-3000 px and contain a fair deal of information, you have to keep two main things in mind:

1. As mentioned above, the quality of the content.

2. The email file size.

Should your file size cross 102 KB, it will be automatically clipped by Gmail. Subsequently, this degrades your recipient’s viewing experience to a certain degree. While no other client exhibits this behavior, we’d still advise you to keep your template size below 102 KB- given Gmail’s huge market share, it is only wise to do so. Listed below are a few tips you can follow to keep your email size in check.

• Be judicious with your use of images. While they, no doubt, amplify your email’s appeal, too many high-quality images in your email will cause its file size to go through the roof. This extends to other visual elements as well, such as GIFs and animations.
• Avoid including large attachments in your email. The best course of action is to publish the same on your website and direct traffic to it using emails.
• Minimize dependency on custom fonts. They are weighty by nature and, when used in excess, can considerably increase your email’s file size.

Email Header Height

Your email headers essentially tell your subscribers who they are receiving the email from. It should contain your business name and logo, at the very least. Some brands even prefer to add a product menu. With all these things, the height of your email header should ideally be under 200 pixels.

Take a look at Uncommon Goods’ email header.

Email Footer Height

Your email footer contains your email signature, which typically holds your legal details, contact information, company address, social media icons, and unsubscribe links, among other things. The rule of thumb is to keep its height within 100 pixels.

Here’s what Kate Spade’s footer looks like.

Wrapping It Up

The size of your email template goes a long way toward determining not only your interaction and engagement but also deliverability. Hence, it should be one of your primary concerns when you sit down to chalk out your campaigns. We hope that the insights and best practices shared above have been able to provide you with the answers you were looking for!

The post A Quick Guide To Getting Your Email Template Size Right appeared first on Email Uplers.

Your target audience is exposed to millions and millions of bits of information on a daily basis. Now, they can’t be expected to take due note of all of it, surely? So, as a business owner, what can you do to land your messages on your customers’ radars? Simple- send them a reminder. Of course, that’s easier said than done; getting your reminder emails to strike all the right notes can be a task and a half. But, don’t worry! We’re not here to leave you high and dry. Today, we dive deep into the world of reminder emails so that you have all the necessary insight at your disposal when you sit to craft one. Excited? We are too!

Table of Contents:

• When Should You Send A Reminder Email?
• Reminder Email Best Practices We Absolutely Swear By
• What You Should NOT Do While Creating A Reminder Email
• Reminder Email Inspirations To Get Your Creative Juices Flowing
• Wrapping It Up

When Should You Send A Reminder Email?

That’s really the million-dollar question, isn’t it? Tell you what, most brands are a little hesitant even to draft a reminder in the first place, let alone think of the right time to send it. Why? Because they fear coming across as pushy and impatient. Given that it’s quite tricky to ace the tone of one, the reluctance is well-founded, we agree. However, businesses must look to overcome it, for reminder emails are a crucial component of an email marketing campaign. There are a number of occasions where they can be summoned. We have listed them below for your reference.

• Alerting to end of free trial: A large number of businesses operating on the subscription model these days believe in providing new users with a free trial for a certain time window. This is an effective strategy as it lets them gain a first-hand look and feel of your platform and features, thereby allowing them to arrive at an informed conclusion. Sure, you may not be able to impress everyone, but the ones you do will be willing to enter into a long-term relationship with your brand. But, for that to happen, you need them to convert beyond the trial period. Remember, the market is strife with competition, meaning that while trying out your free trial, a particular customer is probably sampling the services of your competitors as well. In such a scenario, they can’t really be faulted for losing sight of your trial period’s deadline. This is where reminder emails come into the picture. Sending them a series of well-planned reminders during the days leading up to the deadline is an excellent means of nudging them into taking action.

• Promoting participation in an ongoing sale: Sales are an exciting prospect for both businesses and customers alike. Customers, well, you perhaps understand why. As for businesses, sales serve as excellent fronts for attracting a massive footfall, augmenting both their visibility and coffers in the process (not to mention the clearance of old inventory). Because they are such impactful campaigns, businesses tend to deploy them periodically, more frequently during high-traffic times such as St. Patrick’s Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Halloween, Christmas, and the like. The best way to secure maximum traffic for your sale is by sending your contacts dedicated reminder emails. 

• Encouraging registrations in events: Events help businesses effectively convey their brand identity to their target audience. As a result, marketers rely on them to foster strong and lasting relationships with their target audience. Since events allow you to interact with your customers on a more personal basis, you can share opinions and insights which you wouldn’t otherwise have in your newsletters or other regular communications. In this way, events are great for boosting your credibility and establishing yourself as a thought leader. Goes without saying, the higher the number of attendees, the greater your chances of consolidating your brand awareness. Now, the burning question- how can you amp up your registration numbers? Among the deluge of emails, your subscribers receive daily, sending a solitary event announcement email won’t fetch you the numbers you desire. You must follow it up with regular reminder emails to earn their attention.

• Recovering lost sales with cart abandonment emails: No business likes seeing abandoned carts, but well, they are inevitable. People abandon shopping carts for a number of reasons- lousy website UI, unsatisfactory checkout experience, payment security concerns, absence of customer support, and the like. While diving deep into the reasons will certainly help you reduce the number of abandonments to a great degree, unfortunately, you can’t eliminate the possibility altogether. Thus, along with carrying out your research, you should have an abandoned cart email sequence up your sleeve at all times. What goes into chalking out a winning one, you ask? Find your answers in the points below.

1. Build a series. Generally, it has been observed that sending 2-3 abandoned cart emails performs better than sending just one. To improve your success rate, draft the subsequent emails only after measuring the performance of the preceding ones. Equally important is to ensure that each email in the sequence carries a different messaging. For instance, the first one could simply remind them about their abandoned shopping cart. The succeeding email can be used to encourage them to complete their purchase by instilling a sense of urgency (by using a countdown, for example). Finally, the last email in the series could offer them an incentive (which could be anything from a discount to free shipping) to nudge them further in that direction. Besides the content, the visual identity of every email should be non-identical too. Still, if you feel that a cart abandonment email sequence would potentially overwhelm your subscribers, what you could do is test your strategy out on a small batch, monitor the results, and then implement the same on your remaining contacts.
   
2. Get your timing right. The question that most businesses ask themselves before sending out an abandoned cart email is this- How long should we wait? Well, truth be told, there is no objective right answer; what works for one brand might not necessarily hold true for you. Most experts reckon that the first email should be sent ideally within a couple of hours post the abandonment- waiting for too long might result in the customer forgetting about their cart altogether. If this first reminder fails to bear fruit, consider waiting for at least 12-15 hours before sending the next one. And if even that one doesn’t elicit any response, wait for a minimum of 24 hours before delivering the third. This is what works well for the majority of the brands out there. However, as we said earlier, this need not be the gold standard for you. Experiment with varying send times to determine what works the best for your customers.
   
3. Include the image of the abandoned product. When a visitor abandons their shopping cart, it is always fair to assume that they will completely forget about what’s in there once they bounce off your website. Thus, to effectively jog their memory, you must include a high-quality picture of the product they left unattended in your cart abandonment emails. 
   
4. Add recommendations of similar products. In some cases, people abandon their shopping carts because they’re not completely sold on the product they have added. Providing personalized recommendations based on the visitor’s abandoned product gives them the choice of exploring more options and makes your email more compelling overall. For all you know, they might just end up purchasing one of the recommendations along with their original pick!
   
5. Attach customer support contact details. As mentioned earlier, figuring out why a certain visitor has abandoned their shopping cart isn’t a straightforward affair. So, the best course of action is to provide them with a link to your customer support so that they can get all their issues resolved at the earliest. As an additional measure, include a FAQ section, too, if possible. For all you know, this might offer them just the clarity and conviction they need to complete their purchase. 
   
6. Formulate your sequence as per customer behavior. For instance, if a first-time visitor has abandoned their shopping cart, you can lure them back by giving a “new user” discount. But this wouldn’t work on old customers, right? They would probably respond better to discounts based on loyalty points or other similar incentives. Similarly, you should also take into account the contents of the abandoned carts. A cart containing an item priced way above your average-ticket value should merit a different treatment than one having something priced below it, right? Along the same lines, cart size is an important parameter as well. A visitor who has abandoned their shopping cart after, say, adding ten items has understandably a very different reason for doing so compared to one whose abandoned cart contains just one or two items.

Wondering what high-performing cart abandonment emails look like? Take a look at the following examples.

• Increasing conversions with browse abandonment emails: Browse abandonment emails are essentially reminder emails targeted at those who bounce off your site’s homepage or product page without taking any action. As a result, you get to target a larger pool than what you would with cart abandonment emails and you can even automate your browse abandonment emails. Over here also, customer behavior plays a crucial role in determining the content of your message. For example, a visitor who has exited directly from your homepage is best engaged with an image-heavy browse abandonment email containing details of your best-selling products or services. On the other hand, to coax a response out of someone who has bounced from a particular product page, send an email containing additional information about the products they were browsing.
• Prompting customers with replenishment emails: Replenishment emails are automated messages sent to those customers who have a marked history of buying a certain product frequently from your store. These reminders are based on the customer’s buying cycle. Hence, replenishment emails are also personalized in nature. Suppose, both you and your friend purchase body lotions from the same skincare brand. But while you order one every month, your friend places their order once every second month. As a result, you will receive your replenishment email around 25-30 days post your purchase date whereas your friend will receive theirs 55-60 days later.
  
  Here’s a replenishment email from Chewy.
  

Reminder Email Best Practices We Absolutely Swear By

With reminder emails, the margin of error is pretty low. You have to be assertive, formal, and concise, all the while not coming across as impolite and desperate. And that’s just the content aspect of it. Many things have to be taken into account during the design and development process as well. The following best practices will let you hit the sweet spot in every department.

Set The Tone With Solid Subject Lines

Ace the tone of your reminder email from the outset itself by crafting a friendly, compelling, and intriguing subject line. It should clearly explain to the readers why they are receiving a reminder email from you in the first place. Remember, the primary objective behind sending a reminder email is to make your user complete a requisite action. Hence, should your subject lines fail to stick their landing, your reminder emails won’t even be opened in the first place, let alone any action be taken. 

Yes, we know what you are thinking: “How do I write an appealing subject line?”

Well, all you have to do is stick to the tips listed below.

• Your reminder email’s subject line conveys its objective. Therefore, keep it as crisp as possible. Besides, brief subject lines are ideal from a mobile perspective as well. While desktops and tablets will display up to 60 characters of your subject line, mobile devices allow only up to 40. And trimmed subject lines aren’t doing anyone any good. The best course of action, then, is to keep the length of your subject line between 30-40 characters across all devices.
  
• Personalize your subject lines. Nothing gives you a better shot at attracting your subscriber’s attention than sending a personalized message. The most basic form of personalization is, of course, addressing the recipient with their first name. But, with reminder emails, you can go beyond that. Particularly in scenarios involving cart abandonment and browse abandonment, you can base your reminders on the user’s interactions. Even for sale reminders, you can analyze your customer’s past purchases to send targeted messages. An email with the subject line, “Hurry Up! Last Chance To Get Product XYZ At 50% Off” (“Product XYZ” being the item that the customer has ordered most frequently in the past) will definitely fetch you more opens than a generic one which goes, “Sale! Big Discounts On Your Favorites!”
  
• Add urgency. This goes a long way towards getting your recipients to take action. Whether it be the deadline of your free trial, the last day of your sale, or the number of tickets left for your event, highlighting these details in your subject line will definitely help you capture your audience’s attention.
  
• Use emojis. Adding a small visual element will make your subject line that much more appealing to your recipients. However, given the fact that most reminder emails maintain a formal tone, you have to be mindful of what emoji you are using. For example, with deadline reminders, the hourglass or clock emoji goes extremely well. Likewise, for other occasions, you need to carefully assess your subject line and select the appropriate emoji.
  
• Never forget to A/B test your subject lines. Writing reminder email subject lines is quite challenging as it is. You will never crack the code until you come up with multiple versions of your subject line and pit them against one another. It’s best to bank on data rather than intuition while writing subject lines. 

Given below are a few reminder email subject lines that ticked all the right boxes.

Oxford Online Pharmacy- Your discount is waiting (Source)

Rdio- Reminder: Almost done signing up for Rdio (Source)

Kate Spade- Kind reminder: your Mother’s Day code officially expires today

Formaggio Kitchen- Reminder: Place Your Easter Menu Order

Udemy- Last day to save on courses!

As you’d have already observed, most businesses prefer to explicitly state the word “reminder” in their reminder emails. This eliminates all scope of misunderstanding, and the reader knows exactly what the email is about as soon as it lands in their inbox.

Get Your Greeting Right

A greeting or salutation is a vital component of a polite reminder email. Yet, many businesses are left scratching their heads when it comes to finding one that is apt for the situation. If you belong to that clan, too, you’ll find these tips quite handy. 

• First, analyze the overall tone of your brand communication. Are you someone who’s known for their witty, quirk, and casual language? Or are you a brand that believes in delivering its messages formally- straight and to the point? If you belong to the former, it is okay to start your reminders with “Hi” or “Hey there,” followed by the recipient’s first name. If you belong to the latter, a simple “Hello” and the user’s first name suffice. You could omit the first name too, but we’d recommend that you don’t as it adds a nice personal touch.
  
• Businesses using formal language like to address their customers using their full names along with their titles (Mr., Ms. Mrs.). However, these titles are not gender-neutral, and if you are not completely sure about their gender, it is not a good practice to assume. The safe bet, thus, is to stick with a polite “Hello” (which could always be followed with the recipient’s full name).
  
• The standard greeting, “Dear,” is now considered dated. But, if it’s something that you use across your other communications, you might stick with it for your reminder emails too. 

Keep The Content Succinct

Brevity is not just the soul of wit but also of reminder emails. The best reminder emails are those that get straight to the point and provide their recipients with the necessary context as soon as they dive into the email body. Offer preamble only if it’s absolutely necessary. Just to reiterate, reminder emails serve only to drive action out of your subscribers. They know what they have to do; all they require is a slight nudge. Don’t provide any primers because all your other emails have done just that. Lastly, ensure you cover all critical details such as dates, times, venues, incentives, customer support links, and anything else that might be relevant to the reader. 

Make Your CTA (Call-to-action) Prominent

If an email’s sole objective is to invite action, wouldn’t it be rather odd if its CTA button is not properly fleshed out? If you ask us, your CTA should be nothing less than the most defining aspect of your reminder email. Place it above the fold itself and look to it that it contrasts sharply against your email’s background. You’re free to use secondary CTAs but only after making certain that the primary one is conspicuous to a fault. As for the CTA phrase, use action verbs and power words to spark an emotional response within your readers. You can even include a small element of interactivity to the CTA.

What You Should NOT Do While Creating A Reminder Email

• Do not shame your customers. This is particularly important if you are executing a reminder email series. Even if there’s no response coming from their end despite your persistent attempts, at no point should you try to guilt them for the same. Believe us when we say that them blocking you for this will be the least of your worries; the subsequent negative word-of-mouth marketing that it’ll spawn will tarnish your brand reputation beyond repair.
  
• Refrain from spamming your contacts. What makes a reminder email sequence successful is how well you time it. Put adequate gaps between two successive reminders. If you notice that a particular contact has become too unresponsive, try to find the underlying reason behind the same. Should your research tell you, they need to be weeded out from your list, then so be it. A small, well-engaged list will respond better to your reminders any day than a long list full of inactive contacts.
  
• Do not sound regretful or apologetic, irrespective of how many reminder emails you send to your contacts. Remember that following up with your customers and reminding them about upcoming deadlines or ongoing offers is simply a part of your job.
  
• Don’t let email be the only channel through which they can reach out to you—factor in the possibility that not everyone is comfortable with emails. Provide links to your social media platforms as well as your official contact number; essentially, put the ball in your audience’s court.

Reminder Email Inspirations To Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

Here are some stunning reminder email examples from the best in the business. Take a look!

Uncommon Goods
Subject Line: Did you blink and miss these top sellers? We have good news

If at all you are able to move on from how extremely pleasing this email is to the eyes (thanks to both the color scheme as well as the pictures used), you’ll find tons of other praiseworthy aspects here. For starters, the objective- stated right at the top of the email, with full clarity. The first CTA appears in the hero section itself, which is a great way to bring it under the spotlight. Every subsection has its own CTA so that if the user wishes to purchase anything from there, they don’t have to scroll all the way to the top. At the bottom, just above the social media icons, you’ll spot a cute animation that showcases the brand’s contributions to society at large. An excellent finishing touch, in our opinion.

Duolingo
Subject Line: Daily Reminder Email Design from DuoLingo

This reminder email from Duolingo is as minimalistic as it gets. A friendly greeting, a crisp and informative copy, and a design layout that has whitespace in abundance- Duolingo ticks all the right boxes with this one.

Grammarly

Subject Line: [Webinar Reminder] Go from burnout to breakthrough

Wondering how you should go about designing your event reminders? Look no further than this email by Grammarly. Right at the top, they have mentioned all the critical details- the webinar topic, date, time, and the key speaker (along with her picture). The body tells us all we need to know about the scope of the webinar and what we stand to learn by attending it. The CTA button, painted in the brand colors, stands out sharply against the background. 

Formaggio Kitchen

Subject Line: Reminder: Place Your Easter Menu Order

This reminder email from Formaggio is downright delicious (yes, that was on purpose). Setting the tone with a captivating hero image, Formaggio cuts straight to the chase with its email body. Besides unraveling their Easter offerings in complete detail, they also clearly highlight the time window within which one must place their orders to avail of it. Keeping in mind users who might look for more information, Formaggio has also included a “Contact us” link in this reminder email.

Wrapping It Up

We are sure that the best practices and inspirations shared above have left you all geared up to craft your own reminder email campaigns! Well, we’d be the last ones to stop you. Get cracking and steer your customers in the direction you want them to!

The post A Guide To The Perfect Reminder Email Recipe appeared first on Email Uplers.