Digitaland – Billions of emails are sent every day. And for good reason.
- Email drives 80% of acquisition and retention in some sectors
- With a median ROI of 122%, email is more effective than social, direct mail and paid search
- Almost 90% of consumers report they enjoy receiving promotional emails at least monthly
How To Develop HTML Emails For The Pharmaceutical Market – FREE EBOOK
Email also beats out Facebook and other channels as the most direct way to reach and interact with your audience.
Still, many brands treat email as an afterthought, using clunky DIY templates or sending sporadic mailings. The good news is that with the right digital creative agency, it’s easy to develop high-impact emails that your audience will be excited to open.
So don’t neglect your list! We’ve put together a user-friendly blueprint for building emails that will keep your audience connected and engaged with your brand.
Digital Creative Production – How to build a better email
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As a digital creative agency, we’ve built hundreds of emails for our clients, either as online display campaign companions or standalone pieces of content. These are our go-to tips for building emails that look good and perform well, too.
Start strong with a relevant subject line
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This is your big chance to encourage the reader to open your email, so don’t make it an afterthought. Spend some time brainstorming ideas. A great tactic for coming up with attention-grabbing options: think of what you would write if you were sending the email to a friend or family member. This approach switches you from sales mode to conversationalist mode, resulting in a subject line that’s both natural and compelling.
Always include a preview line
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The often-neglected companion to your subject line deserves more attention than it gets. As the second line of copy that shows up when your reader scans their inbox, the preview line is another opportunity to persuade them to open your email. Think of it as a bonus subject line and brainstorm accordingly. The extra effort can be the deciding factor in getting your email read.
Choose custom design templates
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Skip the cookie cutter DIY templates – they cheapen your brand image and restrict your creative control over the final deliverable. Work with a digital creative agency to build custom templates that meet your needs – mobile-friendly, cross-platform compatibility, fast loading, etc. – and are easy to update. If your emails are text heavy, use images or formatting (bullet points, section headers, etc.) as a way to break up the text. For image heavy emails, use high resolution images, legible fonts and white space to balance out the design.
Think mobile friendly
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With 88% of consumers checking email on their mobile devices – often scanning their inbox and deleting anything that looks spammy or irrelevant – building mobile friendly emails (and subject lines) is more important than ever. Make sure you discuss your target destination devices with your digital creative agency.
Make the inbox interactive
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The benefits of interactivity – it’s one of the best ways to boost engagement, brand awareness and brand recall – now extend to inboxes, thanks to advances in HTML5 technology. With interactive emails, your readers can enjoy all the elements of an interactive website – navigation, customization, search, forms, etc. – without ever leaving their inbox. One caveat: since the technology is still relatively new, it works best on mobile and newer email clients.
Be consistent
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Let’s revisit the stats we opened with. Almost 90% of consumers enjoy receiving promotional emails on a monthly basis. The same study showed 61% of consumers like getting those promo emails every week. Get on a regular production schedule with your digital creative agency so you can take advantage of the open invitation to your audience’s inbox.
Remember: when someone provides their email address, they’re granting you access to their inner sanctum. It’s the ultimate in permission marketing. Respect that access and trust by sending a reasonable number of relevant, fast-loading, top quality emails every month.
Ready to give your email marketing a facelift? Drop us a line!
