Email Marketing Tips

Here’s another simple way you can test, test, test your campaigns.

The position of a link within your email can be crucial for getting a click-through. That’s why you should experiment with link placement in your campaign email and test it. It’s not an exact science but I’ve experienced wildly differing click through rates in campaigns just by changing the position of a link in the message. Of course, repeating the link is also a good idea - a link in a different position is a different link. Multiple links, linking to the same page, can work well, especially if differing styles and wording are used.

Test to a small segment of your list or vary the placement of standard links within consecutive campaigns. Closely monitoring the results in Analyser may throw up some interesting results over time and provide an insight into the best position for your links to get maximum click-throughs.

1. Include a small taster of your email’s content in the subject line. Don’t mislead the recipient into opening your mail - this will most likely lead to your address being swiftly added to the ‘blocked senders’ list and a new reputation as a ’spammer’. 

2. Always offer an unsubscribe link - LiveWire Campaign makes it easy for the recipient to unsubscribe by automatically adding a link to the bottom of your mails. Don’t try to remove it. You’ll get spam complaints and get blocked from the LiveWire Campaign system. 

3. Avoid Manic Monday and Frantic Friday - don’t underestimate the timing of your email - statistics indicate that recipients are more receptive to offers at midday midweek. Just before lunch is often a good time. Recipients’ are more likely to browse their emails while they eat their sandwich! 

4. Your user may not have the very latest PC capable of revealing cutting-edge graphics, so keep them to a minimum and keep file sizes small by processing them first in a good paint package before uploading them to LiveWire. Remember to make links within the email relevant and easily navigated. 

5. Limit the number of emails you send - inundating inboxes can be frustrating to the reader and inevitably end in deletion. Try to limit yourself to 1 per week/fortnight/month. The more frequent and persistent your emails are - the more likely it is that recipients will unsubscribe. 

6. Always include contact details and links to your website- obvious but easily forgotten! 

7. Don’t make your emails too long. Nobody is going to read a novel that arrives in their inbox! Create links back to your website for supporting information instead. Remember, you’re trying to find out who’s interested in your offer and relevant click-throughs will tell you. 

8. Use your newsletter to carry out market research - an ideal market, receptive to your information, product and offers is ideal. Relevant information is more likely to get read. 

9. Use the name of the recipient in the body of the email - LiveWire Campaign enables you to do this easily and personalisation will help your open rates. 

10. Test, test, test - make small changes to your mails and check the results in Analyser. Small tweaks can make a big difference to your results. Test your campaigns to small groups before sending to your final list.

If I receive an email campaign that addresses me by my name I feel more like myself, less like a number — and I’m more likely to read the message. Address recipients with their name in email campaigns

If at all possible, you should:

• Personalise your LiveWire Campaign emails
• Greet and address recipients individually with their name.

Often, you will use the first name only, but for some campaigns the last name will be more appropriate.

It’s always better to add some personality to an impersonal medium like email. LiveWire Campaign allows you to add your contacts first name to your list and include it on the email you send out. That’s a good start!

Try and ensure that the content of your email is relevant. The more targeted to your recipients you can make it, the better your opens, reads and click throughs will be. Sounds obvious I know but its surprising how little time and effort is put into personalisation by many email marketers.

I’ve found that targeting by sector can be very effective compared to a blanket emailing. It allows me to be much more specific with my message and use language and terms that my recipients can relate to.

A quick word on the subject line. It’s your opportunity to intrigue, grab attention and prompt a click. So be intriguing, be creative and put as much thought into your subject line as you do you email headline. Think of it like this - if your email subject made front page news what headline would the editor use to prompt his readers to pick up the paper and read the story?

Here’s a few tips on writing an effective subject line:

• 40-50 characters max’ - so be concise
• be creative - intrigue your recipient
• DON’T USE ALL CAPS - IT LOOKS LIKE SPAM
• Don’t overuse punctuation such as exclamation marks!!!!
• Don’t overuse the word “Free” (’at no cost’ is usually better)
• Don’t lie or pretend to be something you’re not - that’s a spammers trick