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5-minute guide to creating must-read marketing emails

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Email remains one of the most useful tools in a marketer's toolkit. In fact, 73% of millennials say they prefer to receive communications from a business via email. So how can you create must-read marketing emails that stand out in your customers' inboxes?

Email marketing has come a long way since the early days of instant communication. It's now possible to send personalised emails on an industrial scale. In this guide, we'll look at:

 

      • What makes a great email
      • How to create the perfect emails for your campaign
      • How to segment and personalise your emails
 

Apply this knowledge to your own marketing campaign to increase your engagement rates.

What makes a great email?

We all send emails to our customers. But what separates truly great marketing emails from the rest? Take a look at these email campaign examples. Above all else, they are:

 

      • Engaging
      • Unique
      • Valuable
      • Personal
 

It's this kind of engagement you want to replicate in your own email marketing. With an estimated 269 billion emails sent each day, we no longer rush to open low-priority messages. For this reason, you need to offer content that is both interesting and actionable. In modern marketing, the success of an email campaign is easily measured, so you can constantly test and refactor different variations.

 

Experiment with tone of voice

 

In any form of business writing, your content needs to help forge a genuine connection between your company and its customers. Tone of voice (TOV) has a large part to play in this process.

 

Using language that speaks to your readers on their level is crucial to delivering a compelling message or offer. Think about your brand: are you quirky, professional, conversational? Understanding what your audience loves about your style will enable you to decide on the best way to approach them.

 

How do I create the perfect email?

 

While email remains the most popular form of communication, there are a number of things you can do to improve your success rate. Optimisation is the key to great email writing and can increase both your open and click-through rates. Here are some best practices:
1. Address them as a person, not a corporation

Customers value face-to-face contact and, in circumstances where this isn't possible, a human signature is just as important. Attribute all your emails to actual people in your company, even if your campaign is automated.
Example: Send your emails from 'joe@partner.com' rather than 'admin@partner.com'.

2. Nail the subject line

The email subject line is a window into the content of the email itself. Encourage recipients to open your email by summarising your offer or content in one short sentence. Relevance remains key, as you don't want to dupe your readers with a misleading headline. Spell out why your email is useful to them in no more than 70 characters and check the quality of your subject line with a tool such as MailChimp or Litmus.
Example: 'Revolutionise your hybrid cloud strategy with our free guide'

3. Include an unmissable call-to-action

A call-to-action (CTA) is the line of text that compels your audience to click on an offer or web link. In an email, it's the component that drives your click-through rate and gets your customers engaging with your site. Use active and emotive language in your CTA to convince your reader to learn more. A strong CTA will deliver a click-through rate between 6-6.5%. Above all, link to an offer that is valuable to the people you're contacting.
Example: 'Find more about our free, no-obligation Azure consultation'

4. Getting personal: the art of segmentation

Great marketing emails feel like a conversation between you and your audience. If your company caters for a broad range of customers (from line of business buyers to IT decision-makers), you need to ensure you're communicating with them all in the appropriate manner.

 

Segmentation allows you to talk to specific personas on a personal level. With marketing automation, you can segment your contact list in virtually any way. The easiest method of personalisation is to segment your emails based on customer behaviour. For example, if they click on one of your free guides, you can send them an email with the download link, as well as links to other relevant offers and content. Think about which offers will benefit which persona the most at each stage of the buyer's journey.

Turn emails into e-sales

Must-read marketing emails come down to three things:

1. Optimisation

2. Personalisation

3. Relevancy

 

You want your emails to be an extension of your brand's voice and personality, whilst driving your customers to take action. Build on the best practices in this guide to create compelling email campaigns that are tailored to your audience's specific needs and challenges.