Email marketing is pretty complex. It can be difficult to keep up when you’re trying to build an email list, figure out what to write, measure etc. Following the 5 T’s will give you effective email marketing content that will boost customer engagement, drive revenue and build your brand.
5 T’s in Email Marketing:
Tease
Target
Teach
Test
Track
1. Tease
The email subject is the first thing recipients see. You need to make sure to give them an exciting preview as to what’s inside. Over one third of subscribers decide whether or not they open an email based on its subject line. When crafting the subject make sure in curiosity to entice readers to open. While you do want to “tease” the contents of the email, make sure your subject is not clickbait. The quickest way to turn off a reader/customer is by click-baiting them with something that really is in the email itself.
Once they open the email, you want to continue to tease information. You obviously want to insert your CTA. (call to action) You want to find the balance between having enough information to entice a click but not too much where they feel like they got all the info they needed and don’t end up clicking through. Doing this correctly will drive more traffic to your website and convert more customers.
2. Target
In order to target your customer, you need to understand them. Giving them content that they are connected and will respond to is key. The more personalized you get that better the engagement and click rate. A great way to start understanding your customers from the beginning is at the sign up process. The more information you collect at this stage the easier it is to understand the segmentation. Examples of information collected at sign up: name, email, phone number, age, birthday, location, how often they want to receive emails, type of emails they want to receive - promos etc. Once you’ve learned about your customer you can tailor emails that are geared towards them to activate their interest and engagement.
3. Teach
Email marketing copy is extremely important especially when it comes to this “T” Learning is a part of human biology so providing tips and tricks will bring value to your customer and have them wanting more. Things may seem like common sense to you but you’d be shocked at what your customer doesn’t know. Remember, you’re the expert in your field so talk about it often and share. HOT TIP: Tips and tricks are great but try it in reverse as well - “What not to do '' - this is always a great attention grabber and a nice way to change it up. Providing this information will add value and will help increase brand loyalty and perception.
4. Test
People often forget that you can run tests and you SHOULD. If you’re in the predicament of which subject line, layout, images you should use. Run a test. Of course it’s easier to just send off an email once it’s done but with the quick turnaround time of emails because of their nature, you can quickly learn what’s working and what’s not. Running these tests will help you understand how your customers/leads want to receive their information. It also enables you to maximize click-through and open rates while you’re establishing your customer trust.
5. Track
When you track and measure, you’re able to see your improvement over time. You can see what content is working with your audience and make decisions moving forward with hard data. Tracking and looking at the data is the only way to know if your emails are effective. This will help you determine if you’re hitting your goals and if you need to alter your strategy.
When tracking email performance you should be tracking the following:
Open Rate
Click-Through Rate
Clicks per Link
Conversion Rate
Bounce Rate
Unsubscribes
Spam Complaints
Forwarding Rate
TRACK, TRACK, TRACK!