Why do we use video email marketing or any type of email marketing for that matter? To keep our audience engaged right? And why would we want to keep our audience engaged? Because and engaged audience is participating in your calls to action which lead to conversions.
Now, one of the biggest challenges of email marketing is to get people to open your emails. You’ve spent all day (sometimes longer) writing and rewriting the most compelling email in the history of emails, you’ve used the perfect font, included witty remarks, and crafted the perfect call to action. You’re ready to make more sales than ever with your new offer and you finally hit the send button letting the universe (or at least your email list which might as well be the same thing) see your masterpiece.
At this point it’s a waiting game. You’re thinking, “ok, I should see some action here any second...” Nothing happens. You’re starting to wonder if you made a mistake somewhere with the link you provided so you check and sure enough, its correct. No opt-ins, no clicks, no nothing.
So, after a few minutes (which seemed like hours) you check your email statistics only to find out no one is opening your emails. Why aren’t people opening your emails?
If you’re doing any type of email marketing campaigns or internet marketing in general, chances are you’ve got one or maybe even two other email accounts you use strictly to accept free offers by opting into a landing page/squeeze page or what have you. However, many times the average consumer does NOT have multiple emails so you have to compete with all the other subject lines from all the other marketers who could quite possibly be your competitor. So, how do you write a compelling subject line to get people to open your emails you’re sending to your list?
One of the most important things about a subject line of an email is whether it is compelling to the recipient. Keeping your subject lines relevant to your audience is very important. By adding a key “buzzword” to your subject line will entice them to see what’s inside.
Another factor directly related to the keywords and buzzwords you are using in the subject line is how many other words you are using. Lengthy email subject lines are much less likely to be opened as opposed to short subject lines. In fact studies have shown that short email subject lines had an open rate of 58% when less than 10 characters were used. http://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/07/email-marketing-stats.html
You can also increase your open rate by personalizing the subject line of your emails. Most email marketing providers give you the option to add information about the people in your database in subject lines and in the body copy of your email like their first name or last name. Some email marketing providers like MaxLeadPro even give you the ability to include the city and state they’re in. Give it a try and increase your open rate. A study by salesforce.com found that emails with personalized subject lines are 22.2% more likely to be opened.
Perhaps a somewhat overlooked factor regarding email open rates is the time of day that you are sending your emails. What is the best time of day to send an email? Well, when do you most often ready your emails? Think about when your audience has their lunch breaks or other times when they are motivated. The well known Internet marketing company Swift Digital, says research shows that some of the most highly effective email publishing times are from 1pm to 2pm or during rush hour between 5pm and 6pm.
Ok, now your emails are getting opened and your audience finally sees the masterpiece you took days to write and what happens, no clicks. You may have written the most compelling piece of content all year but that’s only your opinion. Here are some things to consider when writing your content. Did you:
-
Make the email easy to read?
-
Speak about benefits rather than features?
-
Ensure the content is relative to the subject line?
-
Educate your reader and give them a reason to view you as a credible source?
One final tip that can apply to all of the above sections is the notion of adding video to your email. How does video email affect your email campaigns? A video email marketing campaign can increase click through rates, increase brand identification, and increase conversion rates across the board due to the personal touch and sensation that they are dealing with real people, not just text and technology.
Digital Information World found that 8 out of 10 users remembered a video advertisement they had previously seen on the internet. Further, 16 out of 25 users were more likely to purchase a product after viewing an explainer video. That is powerful stuff.
To take a trial of MaxLeadPro’s entire suite of services, including the video email marketing capability, please click here or hit the $1 trial button located at the top right of the page.
Cheers to a more effective email marketing campaign,
Bruce Mack