Email marketing is a commonly used business tool, but all too often it falls short of the mark. Consumers receive countless sales emails every week, and if you’re sending a B2B marketing email, expect it to have to compete with at least dozens of others.

How do you make sure that your email marketing content hits the target first time and doesn’t just end up being deleted without being read?

Here’s a few important tips and guidelines to get your email marketing on track.

Choose the right send from address

It might feel like a small, irrelevant detail, but the address you send your email from can make a huge difference. Nobody wants to feel like they’re being spammed by a huge marketing campaign. Personal, human detail matters. If your email arrives in an inbox from ‘Sales’ it’s far less likely to be read than if it arrives from a named individual. Make sure your email marketing is sent from an address that contains the name of a relevant person in the company.

Make sure your subject line is engaging

If someone is going to open your email, you have to grab them from the first line. In the case of an email, the first line is the subject line. Make it snappy and intriguing and people will open the email and read on. If it isn’t, they’re much less likely to.

A good subject line is a brief subject line. Research shows that around 40 characters is the ideal length for an email subject line. Longer subject lines can be more difficult to read, and often end up truncated when they appear in an inbox. Make sure that your recipient can read your subject line in its totality without too much effort.

If you want to capture the attention of your reader, ask a question rather than make a statement. And don’t be afraid to add emojis to break up the text. It’s not just about what you say, but the visual impact it makes.

Your aim is to make sure the reader opens the email. This is the first stage of the conversion process when it comes to email marketing.

What would get you clicking on a marketing email to read its contents?

Your preview text and opening sentence is the key to engagement

As with a novel or a newspaper article, the first line is key. It should grab the attention of the reader and make them want to read on. Get to the point quickly and clearly, telling people what the email is about. Don’t make people have to figure out what it is they’re reading.  While it can be tempting to be clever, it rarely works. Keep those first few lines as simple, clear, and engaging as possible.

List the main features and benefits of what you’re offering

Why should someone buy your product, subscribe, or use your services? What are the main features and benefits that you’re selling? Don’t make it difficult for your readers to get a handle on the advantages of your product. If appropriate, list the features and benefits of what you’re offering.

Get serious about your email marketing strategy

Too much email marketing is done on a cursory, half-hearted basis. Get serious about achieving results and don’t let your marketing emails go unread.

Why not contact us to find out more about how our cloud-based email marketing software can help transform your email marketing strategy?