You’ve created a great email campaign. You did everything correctly from finessing the subject line to ensuring the layout was perfect. But still, you’re getting a lukewarm response. Why aren’t people opening your emails? Maybe you need help creating hybrid email marketing campaigns.
If they haven’t been quarantined by anti-spam software, it could be that your subscribers don’t see them as having value. That’s the kiss of death. It doesn’t matter how carefully crafted your offer is if no one bothers to open the email.
That’s why we suggest a different route – creating hybrid emails using best practices learned from content marketing. Are you ready to start revving up your campaigns? Let’s see how.
Lesson 1 – Draft Them With The Reader In Mind
Now, for digital marketing agencies, that’s pretty obvious – you know that a carefully targeted email is far more likely to succeed. That’s not what we’re referring to here. We mean that you should create the email as a valuable resource for your client.
Instead of focusing on just trying to sell them something, give them something that will make their lives better. There are a lot of ways to do this:
- Short Tutorials: If you can think of a short tutorial that won’t take a lot of time to read through, include it here. You could link through to a video, or add images if necessary. Just watch the size of the file here – the bigger the file, the slower the load time.
- Local Events: If you rely on foot traffic, sending out a list of upcoming local events can be quite helpful for your audience.
- A Precis Of A White Paper Or Report That Your Clients Would Be Interested In: Perhaps you could give a summary of the latest budget speech, or give highlights of changes for the new tax year.
- A Listicle: What about the top ten kid-friendly places outside town? Listicles are quick to create and easy to read, so they’re always good to have on hand.
- Helpful Articles: Things like, “How to Beat Colds and Flu” and so on. These don’t necessarily have to relate to your industry, as long as your audience will appreciate them.
Brainstorm for a bit, and we’re sure that you’ll come up with a lot more ideas of your own. The golden rule here is that this is not about sales, but rather about building a better relationship. You’ll obviously sneak some marketing in at some stage, but that won’t be the primary focus.
The primary focus is to give your subscribers something valuable. By doing that, you’re increasing the odds that they’ll:
- Share your email.
- Always be sure to open emails from you in the future.
- And start looking forward to your next email.
Lesson 2 – Quality Rather Than Quantity
Here it’s better to focus on high-quality output rather than sending out as many emails as possible. Work out how much time you’ll have to spend on creating content. Then set up a realistic publishing schedule. It’s better to send a great post out once a fortnight than to send a mediocre one out every day.
If possible, plan two weeks in advance at the very least. Give yourself plenty of time to craft the perfect hybrid campaign. Planning ahead should prevent a last-minute dash to get the email created. It also makes it easier to develop themes in your content over time.
Lesson 3 – Get Feedback From Your Subscribers
Ask your subscribers what information they’d like to receive. Ask them to give you feedback on the emails that you send out. This is the best way to make sure that they get what they want.
Lesson 4 – Present A Flawless Email
This is your chance to impress your clients with how professional your company is. That means spending some time getting the layout right and ensuring that it’s mobile-friendly. You can learn more about that with our “How to Optimize Your Mobile Email Marketing Campaign.” blog post.
Check, recheck, and then proof check your campaign before you hit that send button. Typos look unprofessional.
Final Notes
The concept is simple – give your subscribers something to really look forward to. Not only does that increase the chances that it will be opened, but it’s strengthening the customer relationship. Why do emails any other way?
