(Source: blog.marketo.com)

There is no hard and fast rule when sending out emails to your clients. I like to consider email marketing as an art more than a science. However, there are few things than can be done to make your emails stand out amongst a sea of clutter.

The length of subject line

According to a research by Adestra, there is a dead zone for this. This research tracked over 900 million emails and concluded that there is no increase in open rates for emails that have subject line between 60-70 characters. If you want to believe the facts and the psychology in these facts, it is better to avoid this dead zone. Go for long subject line if you want to build awareness and go for a shorter subject line if you want to redirect your clients to your website. A short “Namaste” or “Hey” might do the trick for the latter.

Conundrum of adding a personal touch

Different people in different situations will have different reactions to emails with a personal touch. What I mean is if you go “Hi Pratik, Merry Christmas” in your marketing email and I don’t know you or your company, I would be suspicious about that email. But if I’m your regular client or if I know you and your company, I might feel good about such a personal greeting. It depends on several factors such as mood, perspective, psychology, literacy and so on. If you decide to use names, make sure that you spell it correctly with correct capitalization. But adding a personal touch is not limited to names. Here is an example of personalization and how Spotify wins at email personalization. 

Timing

Globally, it’s considered that 8pm to midnight has the best open-rates for emails according to Experian Marketing Services. I don’t have stats for Nepal to back me up on this because load-shedding acts as an obstruction. But analyzing our daily lifestyle, it might be better to experiment on a time that would best suit your customers. 

 (Source: media.licdn.com)

Design

A normal letter can be good for a specific purpose. But, emails with good designs can be more effective for several reasons. It is necessary to use your brand color and your logo somewhere in the email to subconsciously remind readers of your company. From font and font-size to images and buttons, each element should be appealing to the user. Here’s an email design from TrueFire.com that I consider appealing:

See how eye-catching their designs are and how each element is perfectly placed. The design gives me that Christmasy feeling of December while focusing on their “New Sales Offers and Deals”. The logo and color reminds me of the company and the kind of services they provide.

Mobile

48% of all emails worldwide are viewed on mobile phones. And in our load-shedding plagued country, mobile phones are the preferred choice these days. This is why it is imperative that you optimize your emails for cellphones. There are several guidelines provided by Google for their Material Design, along with other design guidelines from Apple and other Design experts for achieving the best readability and call-for-action.

Plan. Analyze. Plan.

Planning and analyzing complement each other when it comes to email marketing. You must visualize how your email can be distinctive and can create value before analyzing if your plan will work or not. One thing that you should always keep in mind is creativity.