How To Make Your Emails Stand Out From the Crowd

manufacturer using email marketing

The rise of home working as a result of the pandemic has changed the way that many of us conduct business. Telephone conversations are great for building relationships with potential customers, but remote working has made it harder to reach the people we need to speak to. Subsequently, we now rely on email to get our message across, but this has become increasingly difficult due to the fact that our inboxes are universally overwhelmed with new emails on a daily basis!

Getting your email to stand out from the crowd and draw attention is now absolutely essential if we want to successfully promote our businesses. Whilst email marketing experienced setbacks in light of the GDPR laws that came into effect in 2018, we are now more reliant on email than ever before. Although it still remains vital that these laws are adhered to, it's also extremely important that we brush up on our email skills to ensure that we continue to thrive under testing circumstances.

If you're looking for ways to improve your email marketing and get a better response rate, then simply follow the tips below:

Come Up With an Enticing Subject Line:

Try to focus on the benefits you offer and the problems that you can solve for your prospect.

The importance of the subject line really cannot be overstated, as this will make the difference between your prospect opening your email or sending it directly to their digital bin! Therefore, it's important to spend time coming up with a direct, snappy subject line that gets your message across and ensures that your prospect won't be able to resist a further look.

When coming up with your subject line, try to focus on the benefits you offer and the problems that you can solve for your prospect. Questions can also work incredibly well within subject lines. For instance, if you can offer a fast turnaround and exceptional quality, then 'Do you require quality machined components urgently?' may work well as a subject line.

It can sometimes be a case of trial and error when it comes to coming up with a subject line that works, so it's worth paying close attention to the response rates of each of your emails. Over time, you should be able to see which subject lines are performing well and which ones are not working, allowing you to modify your approach accordingly.

READ: 5 Social Media Content Ideas To Promote Your Engineering Business

Watch Your Language:

When it comes to email, you are relying 100% upon the words that you use.

Email communication comes with its own challenges in that you are relying 100% upon the words that you use. Telephone conversations are often easier to negotiate as you have more mediums to put your message across - think tone of voice, for example. As email means that this luxury is lost, we have to be especially careful about the language that we use to ensure that our message is not misconstrued.

Make sure that your email is easy to understand before hitting the 'send' button and that there is no chance of misinterpretation due to unclear or vague language. Don't be afraid to be direct with your message, but also keep your email friendly enough that it cannot come across as being aggressive or hostile.

Finally, typos can be extremely off-putting and may compromise your professionalism in the eyes of your prospect. Running a quick spell check before sending is always a worthwhile exercise to make sure that nothing is overlooked.

READ: How Can Qimtek Help You To Improve Your SEO?

Strike a Balance:

Striking a balance between formality and friendliness will help you to get the most out of your email marketing.

Professionalism is an essential component of email marketing, but it never hurts to make your emails more personal to the prospect you're addressing. Striking a balance between formality and friendliness will help you to get the most out of your email marketing, as it enables you to build rapport. Whilst the ability to do this is somewhat diminished due to a decrease in telephone communication, adding an element of personalisation into your emails will serve as a worthy substitute in the meantime.

It's also important to remember that email marketing is not a one-size-fits-all affair and you may have to adapt your approach depending on who you're speaking with. Whilst some people favour business-only interaction, others will want to spend the time corresponding in a less formal manner. When it comes to perfecting the perfect email marketing strategy it's essential to bear in mind that you may have to cut your cloth accordingly.

READ: 8 Easy Brand Awareness Campaigns To Grow Your Business

Format Perfect:

Lay out your email in a succinct manner that allows the recipient to scan easily.

When crafting a great email template, remember that format is king. You want to lay out your emails in a reader-friendly fashion that gets your message across without bombarding the recipient with information. Make sure to strip your email down to the bare essentials and remove any filler that may make your message too convoluted.

Remember to lay out your email in a succinct manner that allows the recipient to scan easily. Bullet points can work especially well for this reason, as few people will take the time to read paragraphs upon paragraphs of text about a company that they are not familiar with. You should also make sure to select a font that is professional and easy to digest. Fonts such as Arial or Verdana are preferable, whereas Comic Sans? Maybe not so much.

Bear in mind that the format of emails may also change depending on the email platform that your prospect uses. What looks good in Gmail may not work so well in Outlook, so it's best to keep things as simple as possible.

READ: GDPR - Headache or Opportunity?

To Attach Or Not To Attach?

The use of attachments or links should be employed on a case-by-case basis.

Attachments can be a great way to include more information about your company without bulking out the body of the email too much, but be sure to remember that some companies have firewalls in place that block messages with attachments from unknown senders. This may mean that your email is not received by some of your prospects at all, so it's best to exercise caution when using them.

The same can also be said for including links within your emails, in that some of these messages may not make it past a firewall's shield. However, not all of your emails will have a 100% response or open rate and it's crucial that you have realistic expectations regarding their success. 

The use of attachments or links should be employed on a case-by-case basis - for instance, larger companies are more likely to have extensive internet and email security in place, meaning that it's best to forgo the attachments when corresponding with such businesses for the first time.

READ: Keeping Your Customers Happy Through a Global Pandemic

Check, Check and Check Again!

The smallest of mistakes can sometimes prove to be off-putting to your prospects.

Nothing can scupper your chances of email marketing success more than failing to double check before sending. As previously mentioned, spelling mistakes can be very detrimental to your response rates, but it's important not to overlook other aspects of your email as well.

For instance, if you've included images within the body of your email, then are they loading correctly? Are all of your links working and pointing to the right address? These details can make all of the difference between a successful email and a dud, meaning that double and even triple-checking every aspect of your email is an essential task.

You should never be afraid to make sure that each of your emails is perfect before sending, which means that email marketing should never be rushed. The smallest of mistakes can sometimes prove to be off-putting to your prospects so make sure that you spend time on each of your emails and tailor them to the person they're being sent to. Sending out a hundred emails with mistakes will often garner less of a response than sending ten really great emails - quality over quantity is definitely something to bear in mind within your approach.

--

Qimtek is always on hand to help with your marketing approach! If you require advice or tips on how to get the most out of your email marketing campaign, simply call us on 01256 394 500 or email [email protected].