Did you know that we are using email marketing now more than ever? I didn’t until I had the opportunity to hear Jen Capstraw, CEO and Co-founder of Women of Email, speak at the 2021 Digital Summit in Atlanta. She explained to us that email marketing is not dead, it is just getting harder to do well. So, let me share with you some of the tips and tricks that stuck with me in order to do well within the email marketing world.

Simple Design Is Taking Over

Email designs today are taking on a simpler appearance. We are seeing greater use of white space in email newsletters and campaigns. Incorporating white space into your email radiates sophistication and doesn’t distract your subscribers from the overall message. This isn’t to say never use pops of color or images within your email, but to really take the time to craft your email with the purpose of appealing to your audience and reducing the amount of clutter. The number one tip to making sure your email isn’t cluttered is to build the body of your email to be concise. The copy should be clear, direct, and brief. If you didn’t know, the majority of adults prefer to read at an eighth grade level, so be sure your copy reflects that. Otherwise, your subscribers won’t waste their time opening your next email campaign.

Animation is Cool

The use of animation in email will set your campaign apart from others. Animations can be used to emphasize the call to action by bringing it to life. For example, Asana uses an animation of a person running in their reactivation email campaign to emphasize that those users who haven’t used their app in a while need to “get up to speed”. This causes a sense of urgency for the subscriber, and the hope is that they will become an active user again. Animations embedded in emails can be used in many different ways, but overall, they allow us to use digital images to get our point across while still keeping our emails concise and simple. Not to mention, they’re just cool.

Subject Line Humor is a Plus

If you are trying to get greater open-rates or link-clicks within your email, try using humor within your subject line. Sometimes using funny, light language will stand out to the subscriber and will make them curious to see what the rest of the email entails. A lot of brands will use humor when sending their reactivation emails. An example that comes to mind is one of Avis Car Rental’s past campaigns. Their subject headline read “Have you been captured by aliens?” insinuating that the subscriber had been ghosting them for a while and was no longer responsive to their emails. There are plenty of other examples like this, but the overall takeaway is that sometimes humor can be used to help your brand stand out. And who doesn’t love a good, unexpected laugh?

Personalization is Key 

One size does not fit all, even for email. By taking the time to craft relevant and personalized content for your email subscribers will in return boost your brand. We are seeing email marketers create content that is personalized for maximum relevance. By simply addressing the user by name or using language that appeals to them, there is a sense of a customer to business relationship. As email marketers, we have to remember to talk to people like people. When personalizing emails, don’t overdo it so much to where the consumer begins to feel uncomfortable, but also don’t under-personalize too much to where the content isn’t relevant to them at all. Personalization is definitely something that is difficult to master, but with practice and a little bit of effort, the results will show that it is worth it.

Go forth and conquer your next email campaign and put these tips and tricks to work. Oh, and remember that email marketing is not dead, it’s ever changing.

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