It’s time to evaluate and improve your email marketing tactics. If you’re using email there’s a number of techniques and methods you can incorporate into your activity to ensure email is driving the results you need. We’ll talk you through a few initial steps you can take to start building on your current activity and boost the performance of your email campaigns.

If you’re not already using email, check out our blog all about why email is such a powerful tool.

How to improve your email campaigns:

1. A/B Testing

Also known as split testing, it’s a classic strategy but it’s still used for a reason. It’s always worth A/B testing your content - email included.

It’s the method of comparing two versions of content to determine which one performs better. Subject line, banner image, calls-to-action, the from name - all these elements can be tested. Two or more variants are created and served to a proportion of your database to see which performs better; the winning version is then issued to the rest of your email list to help boost the chances of success. It’s simple yet powerful as over time it can help you understand what kinds of content and messages appeal the most to your target audience.

2. Include clear calls-to-action

Emails are one of the most influential ways to encourage your database to visit your website - but you have to make the most of it. By using calls-to-action (CTAs) you can clearly and effectively guide recipients to visit your site, browse a new product range, register for an event - or whatever action it is you’d like them to make. For the best results, your CTA should be a visible and an eye-catching button and ideally it should appear  above the fold for maximum impact. You may even want to A/B test different CTAs to see which encourage your email list to take action.

3. Segment your email lists

Rather than having one single database, take a look at the data you hold and see if you can start segmenting your data into more specific lists. Think about location, areas of interest, age, industry, job function, buying frequency. By building these lists, you’ll have the opportunity to feed highly relevant and specific content to particular groups of your audience. This will ensure your emails are engaging and of interest helping boost the performance of your campaigns as what’s relevant for one customer may not be relevant for someone else.

If someone buys regularly you may want to send them an extra special discount or offer for being such a valued customer. Whereas if someone has only bought from you once a long time ago, you can try to entice them back with a great incentive. These messages will only work if you have a segmented lists so take a look and see how you’re able to break-down the database you have and start boosting your engagement rates.

4. Personalise emails

Take tailored messages and content a step further with personalised emails. Personalised emails can help your messages seem less like communications from a faceless entity and more like those from a friend.

You can do as much as as little personalisation as your data allows too - so you can start small and start seeing the potentially huge difference it can make. From addressing someone by name, to sending them additional content similar to that they’ve been looking at on your website - personalised emails open up a whole world of opportunities to engage your customers and key audiences. It’s time to get personal if you aren’t already - after all, personalisation can have a major impact on your bottom line.

5. Email automation

Automated email offers you the chance to send messages based on a customer’s behavior, speed up the process of recurring emails and target messages in real time.

Although it can take a bit of effort to get automation up and running, in the long-term it can help save time and increase revenue. From basket recovery emails (reminding people they have items in their basket) to sending people an email thanking them for signing up to your mailing list - automation can send highly relevant emails to your audience without you having to get involved, improving effectiveness and efficiency of your email campaigns.

If you need support with your email marketing, whether it’s a the design and build of a bespoke template or full-service campaign management - our online marketing team are here to help.