Improve your email effectiveness with these 4 tips
Your email list is a valuable part of your business. Each email you send offers the opportunity to convert a reader into a buyer. Email marketing is one of the best and least expensive channels available to businesses, so having a good email conversion rate can be a significant improvement in overall revenues.
Consumers tend to be fickle and have many preferences. Therefore, even a small tweak in your overall email can lead to a significant improvement in conversion rates. Consider this, if you currently have a one percent conversion, going to two percent is a fifty percent lift in sales.
Having an effective email campaign requires regular testing; however, here are some quick recommendations that have paid dividends for our automotive email campaigns.
Here are four top tips from the team at Conceptual Minds.
1. Send your emails at the right time
Many people don’t realize it, but when an email is sent can have a big impact on campaign performance. There have been several studies conducted to identify the best time of day and the best day of the week. The results on these studies are mixed. We believe that the timing of your email deliveries should be catered to your customers, not necessarily around your business hours.
The goal is to send your email at a time that your customers will read and engage with it. Figuring out the opportune time to send your message will lead to better conversions. The best way to find the ideal “send” time is to test your mailing list. This can be done by sending an email to a small batch of customers on various days of the week and/or time of the day. This is known as A/B testing.
A/B testing sounds easier than it is. For most small- to medium-sized businesses, this may seem like a daunting task but here’s a little secret: Email platforms such as MailChimp allow you to conduct A/B easily with just a few clicks. So, take it for a spin!
As for evaluating results, your goal should be to compare the open rates and click-through rates for each of the campaigns to understand which one performed better.
2. Highlight your promotions
Discounts and coupons are enticing incentives and can have a significant impact on conversions. In fact, fifty-eight percent of clicks in an email campaign come from a coupon link, according to a quarterly email benchmark report. This is a great opportunity to highlight any tire rebates that manufacturers may be running or specials that are specific to your shop and give you a competitive advantage.
3. Make sure your message can be seen
Web based email providers (like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook) block images by default as a security measure, only showing them after a reader approves them. That means if your email message is based solely on a large image, there’s a good chance your user will initially see nothing. Here’s an example of an email a user recently received and viewed:
Most of this message consists of images and although it probably looks pretty once the images are opened, the email the client initially sees is primarily blank. This is because the user’s email account is not set to display the images by default. As you can imagine, the user had no idea what this email is about. This is a waste of the reader’s time and the company’s effort.
Instead, your emails need to be based on text, with images as the supporting elements. Here’s an example of an email sent by Mini Hoppers that still communicates the message even when the images don’t show up:
So, how do you create an email like the one created by Mini Hoppers? Well, the trick is in something called “Alt-Image” text. Most email platforms allow users to upload images and set alt-image text as part of that upload. This alt-image text is what shows up when the image does not display. As you can see, it can be the difference between a conversion and no conversion.
4. Create a strong call to action
The call to action is the most important part of your email. The placement, wording and design are vital to achieving a higher conversion rate. Use these tips to be sure your call to action is giving you the best results possible:
1. Be clear and concise, not too wordy.
2. Place several calls to action throughout the email campaign with different terminology for testing purposes. Certain language may resonate better with users than others.
3. Use bold colors to draw the reader’s attention.
4. Create a sense of urgency by adding the words “now” or “today.”
5. Personalize your call to action. Example: Instead of “click here” when you are asking a user to schedule an appointment, try “schedule an appointment.”
The key to identifying the best call to action buttons for your emails is testing.
We hope that the recommendations provided in this blog help you quickly improve your email marketing results. If you are interested in harnessing the true power of email marketing and prefer the assistance of email marketing experts who are intimately familiar with automotive businesses, please contact Conceptual Minds by calling 877-524-7696 or by visiting our website.
Taran Sodhi is chief executive of Conceptual Minds — a company that specializes in email marketing for tire and auto shops and other auto service providers.
