Before Twitter. Before Facebook. In a land that knew no Pinterest, there was a strange little electronic creature known as … the email. Sure, it felt threatened when tweets, likes, shares, +1s and pins came along, but it possessed an advantage they did not: it sparked a direct connection in the first virtual spot people go when it’s time to do business, the inbox. And so it survived — but not without changing to meet the needs of its new climate.
Before Twitter. Before Facebook. In a land that knew no Pinterest, there was a strange little electronic creature known as … the email. Sure, it felt threatened when tweets, likes, shares, +1s and pins came along, but it possessed an advantage they did not: it sparked a direct connection in the first virtual spot people go when it’s time to do business, the inbox. And so it survived — but not without changing to meet the needs of its new climate.
At Wax, we love emails and keep the spirit of this beloved organism alive. We’ve boiled our winning email strategy down to three best practices and are sharing them with you, lest you forget the staying power of targeted digital messaging:
- Text is best. Don’t overload the email with images: words are the most essential part of the message, especially the call-to-action, so be sure to take language to heart and make it the cornerstone of your email. It’s important to add an image to your email to liven up the look, though, but when you use them, always add “alt text” so people whose images do not open automatically will be able to read a description of the image before choosing to open it.
- Gauge your audience. Think generationally: who will read your email? Baby Boomers? Gen Xers? Millennials? Younger generations read more of their emails on tablets and smartphones, while older folks are more likely to view them on a desktop or laptop. Regardless of the age group you’re addressing, you should make every email mobile-friendly, since you never can be sure who will intersect it via pass-along readership.
- Beat the clock. Each industry has its unique consumership cycles, and you’ll want to figure out the ones relevant to your blasting efforts. A basic A/B test can help. Simply draft and send an email to half your audience at one time, and then forward to the second half a bit later. Examine the results and you’ll he on track to syncing up with your audience’s patterns of receptivity.
Above and beyond these suggestions, you have to consider things like “from” name and subject line to ensure your email does not register as spam or get rerouted straight to the trash unopened.
