Improving your marketing campaign's email deliverability is a challenge for businesses large and small.
All the time spent planning your campaigns seems like a waste if a large number of your email messages are not making it to your subscribers' inboxes. Moreover, the constant evolution of technology means more people are checking their email with their mobile devices.
For email marketers, that means one thing: We have to keep up with the trends or face the reality that our emails will most likely go undelivered, unnoticed, or unread by our mobile audience.
Though that may seem an overwhelming task, it isn't as daunting as it seems. When catering to both your mobile and PC users, you can kill two birds with one stone: Many of the best-practices that apply to general emails can also apply to your mobile audience.
The following tips will help you increase your email-deliverability rate. If you're new to email marketing, start simple: Focus on the design of your emails, and get to know your audience.
Design Your Campaigns for Both Mobile and PC Users
Clear the clutter
Keeping a clean-looking email hugely affects the positive impact of your campaign. The harder your email campaign is to read, the faster it will get deleted, so keep your messages short and sweet!
That is a good rule of thumb to apply to emails sent to both PC and mobile users. Although you may think it looks nice, a complicated email design can negatively affect the way your email looks in a mobile device. Always remember that a simple template is the best template.
Get to the point
When scrolling through your email message, your readers care only about what speaks to their interests. Make it easy for them to find what they're looking for by using bullet points to highlight your main points, making them really jump out at the reader.
Often, using descriptive text doesn't catch a reader's attention and can drown out your message. Along with making a reading experience easier, bullet points reinforce the clean look of your email by providing additional white space.
Know Your Audience
Keep your options open
To maximize the deliverability of your email campaigns, provide mobile-friendly options. Specifically, make sure you offer both HTML and plain-text formats.
Emails rich in media, such as images, audio files, and videos, tend to generate a high response rate. But they also risk alienating your mobile or PC users whose devices don’t have media capabilities.
Segmenting and targeting are key
No matter who your audience is, segmentation and targeting are surefire ways to reach the inbox and increase the chance of subscribers opening your emails.
Mobile and PC users alike tend to be more interested and responsive to personalized, targeted emails as opposed to a general mass email. In fact, according to a recent Aberdeen Group report Demystifying Email Deliverability, best-in-class email marketers who segment their emails achieve an average email deliverability rate of 90.2%.
Think about who your products and services are geared to. Some businesses may have a niche audience that may require even more targeting. Targeting based on demographics is a great way to pique interest in and foster a better relationship with your readers. Some general demographics to consider are age, gender, marital status, and location.
Segmenting and targeting even the simplest demographics greatly increases your deliverability. Let's face it, everyone is different. A 25-year-old female most likely will not have the same preferences as a 50-year-old male.
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There's no doubt that email marketing is an effective way to boost sales and customer loyalty, but if your emails aren't reaching the inbox, they're of no use at all. Make sure that doesn't happen to you.
Take the first steps by giving your emails a clean look and feel, and offering options such as plain text and HTML.
Last but certainly not least, don't forget to segment and target your list for optimum campaign performance. Not only will your mobile and PC subscribers be happy, but you'll also be happy once you see the results.
