5 Tips to Optimize Your Next Email Campaign

Our inboxes may be full of offers and news, but email marketing is still serving its purpose.

A recent survey notes that 68% of marketers believe email marketing is a very effective strategy, one of the highest among social media advertising and social media listening. Those marketers must be on to something: the Direct Marketing Association notes that email marketing has an ROI of 4300%. 

Earlier this week, our founder and president Jorge Villar shared 3 practical tips to increase response on your next email campaign. To piggy back off his post, we've decided to continue his list with 5 more strategies you can put in place TODAY.


1. Edit. 

While this seems like a no-brainer, I bet you can look in your inbox right now and find several reasons that it needs to be restated. Have someone who isn't working directly with the campaign read over the subject line as well as the message. It's easy to grow so attached to our ideas and our work that we overlook typos, misspellings and improper punctuation. A fresh set of eyes can help you zero in on areas to be improved.

2. Include video content. 

There's no doubt that consumers love to watch and engage with videos. Long form and short form videos alike, consumers enjoy an interactive experience with content that is entertaining, informative and shareable. Effective marketers know this and use it to their advantage. Recent research shows that when a video is used in an email, the CTR increases by 200%-300%.

3. Make your landing page one click away. 

Consumers engage with content that is not only entertaining but that is also conveniently accessible. Two clicks to reach a landing page and/or watch a video may take too much time and effort, especially depending on internet connection and considering your audience's busy schedule.

4. Use one CTA per email campaign. 

You may want your target audience to call you, email you, download a white paper, visit your website and follow you on social media, but your email campaign needs to focus on only one of those at a time. This will help you hone your message as well, providing prospects and clients with a clear idea of what you're offering as well as how they can follow up with you.

5. Send your email at the right time. 

Scott Stratten, marketing expert and president of UnMarketing, has a great quote on this concept: "The best time to never send email is when someone else told you to. Do your homework. The only important data out there is what your own list does." You have analytics on your target audience; use that data to determine the right time for your brand to send emails and to optimize your campaigns.

What would you add to this list? Tell us below or tweet us!

@rme360

             By: Susan Gail Taylor, Social Media Manager and Copywriter at RME360

Jorge's Thoughts: 3 Simple Ways to Get More Response from Your Emails

Email marketing should be a critical component of your 

overall marketing strategy. 

According to Salesforce/Marketing Cloud, 73% of marketers agree it's core to their business and 74% of them believe email produces marketing ROI.

But email marketing only works when you know how to make it work. How can your next campaign be more effective and get more response?







Check out these 3 simple tips:

1. Include clear, engaging subject lines. 

Newspapers provide us with headlines that not only share succinct details but that also seek to entice us to read further. Your email subject lines should provide that as well. Don't add to the noise and clutter of your prospects' and clients' inboxes; be specific and distinguish yourself.

2. Personalize your message.

I'd venture to guess that 95% of the emails I receive are not personalized beyond my name in the email address. Take the time to acknowledge your recipients, the businesses for which they work, the cities in which they live or even recent news about the cities.

For instance, when I get an email that uses my first name or that mentions RME360, it's likely to grab my attention. Referencing my city (Tampa) or recent sports news such the Tampa Bay Lightning's run at the Stanley Cup further increase that likelihood.

3. Be conversational.

Formal scripted emails are not likely to evoke response from prospects and clients. They simply appear as words on the screen. Your emails should jump off the screen, spark a connection with you targeted audience members and engage with them on relevant topics. It may be difficult to personalize an email blast to several prospects, but using a more informal and less sales-y tone will increase your chances that they read it and then respond to it.

My challenge to you:

Look at each of the emails you receive this week. Count how many of them get your attention in 2-3 seconds. Count how many of them you can tell are mass emails in 4-5 words. How can you use your impressions of those emails to impact your next email campaign?

Tweet me and let's chat about tips to improve email marketing:

 @JorgeVillarRME

By: Jorge Villar, President and Founder 

#smartdataemail

Jorge's Thoughts: 3 Tips to Develop Messaging that Converts Sales

If you've got leads, great! 

If you've got qualified prospects, congratulations! 

But how do you move them down the funnel? How does your current messaging impact your conversion rate and what can you do to improve it?

Believe it or not, every piece of written real estate matters when it comes to conversions. Each word on your print marketing, your digital messaging and your presentation materials has the power to lead to conversions, but some words have more power than others. 

Check out these 3 tips to consider when developing your messaging:

1. Stand out. Valuable prospects already have financial advisors. To earn their business, it's important to recognize that your messaging must be in steal away mode. What are you saying that is different from their current advisors? Inspire those valuable prospects to consider your services by showcasing what makes you unique. 

2. Identify pain points as well as solutions. Your prospects are likely to have several pain points of various concerns . While they won't find it pleasant or comfortable to discuss them,  they may not to do business with you unless there is something to resolve. Put the spotlight on how you can solve their pain points and make them more comfortable with their financial futures. 

3. Be top of mind. Your target prospects may not need you today, next week or next month, but inevitably they will need you. Your brand should be what they think of when they are ready to seek financial resolutions. That means your marketing efforts need to be consistent and that your messaging needs to address a variety of issues. For instance, if your target market consists of those age 55 and up, consider that their lives change every 4-6 months. Life events such as retirement, major illness or death in the family will trigger their need for you, so your messaging must speak to those concerns. 

Tweet me and let's chat about tips to convert sales:

 @JorgeVillarRME

By: Jorge Villar, President and Founder 

#convertthissale

4 Tips to An Innovative Marketing Runway

"It’s always about timing. If it’s too soon, no one understands. If it’s too late, everyone’s forgotten.’”

-Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief for Vogue, on innovation and creativity 

Considering today's array of choices in products and services at consumers' fingertips and the ease of comparing them to competitors, the marketing runway is ripe for a messaging style that tells an authentic story and connects with prospects and clients. 

To that end, there are many less than innovative trends, tricks, tools and tactics to avoid. In the fashion world, Wintour would refer to the continued of these as a faux pas. 



Remember: timing is everything, and it's time to retire a few things from your marketing closet. 

1. Say no to spam. 

Your marketing should speak to a specific audience who needs your products and/or services and who will respond to your messaging; it shouldn't be a net you cast out to a broad population as you hope for the best. Use data to identify your target audience and personalize your messaging to connect with them. Segmented emails may cast a smaller net, but the results will be worth it. 

2. Don't write thin content. 

Thin - or shallow - content does not provide value to your audience. Keyword stuffing as a tactic has been far from trendy for quite some time, but it's still present among less savvy content marketing. Invest the time and effort into providing useful and insightful content that your audience will not only want to read but will also want to share. This level of crowd marketing is an excellent way to create buzz about your brand and also increases your rank among search results. 

3. Avoid smoke and mirrors storytelling. 

Your prospects and clients are keenly aware of marketing tactics. They recognize when they're being sold to and when a brand is attempting to connect with them to fulfill a legitimate need. Don't overlook this awareness; avoid using misrepresentations in your messaging that will put off your prospects and clients. 

4. Remember to interact with your audience. 

Don't rely on talking to them through your messaging; instead, talk with them about their needs, their expectations and what you can do to serve and exceed both. 

By: Susan Gail Taylor, Social Media Manager and Copywriter at RME360

20 Email Marketing Tips for Reaching Your Audience

What tips would you add to the list? 

What is it about email campaigns you receive that resonates with you the most? 

How can you improve the way you reach your audience today? 

Tell us in the comments below! 

By: Susan Gail Taylor, Social Media Manager and Copywriter at RME360