How to Determine if Your Email Marketing is Effective

How often do you check your email? I probably check mine at least five times per day, and there’s always some new email from a company I’m not that interested in hearing from. I probably get a half dozen of those emails every day, even though I try not to subscribe to anyone’s mailing list, and I might read one or two. But for the most part, my eyes never see more than a partial subject line; the majority of those emails go straight into the trash can.

So why do I bring this up? Because my behavior is fairly typical for the 21^st century working adult, and that’s who you’ve got to appeal to. You have to make me open your marketing email, because if I’m not reading it, then it’s not doing its job.

In order for marketing emails to be effective, they have to be opened first; so how do you make that happen?

Subject lines are critical

Your subject line is really the first sales pitch I am going to hear from you. It basically states, “Here’s a darn good reason for opening this email.” Are your subject lines currently accomplishing that? Keep in mind that long subject lines are probably going to be cut off, so you really only have a few words to captivate my interest. How do you make a handful of words sound compelling?

Well, for starters, using action words is ideal. Words like “get” and “read.” You also have to let me know what your email is going to do for me. Will it “transform my sales department?” Or perhaps it can “revolutionize my marketing?” These are the kinds of phrases you need to use to draw attention.

Don’t engage in false advertising

Of course, this is a danger faced by all sales people: what if we oversell the merchandise? Play it up a little too much? You have to really straddle the line between hyping up your email and overselling it. Use flowery language, but never mislead your recipients. It’s OK if you exaggerate the benefits of the email slightly, but tread very carefully. Because if you mislead your recipients too much, they won’t trust your subject lines again, and will refuse to open any of your emails in the future.

More opens should equal more leads

If you follow these tips, your emails will start to get more opens – but that’s not truly a mark of success. You also need those email opens to translate into leads. If your open rate rises but your lead generation stays stagnant, then examine the content of your emails. Are your providing valuable content within the emails themselves? Are your value propositions effective? These are the kinds of things you have to consider if your leads stay low.