Practical Tips to Get More Conversions Out of Your Emails

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Businesswoman holds a cup of coffee while checking her email inbox.

Are you struggling to get more conversions from your emails? Perhaps your target audience is reading your emails, but they just don’t take the extra step to grab your offer. Or worse still, they aren’t even tempted to open them.

We get it…

You’ve crafted what you thought was the perfect marketing email. If it then delivers poor open and click-through rates, it’s a frustrating exercise that can seem like a waste of time and effort. 

But as with all things digital marketing, if one approach doesn’t produce good results, it’s time to try something new. 

We don’t mean trying a different channel because emails are yesterday’s technology. The fact is emails are still one of the most effective ways to achieve conversions—provided you get it right.

Before you send out your next business email, consider this: Most customers delete or ignore emails they believe to be spam.

  • How can you break through that clutter? 
  • How can you get more conversions from your emails?

The good news is we’re going to share some proven tips on how to increase your email conversion rate. Below, we discuss some of the most successful tactics to encourage customers to act. 

1) Choose the Right Subject Line and Preview Text

A computer screen shows email folders, including an inbox with dozens of unread messages and emails in the spam folder.

Stop your emails from getting deleted.

If you want to get more conversions from your emails, learning to craft great subject lines and preview text is the first step. A subject line should be specific, engaging, and intriguing. It should make the reader feel compelled to find out what the email is all about.

The preview text tells the reader a little more about what to expect, adding to the feeling of expectation that the subject line has started. If you’ve opened a story loop in your subject line, try closing it slightly in the preview text to nudge them toward reading the email in its entirety.

Do…

  • Try opening a story loop that sparks curiosity and closing it in the body of the email
  • Be truthful and accurately reflect what’s in the email
  • Appeal to readers’ interests, desires, and pain points 
  • Be specific and use numbers whenever possible
  • Refer to hot topics in your industry
  • Test different subject lines to find out which gets the best response 

Don’t…

  • Use more than 41 characters in your subject line
  • Use more than 40 characters in your preview text
  • Try to “bait” readers with spam-like language or false promises
  • Be vague or unclear about the content of your email

2) Get to Know Your Readers

Show your readers that you understand them and view them as individuals.

Learning about your customers will help you write emails that speak to their needs and aspirations. Additionally, it will allow you to personalize emails and forge deeper connections with recipients. You can get more conversions by collecting data about your audience and putting it to use in your email marketing efforts.    

Do…

  • Research your audience’s interests, pain points, demographics, and buying habits
  • Personalize emails with recipients’ names whenever possible
  • Ask customers about their social media habits via a survey
  • Segment your emails by where people are in the funnel
  • Learn how and where your customers receive their information
  • Find opportunities to connect with target buyers through authority blogs

Don’t…

  • Neglect to consider demographics when driving customers to your social pages
  • Load up your emails with links to outside blogs
  • Forget to make your content mobile friendly for those who check email via phone
  • Pry into people’s online activities and risk causing discomfort

3) Don’t Send Needless Messages

Save time and build goodwill.

Don’t send an email simply because you think you should. Before you hit send, ask yourself if the content provides the recipient with value. Is the email necessary, relevant, or informative? If not, it probably won’t help you get more conversions.  

By being careful about the emails you send, you can reduce the likelihood of those on your list unsubscribing. Plus, you can save yourself time in the process. 

Do…

  • Share exciting news and product launches with customers
  • Send emails with special offers and coupons
  • Offer beneficial tips and strategies
  • Talk about current events when they’re relevant

Don’t…

  • Send an email just for email’s sake
  • View email as a broadcast medium
  • Send anything without checking spelling and grammar

4) Engage, Engage, ENGAGE

Encourage customers to interact with you.

If you want to get more conversions out of your emails, you need to engage readers. Email is a two-way conversation. So, if customers aren’t interacting in any way, you won’t get more conversions.    

Do…

  • Ask customers for their thoughts/feelings on a specific point
  • Remember that you have seconds to engage people before they move on
  • Use the power of storytelling to make an emotional connection 
  • Open a loop in one email to create anticipation and close it in the next
  • End with a question, so readers feel compelled to respond
  • Engage your audience with graphics and informative videos
  • Keep the length of the email short (around 200 to 250 words)
  • Link to landing pages in your emails

Don’t…

  • Use vague phrasing such as “let me know what you think”
  • Assume you know everything about your target
  • Talk AT your readers or spend too much time boasting about your company
  • Send overly long or vague emails

5) Time Your Emails Correctly

Send emails at the right time and frequency. 

Part of learning how to increase email conversion rate is getting the timing right. Ultimately, it’s a balancing act without fixed rules. If you send emails too often, they’ll likely be ignored or deleted out of frustration. If you send them too far apart, you may lose continuity, anticipation between messages, and sales opportunities. 

Do… 

  • Consider factors such as the campaign goal and stage of the funnel 
  • Use a calendar to keep your campaigns organized
  • Schedule emails to go out when they’re most likely to be read
  • Do your research and test the results

Don’t… 

  • Bombard your customers with emails
  • Submit emails on weekends, which have the lowest open rates by far
  • Forget to consider time zones

Bonus Tips to Get More Conversions

A joyful businesswoman looks at her laptop screens and raises her hands, celebrating some great results.

Use A/B Testing to Fine-Tune Your Campaigns

  • Are your emails too long?
  • Are your subject lines pulling people in? 
  • Is your CTA doing its job? 

To get more conversions from your emails, you have to know what’s working and what’s not. That’s why it’s a good idea to split test different elements of your emails (one at a time), including subject lines, layouts, graphics, body copy, and CTAs. In doing so, you can stop relying on guesswork and start making changes based on data. 

Design an Effective CTA

If you’re struggling to get more conversions out of your emails, it may be your CTA that’s letting you down. If it’s unclear or fails to grab your readers’ attention and entice them to respond, it’s not doing its job. It’s worth spending time on design, messaging, and positioning to make your CTA help to improve your email marketing conversion rate.

Use the Right Types of Emails

To get more conversions out of your emails, you’ll need to vary the type you use. This depends on how you want your audience to engage and where they are in the funnel. 

  1. Welcome emails introduce your brand, establish a relationship with the subscriber, and thank them for signing up. 
  2. Promotional emails promote products, services, and events. 
  3. Lead nurturing emails educate leads about products and services. The aim is to move them along the funnel and encourage them to become customers. 
  4. Transactional emails respond to a customer’s action, such as signing up for an event or completing a transaction.
  5. Purchase follow-up emails educate new and existing customers on how to make the most of a new product or service. 
  6. Newsletters nurture existing customers with valuable content and inform them about the latest news. 
  7. Reengagement emails reestablish contact with and the interest of people on your email list who’ve become disengaged. 

Takeaway

It’s frustrating when your efforts to get more conversions from your emails fail. The good news is there are concrete steps you can take to improve the email marketing conversion rate of an existing campaign or make the next one a success. Getting the wording, tone, and timing right to encourage people to act may improve with experience. But when you personalize, engage, and target your emails with a clear message, you’ll begin to see your conversion rates soar to new heights!

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