How to actively engage your email subscribers

How to actively engage your email subscribers:

Are you thinking of setting up an email marketing campaign but need some more advice? Perhaps you have already started sending regular emails to your subscribers but aren't getting the open rates you were hoping for? If either of these statements apply to you, make sure you read the following tips to keep your subscribers active, engaged, and converting into sales!

First thing's first:

Determine how many inactive subscribers you have. These are the recipients who don't regularly open your emails or engage with the content you send. Take these contacts and set up a separate mailing list to make targeting them easier.

Note:If you have a high number of inactive subscribers then it is likely that the content you are sending is not of interest to your audience. Keep reading below to find out more tips for improving this statistic.

Have them at hello:

Before your recipients even open your emails, the first thing they will see to decide whether the email is worth opening is the subject line. Don't let your subject lines fall into the common trap of being too dull or ‘salesy' as the chances are your carefully crafted messages will end up straight in the deleted items folder. Instead, use short, succinct phrasing that clearly summarises the content and sounds intriguing enough to make your audience willing to read on. 

Have a contact list clear out:

If your subscribers have been inactive for a long time then it may be worth your while to give your contact list a spring clean. Although this is likely to reduce your data size, it is always better to have a smaller group of quality, engaged subscribers than a large group filled with unresponsive recipients.

Note:You can complete this process manually or by sending out a targeted email asking your recipients to unsubscribe themselves.

Don't forget to ask why:

If your email does provoke a number of unsubscribes, make sure you use this opportunity to get feedback. You can set up a simple tick box selection system upon unsubscribing to ask your users to explain why they are doing so. This information can be used to improve the quality of emails you send to your remaining subscribers.

Avoid block text:

In general, it is best to keep each email length as short as possible to increase the likelihood of your recipients reading your emails in their entirety and, more importantly, completing the call to action. However, sometimes a lengthy email is unavoidable if you have an important message to get across.

Breaking up this text into sections and using simple formatting techniques such as headings, images and bold or coloured text can help prevent your readers from feeling overwhelmed by what they are reading.

Give them a reason to stay:

In order to maintain interest in your emails, you need to give your readers a reason for opening them. Spend time planning your content in advance for each send and keeping an up-to-date record of past campaigns to make sure that the messages you send are interesting and relevant to your subscribers.

Case Study: PrimeStox

How we helped PrimeStox treble registrations while reducing spend in just two months.

To re-engage inactive subscribers you could try offering an incentive that is only available to those who regularly engage with your content. This could be in the form of discount offer or a regular supply of important content about your product or service that is only available through email subscription.

Learn from your mistakes:

Many email software providers offer insights tools so their users can track the responses to their email sends. Use this valuable information wisely to help you discover what worked well and ultimately make informed decisions about how to improve future email content.

For more information on how you can improve your email subscriptions, don't hesitate tocontact us.