Email Marketing: How to Create Emails That Are Opened and Read

Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience. Despite the rise of social media and other digital marketing channels, emails continue to offer a high return on investment (ROI). However, the key challenge lies in ensuring that your emails are not only opened but also read and acted upon. At BKR Agency, we've honed our email marketing strategies to help our clients achieve just that. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll share insights on how to craft compelling emails that capture attention and drive engagement.

The foundation of successful email marketing is understanding your audience. Before you start drafting your emails, it’s crucial to know who you’re writing to. This involves segmenting your email list based on various factors such as demographics, past interactions, purchase history, and engagement levels. By doing this, you can tailor your content to meet the specific needs and preferences of different segments.

For example, if you have an e-commerce store, you might segment your list into categories like first-time buyers, repeat customers, and high-value customers. Each of these groups will have different motivations and interests. First-time buyers may need more information about your products and incentives to make a purchase, while repeat customers might appreciate loyalty rewards and updates on new arrivals. High-value customers, on the other hand, might be interested in exclusive offers and early access to sales.

Creating detailed buyer personas can also help in this regard. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers. When you have a clear picture of who you’re writing to, it becomes easier to craft messages that resonate.

The subject line is the first thing your recipients see, and it plays a crucial role in determining whether your email gets opened. Crafting a compelling subject line requires creativity, precision, and an understanding of what motivates your audience.

Here are some tips to create effective subject lines:

• Keep it short and sweet: Aim for subject lines that are around 40-50 characters long. This ensures they are fully visible on most devices.
• Create a sense of urgency: Phrases like "limited time offer" or "ending soon" can encourage recipients to open the email promptly.
• Use personalization: Including the recipient's name or other personal details can make the email feel more relevant and engaging.
• Ask a question: Questions can pique curiosity and prompt recipients to open the email to find the answer.
• Highlight benefits: Clearly state the value or benefit the recipient will gain from opening the email.

For example, a subject line like “John, unlock your exclusive discount today!” is likely to perform better than a generic “Special offer inside.”

Once your email is opened, the content needs to hold the reader’s attention and compel them to take action. Here are some key elements to focus on:

• Personalization: Beyond the subject line, personalize the email content itself. Use the recipient’s name and reference their past interactions or preferences where relevant.
• Compelling opening: Start with a strong opening that hooks the reader. This could be a provocative question, a surprising fact, or a relatable anecdote.
• Clear and concise messaging: Avoid long-winded sentences and jargon. Aim to communicate your message as clearly and concisely as possible.
• Visual appeal: Use high-quality images, graphics, and a clean layout to make your email visually appealing. However, be mindful of the balance between text and images to ensure your email isn’t flagged as spam.
• Relevant content: Ensure the content is relevant to the recipient. This ties back to understanding your audience and segmenting your email list.
• Strong call-to-action (CTA): Every email should have a clear and compelling CTA. Whether it’s encouraging recipients to make a purchase, sign up for a webinar, or download a resource, the CTA should stand out and be easy to act on.

With more people accessing their emails on mobile devices, it’s crucial to optimize your emails for mobile viewing. A poorly formatted email on a mobile device can result in lost engagement and potential customers.

Here are some tips for mobile optimization:

• Responsive design: Ensure your email template is responsive, meaning it automatically adjusts to fit the screen size of the device it’s being viewed on.
• Single-column layout: Use a single-column layout to make your email easier to read on small screens.
• Large fonts and buttons: Use larger fonts and buttons to make your content readable and clickable on mobile devices.
• Short subject lines: As mentioned earlier, shorter subject lines are crucial for mobile devices where screen real estate is limited.
• Preview your emails: Always preview your emails on multiple devices and email clients to ensure they look good everywhere.

To continuously improve your email marketing efforts, it’s essential to leverage A/B testing and analytics. A/B testing involves sending two variations of an email to a small segment of your list to see which performs better. Based on the results, you can send the winning version to the rest of your list.

Here are some elements you can A/B test:

• Subject lines: Test different subject lines to see which ones get higher open rates.
• Email content: Experiment with different layouts, images, and copy to see what resonates most with your audience.
• CTAs: Test different CTA buttons, including their text, color, and placement, to see which ones drive the most clicks.
• Send times: Test different send times and days to find out when your audience is most likely to engage with your emails.

In addition to A/B testing, use analytics to track the performance of your emails. Key metrics to monitor include open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates. Analyzing these metrics can provide insights into what’s working and what needs improvement.

Email deliverability refers to the ability to get your emails into your recipients' inboxes. Poor deliverability can result in your emails being marked as spam or not being delivered at all. To maintain good deliverability, follow these best practices:

• Use a reputable email service provider (ESP): Choose an ESP with a good reputation and strong deliverability rates.
• Keep your list clean: Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive subscribers and invalid email addresses.
• Avoid spammy content: Steer clear of spammy language and excessive use of exclamation marks and all caps.
• Authenticate your domain: Use email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to improve your email's credibility and deliverability.
• Monitor engagement: Pay attention to engagement metrics and remove subscribers who haven’t engaged with your emails in a while.

Creating emails that are opened and read involves a combination of understanding your audience, crafting compelling content, optimizing for mobile, leveraging A/B testing, and maintaining deliverability. By following these strategies, you can improve your email marketing efforts and achieve better results. At BKR Agency, we specialize in helping businesses create effective email marketing campaigns that drive engagement and deliver results. If you need assistance with your email marketing, feel free to reach out to us. We’re here to help you succeed.

Email marketing is both an art and a science. It requires creativity to craft messages that resonate and analytical thinking to optimize performance. By investing time and effort into understanding your audience and refining your approach, you can create emails that not only get opened but also drive meaningful engagement.