Making the most of your email

Welcome back, hope you enjoyed our first few posts. This week I'm going to be talking about some of the benefits of using emails. We have them all in our inbox...that email we subscribed to but cannot be bothered to open. Like me you might open them out of keen interest, or it might just something to look at on the bus, or maybe you genuinely want to see what the latest offer is.

Email marketing has changed a lot in such as short space of time, mobile devices are now king when it comes to reading emails. I can't remember the last time I sat in front of my laptop and actually spent time reading an email. 41% of emails are now clicked on mobiles and most companies have emails optimised for mobile devices.

But, why is email important? Well there are a few reasons that I want to tell you about today.

Time | Time is a huge factor, imagine picking up the phone and ringing everyone connected with your business at the same time. Not going to happen, but now you can create an interesting message at the tap of a button.

Personalise | It's hard to quickly tailor a customer experience in print but email has that luxury. Customer information can be put to good use quickly and effectively to keep your subscribers interested. I like receiving emails that remember my birthday or upcoming events in my life and I think it reflects well if you can be treated that little bit more on a special occasion.

Test | In the past I've tried to mix up layouts, links, graphics and language to see what readers have responded to most. You can assess later what has worked with tracking tools that now come as standard with most email software.

Spread the love | Emails are lot easier to forward and action than traditional print. If your email has something of interest, word of mouth could throw the door wide open to potential readership.

Track | Tracking gives you a great insight into what is most popular on your site and also what people are looking forward to. Once the most popular items have been identified via tracking they can be pushed to the fore using social media, and so maximise the potential of a product or service.

Green | Just think you're saving the planet with every email, that's one tree saved every time!

So when you have got your email just how you want it, when do you send it? Well this infographic should help. Like I said in my previous post, think like the customer, when do you answer your emails? Personally, it's in the morning or late evening (so that might be the best bet to send something to me!).

'Til the next time, James x