Email marketing is not dead. Contrary to what many marketing “experts” have reported, email marketing is alive and well. The majority of brands are now integrating this effective, direct to consumer, messaging tool into their marketing strategy. And why not? It’s as simple as writing some copy and hitting send before your message is off to the thousands who have signed up and are waiting to receive your most recent offer or promotion. But with email marketing come all the myths that marketers everywhere are adhering to. And they are just that, myths. Here are the top 5 we’re here to debunk for you.
1. The shorter the email, the better.
Not all audiences are looking for the same thing. Some might be looking for longer, content rich information while others just want to know the facts and nothing but. Write for your particular audience and not for a word count.
2. Beware of the unsubscribes.
On the contrary, unsubscribes are what keep your lists clean and full of people who actually might end up buying from or doing business with you. If they’re not interested in your email, they’re most likely not a good prospect anyway.
3. All emails should be branded and sleek.
Just like content that you share on your social media platforms, not everything needs to be branded with shiny, sparkly images. Sometimes people just want the facts in black and white. A balance of both branded and text only emails work the best, so try it both ways.
4. Subject lines must be brief.
Character counts of 21-50 are often touted as the magic number to stick to for subject lines, studies have shown shorter doesn’t always mean they’ll be opened. If a subject line is attention grabbing or engaging, even if it’s over the recommended character count, it will get opened.
5. Tuesdays are the best days to push your email.
Similar to the best length for your email, the best day to send depends on your audience and audience size. As a matter of fact, Tuesdays may be the worst day to send according to HubSpot’s Science of Email report. The best day for small lists is Friday while Saturdays works well for medium to small distribution lists.
The bottom line for email marketing, is the more familiar you are with who you are sending to the more effective your campaigns will be. And a lot of the “science” of email marketing comes down to simple trial and error. If your open rates are low, change it up a little and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
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