We all have come across at least one email, after opening which, we end up thinking, why did I even sign up for this brand! As marketers, we are bound to know the work that goes into crafting an email or an email campaign, but we might never ‘accurately’ predict what might inhibit a positive response from the receiver as the email stares right into their face.
Over 75% of companies that were surveyed by Pepper have adapted to marketing automation in less than 6 months of their establishment. Email automation can be used to manage resources in a better way and to set up efficient and consistent email performance. Email automation is the future, and it is here to stay.
Now, the challenge is not finding the right automation tool or strategy. The hassle lies in sending emails to a large number of subscribers and yet personalizing the message in such a way that a majority of the users relate to it. Well, an email that lacks emotional intelligence gets on the highway to the spam folder.
Let’s dive deeper into this topic to know how one can craft an emotionally intelligent email to drive better conversions.
Creating conversion-driven emotionally-intelligent automated emails
Know your audience
With the rise of automation and artificial intelligence, which are revolutionizing the ability to send messages to segmented targets, the need for a human to human connection is also ironically increasing. Most of your audience would trust a source if it’s not bot-generated. Therefore it becomes extremely important to make sure your message in an email doesn’t come across as irrelevant or insensible. For that, you need to know who your target audience is, and to know who your audiences really are, there is only one way – ASK.
The trick is to make this information transaction so smooth as if it never happened. Be it a form or a survey, while asking for a bit of information, give them a reason instead of ordering or straight up telling them to share their data. Marketers need to be aware of this emotional drive to have an email intimacy with the subscriber. This can be achieved via one simple step- putting yourself in your audience’s shoes. Then accordingly, tweak your messages and tone once you figure out your audience patterns. You can get the information you need through the sign-up form or welcome email, feedback of a service they just received, a responsive email to a previous mail, and so on.
Segment your list
Email segmentation is a blessing as it allows you to sort out your email list and deliver email content that is relevant to each subscriber. By segmenting, you not only deliver the right message at the right time to the right audience but also ensure a higher click through and open rate. Subscribers can be segmented based on demographics like where they live, their profession, age group, etc. The best part of segmenting is that there are no right or wrong segmentations, depending on your business, there might be some segments that perform better than the others. You also need to strategize around customer behaviors and purchase patterns for hypersegmentation. This way, the message that you send in your automated email will ensure relevance and eventually drive better results.
Nail your email copy
The highlight of an emotionally intelligent email campaign is not to have a tunnel vision of achieving the goal at all costs but about achieving goals while making wholesome relationships with the consumers. Ultimately, the message or the copy of an email plays the strongest role in the success of any campaign. Be it a subject line that stands out in the inbox or the email copy which drives the desired action, the copy has a strong hand in making or breaking a campaign. Let’s look deeper into the written components of an email:
- The subject line
The subject line, usually a game of few words, plays a much bigger role in generating email open rates. The process of crafting a subject line is often underrated whereas this is the only element that will grab the eyes of the subscriber, be it in the notification bar or in the inbox itself. As a matter of fact, around 47% of marketers, even test their subject line to optimize email performance. Try out these tips to enhance your subject line and eventually your automated email performance.
· Use a familiar sender name and avoid ‘no-name’ sender names
· Begin with a verb
· Keep it short and crisp
· Give the reader importance and respect
· Experiment with humor, but within limits
· Avoid spammy words and elements like “free” or “$$$”
· Avoid spelling errors in the subject line
· Try emoting rather than telling what’s inside the email, like these examples given below.
- The Email body
Always, always, always begin with a greeting, a personalized salute would be even better! A common misconstruction that marketers do is not treating an automated email as a face-to-face conversation. Pleasantries always need not be formal. According to your brand tone, you can experiment with the copy to bring out the best of your brand. The psychology behind ready is that you are bound to hear a voice when you read a piece. Similarly, when you write an email, listen to the voice of the email and its tone. Do you come across as forceful or too desperate? Are you sidelining the needs of the consumer? Consider these points and write the message of your automated email accordingly.
- The CTA
Every email has a desired action to be delivered, either an engagement, or a data-driven survey or just making a purchase. The threshold to converting to an action is derived by the CTA – how it is constructed, placed, and most importantly, how it is written.
Using a strong action-oriented word like- ‘Download e-book’ or ‘Order’ with urgency creating words like ‘now’ ‘soon’ ‘today’ might derive quicker actions. An exclamation mark in the CTA gives the emotion a little pop and creates a little enthusiasm. Give your subscribers a reason why they should act the way you want them to, for instance, tell them ‘order today and get a free email template,’ here you are not telling them what to do, you are also telling them why it might benefit them.
Test rigorously
In an automated email campaign, you can never suit the emotions of your audience by modifying your tone. And even if you do, how many subscribers would actually find it relatable? The only way to handle this uncertainty is through testing. Test your subject lines by keeping them short or long, with or without emojis and punctuation marks, and so on. Test your CTA separately or test your complete email. You can never be too sure about how things might change with a small tweak. So, keep testing.
Key Takeaways
To sum it all up, let’s run through the key takeaways from this blog:
Don’t forget your Netiquettes
Away has been the friendly classmate who lets you sit next to them on your first day in a new school. This automated email is a great example of icebreaking with your customer, engaging them, and probably collecting some data as well!
Follow the ‘face to face’ conversation guidelines
Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media Studios has nailed it with this simple, yet personalized and intimate welcome email.
Use FOMO tactics (Fear Of Missing Out)
Grammarly has been creative with this automated re-engagement email which has not only used a hilarious copy but has a killer CTA, which looks like the old-school buzzer, creating urgency and fear of missing out.
Remember the KISS of email marketing (Keep It Short & Simple)
This post-purchase automated email by Casper has beautifully used brand color and has kept the text minimal. With the main CTA, highlighted and with a clear cut CTA copy, this email is perfectly balanced, simplified, and definitely not loud.
Wrap Up
It is important that you not only understand the importance of crafting a good email but also know that the emails you send can have a powerful impact on your subscribers and only an emotionally sensible marketer will master the art of building and nurturing customers in the long run.
Implement these suggestions and let us know in the comment section how it worked out for you!