While I was looking at my favourite email marketing campaigns, I couldn`t help but notice a commonality between them. They each did an exceptional job blending the usability and marketing messaging together. Each presented strong calls to action in a natural and fluent approach, removing the guesswork while enticing readers to click-through.

Increase the Success of Your Email Campaigns

Target your readers with the appropriate messaging in the proper place and you’re guaranteed to increase both your readers’ satisfaction and your email click-through rates. Your readers scan for important information and when they are met with the unexpected they revert to their primal instinct of fight or flight.  These simple tips will ensure the success of your email campaigns.

The Perfect Email Format

Just as a body has a proper composition, so too does an email.  The standard format of an email consists of:

'From' & subject line

The ‘from’ and ‘subject line’ both help to identify who sent the email and why it’s valuable. The best practice for the ‘from’ line is to immediately identify your organisation’s name and what it does. Keep it simple but be proud of it.

Next, identify the email’s contents and why it’s valuable to your target reader with a descriptive subject line. A few things that can make your subject line more effective are:  the length (max 50 characters), making it feel exclusive, having a call to action, creating a sense of urgency, and distinctive from other subject lines in your reader’s inbox.

Header & navigation

This section ensures that readers know what to expect from the contents within, the creditability associated with the information and how to navigate the email to targeted landing pages. Keep it clean and aligned with your key online marketing objectives. To create a great header: use color and size to make it pop, highlight key buttons, don’t be afraid of white space and create clear messaging.

Main content & call to action

This area is for highlighting your valuable content and main calls to action. This could be news, articles, & business promotions for example. Each short paragraph or teaser should have a call to action that links back to your website for more info. When deciding content, choose items which are directly connected to your marketing goals and be certain to include a sufficient amount of links to your site.

Supplementary content

The section underneath your body is a perfect area to promote your supplemental marketing goals. It's an opportunity to grab those readers who didn't act on your main calls to action.  For example, in a Spring sale email, you might use 'the body' to promote spring sale items.  Your reader may not be interested in this but a winter clearance sale would entice them to click-through. Placing a small banner below your main content promotes your secondary objectives without overpowering the main message.

Footer 
The footer area at the bottom is often used for managing the email communications. This area is ideal for managing user preferences, opt outs, and to share with or connect through other social media. 

Formatting emails in a way that is accepted by your intended reader only makes sense. Take the time to ensure your email messages deliver what your reader has come to expect and your email marketing success will soar. The goal isn’t to have your reader just open the email, or even read some of the information. Your ultimate goal is to drive your target audience to you web page where the magic happens: readers convert to customers.