Rich Newsome
Email newsletters are one of the best ways to stay on top of your architects, contractors and specifiers’ minds.
However, getting it right requires thought and strategy. Follow some of these top tips that we apply to our clients to make sure that their newsletters are relevant and read-worthy.
1. A Powerful Subject Line
Subject lines are like the email equivalent of a shiny pair of shoes. It’s all about making a good first impression, and without a solid subject line, no one will open your email. Think about subject lines that draw you in and compel you to click on the email.
A powerful subject line requires you to understand your audience. This will dictate whether you use concise, empathetic or bold language.
There’s an element of personalisation here. Segmenting your newsletters will allow you to model your subject line to target a particular contact.
For example,
“Architects: Your most important remodelling step,”
Here, you’re directly addressing the person you’re sending the newsletter to.
Of course, this requires you to have a clean contact database that has been segmented into job titles. We can’t stress the importance of this.
2. Optimise Your Email For Different Devices
When we report on our client’s monthly statistics, we find that a large portion of content is viewed on a mobile device. This gives us a huge insight into the viewing habits of your audience across the building products and construction sector.
Consider this: architects and contractors spend a lot of their time on construction sites. It’s obvious that they won’t be carrying around a desktop computer. What’s more, iPads are armed with a range of floorplan and drawing software. Therefore, it stands to reason that tablets are probably the most used device for architects and contractors.
This fact alone should prompt you to make sure your emails are correctly optimised.
Email software-such as HubSpot-allows you to view your newsletter from a mobile and tablet as part of the in-line edit mode. Software like this will allow you to ensure your newsletters are correctly optimised.
3. Email Design And Accessibility
We can’t tell you what fits your brand in terms of design and styling. Everyone’s brand vision is different. There are, however, certain styling tips that you can use which tend to be the best tried and tested methods.
Clear Images
If images are going to be viewed on a range of devices, best practice suggests that a clear image that isn’t too busy will resonate better. Also, consider how long it takes to load.
Outlook has a security feature that prevents images and also some HTML elements from being downloaded from external emails until you allow it.
There’s a good reason why Outlook has this feature: it’s to stop spammers.
So, consider your choice of images and how much it will impact on the rest of the email if-for any reason-it doesn’t load.
Our good friend and Creative Director at Sound Zero, Gavin Brightman, offered some insight into how he approaches email newsletters,
"The most important thing is to stay true to your brand and don't mix too many different colours and fonts. You want it to be easy to read and easy on the eye."
4. A/B Testing
A/B testing is an effective strategy across all platforms, but particularly in email. Nowadays, everything is measured on data and facts and the more you can prove ROI, the better.
Send out the same type of email, tweaking a key feature, e.g. plain text vs HTML.
You might be surprised at the results you obtain.
5. Email Frequency And Timing
Sending emails too often can result in unsubscribes but sending emails too infrequently can result in your subscribers overlooking them.
It can be difficult to establish a happy medium here. These are all things that an A/B test can help to uncover. Patience and perseverance are key here.
The same is true for the correct time of day. There is no magic solution. I heard somewhere that sending emails on a Wednesday between 1pm and 3pm is optimum time. Give it a go and let me know how you get on.
6. A Call To Action (CTA)
All content-whether it’s email or blog-should contain a solid call to action. Think about the purpose of your newsletter. Do you want your readers to view a product? Do you want them to read your latest industry insights?
Your CTAs could be personalised depending on who you’re targeting. Considering that personalised CTAs perform 202% better, it’s definitely worth considering. Our friends over at HubSpot label them as ‘Smart CTAs’. They can be adapted to suit the readers’ location, browser language, whether they’re already a customer or lead, and much more.
Conclusion
In order to get the most out of your email newsletter strategy and fully use the tips above to their true potential, we recommend the following tools and tips:
- Use an email platform. There are numerous benefits to an effective email platform. They provide you with effective templates, and the ability to monitor, track and A/B test your emails, which provides you with the measurable data that your managers will want to see.
- Set up a calendar. Having a clear distribution schedule will let you know when to write, edit and send your email newsletters.
- Small steps. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so try one technique to begin with and fully master it. Then move on to the next
- A/B test. Make sure you log your A/B tests in order to start following best practices.
Of course, our team here at Insynth are always available-should you need any assistance with an aggressive, targeted email campaign. We employ some of the best practices from all over the world that are guaranteed to improve conversion rates.
With your upcoming 2020 budgets, why not invest in your digital marketing to start seeing some of the phenomenal results that our clients are currently getting.
About Insynth
As the only HubSpot certified agency to major on construction marketing, we bring together construction marketing strategy, digital strategy, website design, SEO, content marketing, email marketing, sales automation, marketing automation and HubSpot CRM implementation to produce successful campaigns and great results for our clients.