Email remains a critical channel for reaching consumers. Statista predicts that by 2022, the global number of email users will reach 4.3 billion — and that by the same year, 333 billion emails will be sent daily. So the audience is there, but do they want to hear from you? According to Statista, 49% of consumers say they would like to receive promotional emails from brands they love on a weekly basis.
While email marketing presents a clear opportunity to reach users, is it worth your investment?
Does Email Marketing Drive Revenue?
Good news: email marketing not only comes with huge readership potential but is also highly effective in terms of ROI (Return on Investment). For every $1 USD you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $4.
When you consider that about 3 in 5 consumers check their email on mobile with 75% of consumers indicating they use their smartphones most often to check email, email marketing also presents an app growth opportunity.
What are the Challenges with Email Marketing?
The biggest challenge any email marketing strategy faces is cutting through the noise of crowded inboxes. Remember, by 2022 a whopping 333 billion emails will hit inboxes around the world — each day. And with spam filters, promo tabs, and more emails being sent from competitors than ever before, catching your reader’s eye is no small feat.
To reap the revenue benefits of email — and to grow your app user base in the process — there are several best practices to follow closely. Marketers that fail to take the time to lay the foundation for a successful email marketing strategy risk:
- Losing readers to the ever-dreaded unsubscribe button
- Dropping readers into broken experiences on mobile
- Getting marked as spam (low deliverability)
- Not reaching users at all (low open rates)
5 Email Marketing Best Practices to Drive Revenue (and App Growth!)
1. Responsiveness is Key
Consumers have — and are checking email on — more network-connected devices than ever before, which means your emails must work everywhere: desktop, tablet, mobile, etc. Considering most emails are read on mobile, keep a mobile-first mindset as you build your email campaigns including the images you select and the overall length of email body copy.
Most email marketing software allows you to edit/preview by device, or you can use a tool like Litmus to test your emails across apps, devices, and OS versions.
2. Personalization Reigns Supreme
Your users expect dynamic emails that understand where they are in the buying journey. Bucket users into new, existing, loyal, and those in danger of bouncing — and personalize email campaigns to address their needs and interests.
You can win back lapsed users with a discount code email campaign, or foster brand loyalty by sending repeat customers information about a rewards program. Tailoring your message to the needs of each user will increase the likelihood of that user progressing through the buyer journey.
Additional email list segmentation ideas for personalization:
- Demographics (age/gender/etc.)
- Geographic location
- Survey responses
- Purchase history
- Location in the sales funnel
- Website behavior
- Preferences
Tip: A successful personalization strategy requires accurate user behavior data. Branch’s Universal Email offers cross-channel analytics using People-Based Attribution, which provides a clear view of the performance of your emails — and all marketing activities — across desktop, mobile web, or native app. All while piping the data back to your existing ESP (Email Service Provider) so you can leverage that data when building campaigns.
3. Test, Test, Test
50% of marketers say they aren’t A/B testing their emails, despite it being a highly effective method for increasing your email click-through rates. You can a/b test subject lines, CTAs, design, and copy — but don’t overdo it. An effective A/B test focuses on one or two aspects of an email so you know what drove the lift in click-throughs.
Continually A/B test different aspects of your emails to optimize campaign performance. Doubling the click-through rate on a promotion email could mean doubling the revenue driven from that email. Bottom line: If you’re not A/B testing email campaigns, you better start!
4. Nail Your Subject Lines – And Throw in Some Emojis
It’s hard to break through the noise of a cluttered inbox. Emojis are an easy way to make your emails stand out, and they can also help save valuable space in the subject line. Since you’re limited to only 30–40 characters, using emojis in place of certain words can help get the message across with fewer characters.
Even better? By including emojis in your subject lines, not only will you see higher open rates but you can also expect increases in unique clicks as well as click-through rates.
5. Make Sure Your Emails Are as Cross-Platform as Your Users
Customers now engage with brands across more devices and channels than ever before; cross-platform users are the new normal. The good news: these cross-platform users spend 2.2x more than single-platform users (such as those who only engage via web). The bad news: those conversions are dependent on users receiving seamless experiences across platforms.
It’s worth it to invest in creating frictionless connections between digital touchpoints. App users are 3x more likely to engage and convert than mobile web users, so be sure to deep link users from email into the app to maximize the revenue of your email campaigns.
In the example above, ZAFUL integrated Branch links into their email campaigns and saw revenue from email marketing grow by 210% as a result, alongside increased engagement.
Tip: Use Branch’s Universal Email to create a seamless path from promotional emails to the right in-app content and products at the right time for an improved user experience, an increase in app usage, and higher conversions.
Implement these email marketing best practices to drive revenue and app growth — and contact our sales team today to learn how Branch can help!