Email Marketing Creative

With your objectives and campaign plan in place you're now able to move on to the creative. You know what you want to achieve, and who you need to speak to, now you just need to work out what you're going to say to call them to action.

The basic content rules for email marketing are to keep it compelling and simple. Bear in mind that people reading onscreen are likely to scan the copy rather than read from start to finish. So, after capturing the readers' attention, give them the call to action as soon as possible before they lose interest.

Key points:

• Keep it short. Use short punchy sentences and bullet points for key information.  Don't simply copy the letter format of a traditional piece of direct marketing. The message needs to engage and encourage interaction. Average length of a successful email is 200-500 words. Write for the reader and not yourself.  Aim to keep the file size below 25kb.
• Grab people's attention. People are especially receptive to special offers or promotions and open rates of 70% are achievable. But be open and honest and don't try and fool the audience.
• Make it personal. Whenever possible personalise the email at least with the recipient's name. Better still, use specific targeted, and relevant dynamically generated content.
• Give a clear call to action. Your recipient might be interested but short on time so make it easy for them. A giant 'click here'-type button is never too obvious.
• Avoid Spam filters. Avoid terms like Free, Bargain, Unbelievable Offer, which will be caught in the spam filters and so decrease deliverability.
• Keep within brand. Use your brand. Let people know who the email is from, and don't confuse people by changing your tone with each email you send out.

1: From line - Send your email from a real person. General addresses can get caught in spam filters and looks less genuine to your customers. Don't use a 'noreply' address as this implies that you're happy to sell to the recipient but not enter into a dialogue.

2: To - Only one single recipient email address should appear here.

3: Subject line - This line can mean the difference between whether your email is opened or deleted. Capture your recipient's interest with a strong line or question that is below 46 characters and avoiding spam filter words. Quirky, if relevant, can work very well.

4: 'Above the fold' - This area needs to capture your reader's interest. Consider a catchy header and strong imagery to pull the reader in. Put your call to action here too.

5: Address the reader - Personalise the email at least with the recipient's name. Better still, use specific targeted, and relevant dynamically-generated content.

Discover more about Objectives, Campaign, Data, Broadcast and Evaluate.