How to Treat Email Subscribers Like Royalty

By Jenny Rackl, digital marketing coordinator

A few members of the Caliber crew attended Trendigital 2017 and we learned about topics like user experience and cyber law – and how I can’t resist orange Starbursts.

But one of my biggest takeaways from the conference (besides the aforementioned Starburst issue) was that it’s time to think about email marketing as not just a medium, but a strategy.

And the first part of a smart email marketing strategy is pretty simple: Don’t be a jerk. When someone joins your email list they’re trusting you, so it’s your job not to make them regret it. You want to make sure that what you’re sending is really relevant, because that’s how you honor the information that you were given.

Don’t be boring.

Your personality will not ruin your brand – it will save it. People are being talked at and typed at now more than ever, so if they can tell there’s an actual real-life human to connect with behind the screen, that’s marketing gold.

Think mobile first.

People are always on their phones. According to Litmus, up to 54 percent of people read email on their mobile device, so most of your audience will be viewing your content via that smaller screen size. So you want your email content to look great in any format, but especially on mobile.

Use clear CTAs.

It’s never worth your time to beat around the bush. The purpose of your email marketing strategy is to drive the user experience forward. Be up-front and clear about what you’re asking your subscribers to do.

Include images and leave white space.

Use contrast and white space to call attention to what’s most important in your email.

Your content deserves room to breathe, and big blocks of text look like hard work. Don’t make reading your email look a time big commitment.

Thank subscribers.

A dose of good, old-fashioned manners never hurts, so be sure to thank your subscribers – for signing up, participating in surveys, or even for just generally being awesome.

Attention is worth a lot. If you want it, you’re going to have to ask for it – and then keep earning it with every send.