ONECOMMAND’S BLOG

Of all the marketing methods, both conquest and customer, email is the most cost effective and returns the highest return on investment than any other channel. Of course this is only true if you know these six tips to get the most out of your email marketing.

Subject Lines
Did you know 33% of recipients open an email based on the subject line alone?¹ Think of the subject line as your email’s headline. It should be brief, no more than 35-40 characters in length, for easy viewing on a mobile device. The content of your subject line should provide actionable information that represents the major content of your email. Always avoid using strong promotional attributes like multiple exclamation points or words in all caps. If you’re unsure of your selected subject line, test a couple out to determine which one receives the most opens.

From Line
Did you know 70% of people open emails from their favorite companies?² This exact reason is why it is very important to use your dealership’s name in the from line of your email. If you’re not familiar with this term, this is the line that indicates who the email is from. The from line is very important; often times recipients will scan this line to determine which emails they will open, delete, or even report as spam. If recipients can’t detect who the email is from, chances are they will delete it without ever opening it.

Image/Text Ratio
Did you know you have three to four seconds to grab a recipient’s attention and interest them enough to read your email?² A good subject and from line will get recipients to open your emails, but how do you get them to read the content? The trick is having a good image to text ratio. When you send emails, depending on the recipient’s email client and settings, they may not see any images until they download them. This is why it is important to have a good image to text ratio. If they can’t see any images and all your content is in the images, then chances are they are deleting your email. So be sure to put enough text so they can see what the email is about, which will trigger them to download the images to learn more.

Clean Design
Did you know if an email doesn’t display correctly, 71% of recipients will delete it immediately?² Getting people to recognize who the email is from, entice them to open it with a catchy subject line, and download the images is only half the battle. Now you need to think about your email’s design. Be sure your design is simple, clean, and not too busy, with a professional look and a clear message. Busy emails overwhelm recipients and too many elements within an email can cause it to display incorrectly. Remember every client, app, and device displays an email differently and if you want yours to look good in all, stick with a simple design.

Call to Action
Did you know marketers consistently ranked email as the single most effective tactic for awareness, acquisition, conversion, and retention?² Email marketing is a great way to get your brand noticed in the market place, engage customers, and promote your offers, but you probably already know this. What you may not know is the importance of clear, concise calls to action. There is definitely some relevance in how many calls to action you provide in your email, but it is more important that you make them clear and motivating. Calls to action provide your recipient a next step; without them you just leave them hanging with nothing to do but delete your email.

Measure Results
Did you know email yields an average 4,300% ROI for businesses?² We all know that at the end of the day, the only true measure of marketing success is ROI. With email, however, you have several measureable results that you can tie to a campaign to make its performance better. An email’s open rate lets you know how attractive your from and subject lines are. A click-through rate tells you how enticing your art is, how effective your calls to action are, and how much engagement your email receives. If you have high unsubscribe, bounce, or spam complaint rates, then you need to look at your email list and content. If you’re looking for benchmarks, here are some recently published email statistics by Silverpop. For the retail market segment, an average open rate is 20.9%, a click-through rate is 3.4%, a bounce rate is 0.3706%, an unsubscribe rate is 0.1411%, and a complaint rate is 0.0352%.

The truth is, the possibilities and ROI for email marketing are endless. Creating powerful emails that get your dealership noticed, create brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, and increase revenue to your pocket are completely within your reach. Remember these six tips to help you get the most out of your efforts and increase your email metrics and ROI.