Three Tips to “Nail” Email Marketing

It seems that no matter what role a person is in a company, each day their email inbox is flooded with automated newsletters, product pushes and more. These days, people somehow get subscribed to what feels like an endless amount of email lists. Most likely, they select all and delete them, unless they’re one of those people that ignore it while their email count continues to grow. Yikes!

How can construction businesses get emails through the constant clutter inundating their clients’ inboxes? A recent piece from Hubspot answered this long-standing question nagging at a company’s marketing team and detailed three key elements that can be a recipe for success. Here are their suggestions for the best way to catch the customer’s eye when they're scrolling through their email.

Personalization and Imagery

Personalizing emails to include the customer’s name can be a game changer. Few people open emails that aren’t addressed to them, so consider including their name in the subject line or first line of the email. It’s an easy automatic eye-catcher that makes the customer feel like a company really knows them.

According to Hubspot, few people read un-personalized emails, but even fewer people read a wall of text. So companies should consider ways to include more imagery in their email campaigns. Overall, visuals help readers more quickly understand the point of the email.

Responsive Design

This is a huge one for this day and age. If email content isn’t responsive, it could be cutting off a large group of business’ customer base. Ensuring email campaigns are designed for all devices is critical to the success of all email marketing. According data from Hubspot, 67% of emails today are read on either a smartphone or tablet and that number is projected only to grow.

A Good Call To Action

Sending out an email to have a touchpoint with customers is great, but including a specific call to action will make it even more strategic. Every message needs to have a point. Whether it’s pushing readers to a product that’s known for being seasonal or sending customers to a helpful tips resource, urging the customer to take action only helps build the business to consumer relationship. It also enables companies to monitor who’s clicking over to the website and ultimately gauge who could be a hotter prospect and what he/she is interested in.

Bonus Tips: Examples of Great Campaigns

These three tips are the core of creating a stellar email campaign strategy, but there are also many more. The examples below showcase some other great tactics to capture the customer’s attention.

Buzzfeed’s Newsletter

Buzzfeed is known for its catchy and quirky content, so it’s no surprise they’ve translated this approach and tone of voice to their emails. Buzzfeed likes to do this through their subject lines and preview text to quickly grab the attention of subscribers.

For example, they will keep it engaging by asking a question in the subject line and answer it in the preview text. They’ll also switch it up by making some kind of demand in the subject line and then explain why in the preview text.

If a construction company is known for interacting in a unique way, it’s best to continue a similar feel throughout its written communication as well to continue building the relationship.

Trulia

Trulia is one the largest hubs now for real estate listings and rental properties. Instead of putting out a generic newsletter, it decided to cater it to what its audience would be really interested in, while also touting its expertise and thought leadership in the industry. This strategy resulted in a “Moving Trends” campaign that helped their audience keep tabs on the industry while providing them information to keep them informed on the latest related trends.

Businesses should consider creating similar e-newsletters for their industry so that customers don’t only see them as knowledgeable about the status of the construction industry, but also as a leading resource that provides helpful insight, products and conversation around construction, too.

With the construction industry currently thriving in many ways, a company’s ability to stand out from the rest is hugely important. Email marketing can create a great touchpoint from company to client and distinguish it from the competition.