Your Guide to Crafting High-Performing Email Campaigns

Running a small business or a personal website? Struggling to reach the right audience without having a big budget? While social media might seem like the answer, it often feels like shouting into a void, reaching few of the right people and burning through your budget. There’s a more cost-effective and targeted solution. Email marketing.

Email stands out from every other channel with its personalized touch, its global reach and a staggering ROI. There’s a reason why it’s the number one most preferred medium. So much that according to Statista, email is the number one platform companies claim they’ll continue to use in 10 years time. Impressive, right? 

If you haven’t tried email marketing yet, or if your past attempts didn’t meet your expectations, don’t worry. It’s never too late to start or improve your efforts. Let’s explore email marketing together. We’ll gladly guide you how to master the creation of high-performing email campaigns and transform the way you connect with your audience. Ready to dive in? 

What is an Email Campaign?

Let’s start with the basics. An email campaign is a sequence of emails that you send to your subscribers with a single marketing goal in mind. This can be encouraging engagement, nurturing leads, promoting a new product or driving sales. 

Each email in the campaign usually contains a specific button or link, guiding subscribers to take a particular action. Or as we like to call it in the marketing world — a call to action. Actions can be signing up for a webinar, adding a product to their cart, or booking a call. Whatever works best to achieve your marketing goals. 

Tips for Running Successful Email Marketing Campaigns

Now let’s get into the nitty gritty of email campaigns. Email is not an exact science but there are a certain number of tips you can follow to create some of the best email marketing campaigns and improve your email marketing strategy. 

Identify Your Audience

Understanding your target audience is crucial to the success of any email marketing campaign. That’s the first thing you need to do before you start crafting your campaign email. Here are the steps you need to follow:

• Analyze current customers: Start by examining your existing customer base. Identify common characteristics such as demographics, buying behaviors, and preferences. This information forms the foundation of understanding your audience.
• Use surveys: If you lack detailed information about your audience, consider launching survey email campaigns. These can provide valuable insights into what your audience wants and expects from your brand.
• Monitor engagement: Pay attention to who is actively engaging with your brand, both online and offline. This can include social media interactions, website analytics, or in-store behaviors.
• Segment your audience: Divide your target audience into smaller, more manageable groups based on shared traits, needs, or behaviors. Consider creating segments for existing customers and prospective ones.
• Personalize communication: Email marketing thrives on personalization. By understanding and segmenting your audience, you can tailor messages that resonate with each group. This ensures that you’re sending the right message to the people most likely to engage with it, maximizing the impact of your campaign. This is where email is the strongest – sending the right message to the audience most likely to engage with it.

Set Goals for Your Campaign

Every successful email campaign begins with a clear goal. This could be increasing website traffic, boosting product sales, or improving customer engagement. Align your goals with your overall strategy and audience to create a focused and actionable roadmap for your email campaign. This will provide a clear framework for evaluation success and learning from each campaign.

Have in mind that for a goal to be as effective as you need it to be, it should be SMART. This stands for:

Specific: Clearly define what you want to achieve. Avoid vague or general statements.
Measurable: Set quantifiable metrics to track progress and success.
Achievable: Ensure that the goal is realistic and attainable with the resources available.
Relevant: Align the goal with your overall business objectives and target audience’s needs.
Time-bound: Establish a timeframe for achieving the goal to maintain focus and urgency.

An example for a SMART email marketing campaign goal could be to increase website visits by 20% over the next month. 

Choose your Email Campaign Type

Your campaign type should align with your set goals. If you’re looking to promote a new product, a promotional email campaign would be fitting. If you’re seeking customer feedback, opt for a survey email campaign. 

So, to further improve our SMART goal from before, we can phrase it like this: increase website visits by 20% over the next month using a promotional email campaign.

Craft a Compelling Subject Line

Now that we’ve identified our target audience, and set our goals, let’s dive into one of the most important parts of our campaign — the subject line. 

The subject line is one of the first things your audience sees, making it a crucial element. Based on just this one little detail of your email, subscribers can choose whether to open it or not. And it can cut the number of people who see your message by more than half of your recipients. In addition, it can also affect the deliverability of your emails.

That’s why it should be engaging, relevant, and give a hint of what’s inside. Here are some examples of compelling subject lines (that you can steal): 

• For Black Friday: 

🚨 BLACK SALE! Bestsellers 45% off!

Early Black Friday Access – Up to 79% Off

⚡️ 25% Off EVERYTHING ⚡️ The Biggest Sale We’ve Ever Had

How About 40% OFF?

• For Christmas: 

Order Now for Delivery by Christmas!

🎁 You’ve Got a Present from [brand name]

A note from Santa’s WorkshopReindeer fly fast. So do these offers!!

• For win-back campaigns: 

We miss you! Have $10 on us

Did you miss these new products?

Write Email Copy that Sells

Now let’s write a memorable copy for your audience. Crafting email copy that sells is both an art and a science. It’s about delivering the right message in a way that resonates with your recipients and prompts them to take action. 

Before we dive into email copywriting, here’s the most important thing you need to have in mind before you start writing: the content of your campaign email should meet the expectation set by your sender name, subject line, and preview text. This is not only important for your subscribers, but also for email clients, such as Google and Outlook. 

Now let’s tackle the writing of your email copy together so you can create one of the best email marketing campaigns! 

First, consider the tone of voice of your email. Generally speaking, this is your brand voice. But you need to decide how you’re going to speak to the different segments of your audience. Here are some examples of tone of voice that you can step on, or even combine: 

• Conversational 
• Professional
• Humorous
• Friendly
• Inspiring
• Formal
• Informal
• Witty
• Serious
• Optimistic

After you’ve decided on a tone of voice for your emails, you need to think about the email’s structure. There are different email structures and each one can serve the goals you’ve set for your campaign:

• Inverted Pyramid: Heading, image, subheading, call-to-action button. This structure aims to lead your subscribers’ eyes to the call-to-action. 
• Z-pattern: Heading, image right, text left, image left, text right. This structure is great for newsletters as it leads the eye of the subscribers left and right and keeps them engaged.
• F-pattern: Heading, text left, image right, text left, image right. Similar to the Z-pattern, this structure also keeps subscribers engaged but might be easier for some to read as the text is only left-aligned. 

If you want to use the Z-pattern or the F-pattern, we recommend A/B testing what your audience prefers. 

Then, let’s move to the actual copy of your email. You should deliver your main message in a clear and concise way. Don’t confuse the recipients of your email with too much information. According to Statista, consumers spend an average of 10 seconds reading brand emails. 

You have only a few seconds to grab the readers’ attention. How to keep them engaged? Personalize your message. Use a friendly and conversational tone, and focus on the benefits for the reader. Ask yourselves “What’s in it for them?”. Then answer this question in your copy. 

And don’t underestimate the power of short sentences. Write sentences that are easy to read and avoid using jargon or difficult words. 

Accessibility is also key. Ensure your email is easy to read on all devices and screen sizes. Use headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs to make the emails scannable. Also, consider those with visual impairments by providing alt text for images. 

By mastering these elements, you’ll be well on your way to crafting email copy that not only sells but also builds lasting relationships with your audience.

Create Call-to-Actions that People Want to Click

Call-to-Actions (CTAs) are pivotal in guiding your audience towards the desired action, be it making a purchase, signing up for a webinar, or downloading a resource. Therefore, creating CTAs that people want to click is essential.

For a CTA to work, you need to use action-oriented language that tells your readers exactly what they should do next, such as “Buy Now,” “Sign Up,” or “Download Here”. You can also convey a sense of urgency. Phrases like “Limited Time Offer” or “Only a Few Spots Left” can prompt immediate action. 

Another extremely important thing is to highlight the benefits for your subscribers. Let them know what they will gain by clicking your CTA. For instance, “Get Your Free E-book Now” is more compelling than just “Download”.

And last but not least, make your CTAs stand out visually. Use contrasting colors, larger fonts, or eye-catching buttons to draw attention to them.

Timе your Еmails Right

Another thing that can significantly impact your email open rates is timing. According to many online researches, emails sent in the mid-morning during the workweek tend to have higher open rates. 

However, it’s important to understand that the best time to send an email can vary depending on your audience. We advise you to test different send times to find what works best for your audience.

For example, if your target audience is new mothers, you can test sending your emails earlier in the morning when they are starting their day before the baby is awake. Or if your target audience is business managers, try sending your emails during the weekend, when they’ve got time to read them. 

Sending intervals between your emails are also important. Sometimes a very engaged audience would like to receive emails sooner rather than later while disengaged subscribers might prefer to hear from you less often. 

Reach the Right People, with the Right Message, at the Right Time 

That’s what email is all about. Because despite the constant shifts in the digital landscape nowadays, email stands as a timeless pillar of communication. It’s the only tool that allows your brand to feel relevant, personal and close to your audience. It builds loyalty like no other marketing channel. 

But crafting successful email campaigns isn’t just about the strategy and the content that we covered with this guide. It’s also about having the right email marketing help and the right tools at your disposal. That’s where SiteGround’s email marketing platform can help. 

A home for your email campaigns

SiteGround’s email marketing tool is more than just a platform; it’s a boost for your business growth.

Our affordable tool is designed to make your email marketing journey smooth and effective. With easy audience segmentation, you can tailor your messages to different groups, ensuring the right people get the right message.

Our user-friendly editor allows you to craft compelling emails without needing any technical expertise. Choose from a variety of layouts, customize them to match your brand, and create emails that your audience will love to read.

And we don’t stop at sending emails. Our email marketing platform provides comprehensive tracking and analytics, giving you insights into your campaign’s performance. Monitor open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to understand what works and what needs improvement in your email marketing strategy. 

With SiteGround’s email marketing tool, you won’t be just sending emails — you’ll be building relationships, fostering loyalty, and driving business growth. Harness the full potential of email marketing today with SiteGround.