Email is an enormously powerful marketing tool and gets a great return on investment. Research puts the ROI of email marketing anywhere between 3800%–4400%. That's a range of $38–$44 for every $1 you spend on email marketing. So, if you're not using email marketing already, you should be. And to help you get the most from your email marketing efforts, we've put together this list of email marketing hacks and tips—including how to embed images and videos into emails so you can evoke in your readers faster! We're excited to share these email marketing hacks with you, so let's get started.
How to Embed Images and Videos Into Emails (+ 10 Other Email Hacks and Tips):
11 Email Marketing Hacks and Tips
While social media, messaging, and influencer marketing are all wonderful and effective ways to market your brand, email marketing is the reigning champ. It can be done inexpensively, has a great return, and consumers actually enjoy it. It's true! According to Business to Community, more than 60% of consumers prefer to be contacted by brands via email. So, give them what they want! Here are some practical and effective email marketing hacks and tips you can use to create impressive emails and email marketing campaigns that really resonate with your target audience.
1. Use Video and Images
Video marketing has been increasing in both popularity and effectiveness over the past several years and it's a perfect addition to your email marketing efforts. But if you don't already know how to embed images and videos into emails, you might think that it's too hard or too complicated.
It's not.
In fact, your email marketing platform probably makes it really easy. Here, we're going to show you how to embed images and videos into emails using GetResponse, but you can check out the documentation on your own email marketing service to find out how to do it in your specific case (it's probably very similar to this). To make things even easier for this mini-tutorial, we're just going to choose from one of GetResponse's templates and build from there.
Once you have your template up, you literally just drag and drop the video element over to the email wherever you want it to show up and add the URL for the video. You can also change how you want the video to appear:
That's literally all there is to it. It's too easy to ignore. Plus, 68% of marketers say video has a better return on investment than Google Ads (Biteable).
2. Personalize Your Emails
Our next email marketing hack is all about personalization. Personalizing emails can have an enormous impact on your open rates, click-through rates, and general engagement. In fact, 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences (Epsilon) and 90% of U.S. consumers find personalized marketing content "somewhat" to "very appealing" (Statista).
One of the easiest ways to personalize your emails is to include your reader's name in the subject line and email copy. This doesn't mean sending individual emails to each subscriber. Your email marketing service will likely offer merge tags to give you an easy way to personalize your emails.
In addition to personalizing subject lines and email copy with your subscriber's name, there are a few other things you can do:
- Send cart abandonment reminders including items relevant to the shopper
- Include location-specific images and offers
- Use dynamic content to show specific content to specific subscribers
- Send anniversary, birthday, and other special event emails
- Give a special offer to your top customers
- Offer tips for products they've purchased
- Suggest relevant products
- Share relevant content
Here's an example of a personalized email from Forever 21. This price-drop email was sent after the recipient viewed the product online and then left without making a purchase.
Source: reallygoodemails.com
3. Include a Strong CTA
Next on our list of email marketing hacks and tips is including a strong call to action. Your CTA is what you want readers to do after reading your message. This might be a click-through to an article, sharing your message with their network, completing a purchase, or a number of other actions. We recommend that you are creative with your CTAs. Don't just say something like "Sign Up" or "Shop Now." Sure, your button might be longer, but your message will be more persuasive.
It's also important to keep your message clear with a single call to action per email. If you want your readers to take action, you need to keep coaching them toward the action you want them to take instead of giving them tons of different options. Eliminate any doubt about what you want your readers to do. Here are some examples of CTAs we love:
- "Snag your 10% off!"
- "Buy now and save $4.03!"
- "Try it FREE"
- "Shop the surprise sale"
- "Create my graphic now"
4. Optimize for Mobile
Did you know that 81% of emails are opened and read on mobile devices as of 2020 (CampaignMonitor)? That's a huge portion of users that might skip your email entirely if it's not mobile-friendly. Here's how you can keep your emails optimized for mobile readers:
- Use a single-column email template
- Keep your design and content simple and concise
- Use a single CTA with thumb-friendly buttons
- Go easy on images (limit it to 1–3)
- Use mobile-friendly font sizes (14pt for text and 22pt for headlines is a good rule of thumb)
5. Write an Awesome Subject Line
Your subject line is the first (and sometimes only) chance you have to convince readers to open your email. If the subject line doesn't grab their attention, they're not even going to get to the rest of your copy. Here are some tips to create compelling subject lines that are irresistibly clickable:
- Use emoji to stand out
- Don't use all caps or tons of exclamation points
- Keep your subject line short and casual
- Use "lizard brain" words (emotional, raw)
- Personalize
- A/B test your subject lines
6. Use Psychology
In terms of email marketing hacks and tips, psychology is a big one to learn about and embrace. Here we're going to cover three ways you can use psychology in your email marketing.
Colors and Fonts
Colors and fonts can set your brand apart from your competitors at a single glance. Think about specialty luxury retail store Tiffany & Co. The brand's color is now iconic. But the use of colors and fonts goes beyond brand recognition. When people see "Tiffany Blue" they immediately think of luxury and quality. Tiffany & Co. doesn't have to do a single thing—the color conveys it all.
Fonts can have an impact, too. Here's an example from A Kids Book About that shows how the use of different fonts can make a statement:
Source: reallygoodemails.com
Scarcity and Exclusivity
Limited time only! Just for you! Don't miss out!
Words that trigger thoughts and feelings of scarcity or exclusivity are amazing at driving conversions. Humans are hard-wired to avoid scarcity so we tend to act fast when faced with the threat of missing out on something. We also love to feel special, which is where exclusivity comes into play. Here's how to use scarcity and exclusivity in your email marketing:
- Offer a "limited time only" promotion
- Create offers only for specific segments
- Promote flash sales
- Offer expiring content
- Set deadlines
- Use a countdown timer
Fear of Missing Out
FOMO has been an important and effective marketing tactic for years, but with social media, it reached epic proportions. And you can use it in your email marketing, too. The goal is to create buzz around your product, grab subscriber attention, and convince them that they do not want to miss out on your product or your offer. It seems simple, like scarcity and exclusivity, and it really is. But it's also effective: 69% of Millennials say they experience FOMO, and 60% admitted to making impulse purchases because of it (FortuneLords). Here are some ways you can use FOMO in your email marketing:
- Use testimonials to show how happy others are with your products
- Promote flash sales
- Offer expiring content
- Set deadlines
- Use a countdown timer
Here's a great example from Casper that uses scarcity and FOMO to encourage recipients to act. The subject line for this email was "Last day: Save 15% with our best offer ever."
Source: reallygoodemails.com
7. Provide Value
Your emails, even promotional emails, should always provide more value to your subscribers than they do to you. Use the information you've learned about your subscribers to create emails that they'll find interesting, entertaining, educational, and engaging. Remember that you're reaching out to a real person with hopes, wants, and needs. When you see subscribers are people instead of just potential revenue, it also makes it easier to create emails that really resonate with them. And, when you do sell, be sure that you're focusing on the benefits and results of your product or service—the way your subscribers' lives will improve if they take you up on your offer.
8. Use Social Proof
Social proof is basically the marketer's version of peer pressure. It works because people trust other people more than they trust brands and advertisers. Customer reviews, influencer recommendations, celebrity endorsements are all examples of social proof and are incredibly effective in convincing subscribers to take action. As eCommerce and social media have become more and more popular, influencer marketing has, too. And influencers can be excellent sources of social proof with 46% of consumers saying that they rely on influencer recommendations and reviews to guide their purchasing decisions (Digital Marketing Institute).
Here's an example of how to use social proof in your email marketing from Bite:
Source: reallygoodemails.com
9. Include User-Generated Content
Next up on our list of email marketing hacks and tips is user-generated content (UGC). User-generated content is content created by the actual people who use a product instead of the brand that makes it. This type of content could be anything from online reviews to social media posts to blog content and everything in between. UGC is so effective because shoppers want to see content from real people that they can relate to. Here are some ideas for incorporating user-generated content into your email marketing strategy:
- Run an email-based hashtag campaign
- Use images of your customers using your products
- Repurpose UGC from your social media platforms for email marketing
- Include customer reviews and testimonials
- Share customer stories
10. Segment
Last on our list of email marketing hacks and tips is segmentation. Segmenting your email marketing list will help you create personalized email marketing experiences that will resonate with your subscribers and encourage them to take action. Nobody wants to feel like just another subscriber, do they? With segmentation, you can make sure that each of your subscribers feels seen and understood through advanced personalization and targeted messaging.
Here are just a few ideas for segmentation:
- Purchase history
- Browsing behavior
- Marketing funnel stage
- Job title, gender identity, location, other demographics
- Purchase frequency
- Engagement level
- Shopping cart abandonment
- Form abandonment
- Interests in certain products
- Participation in your events
- Content downloads
- How often they want to receive your letters
- Typical amount of money spent on your products
BONUS: Grow Your Email List
All of the email marketing hacks and tips in the world won't help if you don't have a solid email list. If you're just getting started on your email marketing journey or you're just looking for a few more ways to grow your email marketing list, you're in luck! Here are some of our favorite ways to grow your email list right now:
- Add signup forms to your website
- Collect emails at checkout
- Add your signup link to your Instagram bio
- Use social media to get email signups
- Host an online contest and use email signup as a way contestants can get more entries
- Use exit-intent popups on your website
- Make it easy for subscribers to share your emails with others
- Use lead magnets or gated content
- Run a Facebook ad
- Create and promote an email course
Wrapping Up
Just because you write an email doesn't mean that your subscribers will care. Using the email marketing hacks and tips we've included here will help you create email marketing campaigns that are entertaining and engaging and will inspire your subscribers to act.
