There are many ways to contact and interact with your customers — Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Slack, Meetups, etc. — but not all of your customers are active in all of those channels. Chances are very good, though, that they all check their email from time to time. So when you want to reach out to potential new customers, or want to inform your existing customers about something new, or you want to ask your customers to take some action, email is still one of the best ways to get the broadest reach. But once you’ve reached them, how do you get them to take action?
Effective email content
Before you draft your message, get clear and crisp on these 3 questions:
Who is your audience?
Who are the key stakeholders, customers, or prospects that you want to reach? What are their concerns and what kind of work do they do, day to day? What is their average age, where do they live? The more you understand about your target audience, the better you’ll be able to craft your message in language and substance that will resonate with them.
What action do you want them to take?
Are you targeting new potential customers and you want them to try your app? Do you want your existing customers to try a new feature? Do you want your customers to write a review for your app or vote for your app in a contest? Be very clear on this call to action, and have only one action request per email. Don’t confuse or overwhelm your customers by asking them to do many things in one request.
What is your message?
Your message needs to be very clear, compelling and to the point. Keep the call to action at the top, and put it in the subject line. Include some screenshots or other graphics to make it eye-catching. Make it easy for the customer to take the action you want. For example, embed links that they can open directly from the email, or give them sample text they can use in a Tweet. The simpler your message and the easier you make it for the customer to act right there and then, the more successful you’ll be.
Make your message professional
Make your message look polished and professional if you want to be taken seriously. Have it reviewed and tested, and be sure to triple-check your spelling and grammar. There are numerous great self-serve email programs available with built-in templates and WYSIWYG editors that make it easy to build a good-looking message. These programs have the added benefit of providing analytics and stats on the performance of your message, as well as giving you control over the look and feel of your message.
You can find a sample HTML email template and some more tips from us here.
Do you have questions or comments, or more tips from your own experience? Share them below.
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