Regardless of what people say, and regardless of the frequent complaints about spam: e-mail marketing is not dead. Don’t listen to the naysayers who claim that everything is sold through social media. This is not true. According to Ray Edwards, one of America’s top copywriters, more products are sold through e-mail than through Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Does email marketing outweigh giants like Amazon and Alibaba? No, but that’s also comparing apples to oranges. In fact, e-mail marketing is focused on directing consumers to websites, where they then spend money. Those who know how to apply this properly will benefit greatly in conversion.
Then, of course, there are many questions. As a company, how do you tackle this properly, smartly and efficiently? After all, what is being shouted about social media does affect consumers. After all, we have less time, concentration and desire to review emails. And as we become pickier as consumers, the answer again lies in the creative corner: with good UX design principles, your brand stands a good chance of meeting targets with email marketing.
Sebastian Smeenk
Business developer
The challenges of email marketing
Before we focus on the use of UX design, it is important to note the disadvantages of e-mail marketing. Those are out there. Google’s clever algorithms – the same company that can display your website high in search results – also have the knowledge to recognize advertising mail. This makes it extra challenging to reach your target audience.
Another thing that makes e-mail marketing tricky is personalization. Mails addressed to a large group come across as impersonal. And we just want everything to be about ourselves. Because honestly, don’t you also stay longer on a website that shows relevant content for you? Probably so.
Finally, the volume of emails in the inbox also makes it difficult to compete. Each consumer receives messages from different companies every day. This makes it difficult to make your e-mail relevant, if it is read at all.
The UX principles of email marketing
Fortunately, there is also good news. In fact, there are opportunities for marketers to make emails successful. They are partly that if they are read, but even more so if it turns into a sale on the website. Those opportunities arise in UX design.
As with home pages, landing pages and product pages, good UX design can make all the difference. An e-mail should be visually appealing. It should be a pleasure to view, read and explore the e-mail. Text is relevant, but good design is all the more so.
There are some basic principles that an e-mail should adhere to. These were designed by Peter Morville in a program called UX Honeycomb. The terms are defined as follows.
- Useful
- Usable
- Findability (Findable)
- Reliable (Credible)
- Accessible
- Desirable
- Valuable
Useful
Is the product or service you offer really relevant to the reader? This should be immediately obvious when opening the mail. So an email should be personalized. Do you sell multiple products through your website? If so, make sure the content in your mail matches the recipient’s needs. This may be based on search behavior or orders.
Usable
This term seems similar to the previous one, but it is not. The main issue here is the usability of the customer journey map. This may, in fact, begin with an e-mail. If all goes well, there is a link in your email that redirects to a landing page. How smooth is this route, all the way to checkout?
Findable
Maybe write a newsletter. This is an efficient way to engage interested customers and consumers with your brand. How quickly is information findable? This also applies to an e-mail. Make sure the text is clear and that the right info can be found quickly.
Reliable
Consumers must be able to trust your brand. If you make promises, then you must be able to keep them. If you make certain commitments in your e-mail, you honor them.
Accessibility
When reading an e-mail, accessibility is a must. An important part of customer experience, is the feeling of openness. UX design is not just about sleek design. It’s all about the feeling you give consumers. Are your business, brand and website accessible enough for everyone? Have everything checked regularly for possible malfunctions. That’s how you keep the customer experience positive.
Desirable
Is a product desirable to have? This seems to refer to branding. Once your brand can create this feeling, you’re in the right place. This has everything to do with quality. Your brand must exude quality. You need to make this ironclad in your email. Not necessarily with long texts, but with efficient bullet-points. Feel free to name why your electronics product is better, faster and more economical.
Value
Think carefully beforehand: why does a consumer need to receive this email? Is it simply a promotion because you are giving away 50% off? Or is there some other interest for the reader? The moment you offer something in your mail, there should be good relevance to the reader. This is one of the important pillars of UX design. Make sure the consumer is motivated to perform a particular action.
With UX design, how do you make sure emails get read?
Headline
Everything starts with a good headline. This is the first thing the consumer sees in the inbox. The headline should grab attention immediately. Some companies use the reader’s first name in the headline to personalize the mail.
What also often works well is to apply a clever copywriting rule where you choose one of three options: make a promise, elicit an emotional response, or make the reader curious. This can be done as follows:
- With these vegan proteins, your muscles will grow 30% faster than normal (promise)
- Can you really look younger next year with this product? (response)
- Which of these five mistakes do you make when writing your blog (curious)
Design
This point is obvious to the experienced marketer. The same principles that apply to your website should also be applied to your e-mail. A corporate identity should be recognizable, as should the logo. The content and visuals in your mail should be sharply designed, and be an experience to look at.
Is your email primarily to promote your business or brand? Use your best marketing tricks. Make sure the best products and services are highlighted, and that you put the best slogan at the top. Design your mail as if it were a flyer urging people to come to the store. And don’t forget the links to your landing pages in the relevant places.
Brand loyalty
Has a customer placed the tenth order? Is it his or her birthday? Have you shipped a product late? Send discount code. Congratulate someone. Share a charitable gift in the form of a free product. For your business, these types of gifts require minimal investment. These are the differences you can literally make customers happy with. And when a consumer becomes happy, it is obvious that brand loyalty is created.
Email marketing statistics
Finally, here are some relevant numbers to share in the field of email marketing. Especially to bolster an argument that. Email marketing, in fact, is far from dead. Many marketers make the very mistake of not paying close attention to the above points.
So keep the following statistics about UX design and e-mail marketing in mind:
- According to
PR Daily
content and emails with visual content get 94% more views compared to written text. - Last year, 37% of
marketers
to increase their email marketing budget - Over the past 12 months, 77% of marketers have experienced a
positive increase
seen in the effectiveness of email marketing - There are about 4 billion e-mail users. The
expectation
is that this number will have increased by 600 million new users within three years.
What to do.
After reading this article, if all goes well, you will have learned something. Or you already knew everything, but still get insufficient response to your email. You may be sitting with questions. On designing an effective email flow. The same strategy you want applied to your website can also be designed by Dusver for your email flow.
No matter how you look at it, e-mail marketing can greatly increase the conversion rate of your website. It is a marketing channel that is far from dead. Wondering what to look out for? Don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss the possibilities!
