Let’s talk about email. This is the oldest trick in the book and the best way to communicate. It’s the first thing you think of when you think of marketing. But does it work? How do you find new opportunities to improve with something that has been around for so long? Email is not dead. As a marketer, you have to think outside of the box and find new, creative ways to target your audience. What better way to do that by changing up the way we do email? HubSpot gives you evolved, grown, and advanced email functionality to improve communication. Here are four ways marketers can use HubSpot to get creative and improve email marketing performance.
1. Get Your Email Whitelisted
Picture this- you’ve been waiting for a pre-sale code to see your favorite band but you never got it. Next thing you know, the show is sold out and you just missed a shot to see them. You go back to check why you never received your pre-sale code and it turns out, you missed it because the email landed in your spam folder. Would you want the same thing to happen to your customers? What if you’re trying to relay important information over to them but your email is never seen? This is where whitelisting comes in. Rather than landing in the dark world of spam, your message gets delivered effortlessly with no issues whatsoever. Getting added to your subscriber’s whitelist means your emails will be kept out of the junk folder and into your recipient's inbox. It’s not as hard as it seems- it’s as simple as writing a quick message your new subscribers that read something like:
“Dear Bob,
Want to hear from us? Follow these simple instructions to add us as a contact so you don’t miss a beat!”
Once you’ve been added as a contact, your marketing emails will be whitelisted and will be sent to their inbox without any problems. If you’re a HubSpot user, you can always follow these simple steps to get white listed.
2. Use Catchy Subject Lines
Think of it this way- subject lines are the face of an email. They’re the first thing people will see and the deciding factor on whether an email is opened or not. As a marketer, you need to create enticing subject lines that draw the reader in and drive open rates. An email subject line is a written form of your elevator pitch- the goal is to draft something up that your reader simply cannot resist. Stay informative and let your reader know what to expect from your email, without giving too much away. This is your chance to have fun with your content- try something new! Be original and think outside of the box. According to this article, using emojis in emails can increase open rates by 45%. Another key factor in driving open rates is the use of emotions. You read that right ~emotions~ can help increase your subject line performance. Readers want to feel the desire to open up an email and that can be caused by a variety of subject lines. Here are some examples of how emotions can affect email open rates:
Emotion: Urgency / Fear (creating a sense of urgency or “fear of missing out” is a great way to play with this type of emotion and drive open rates)
Subject line: ”Limited time only: don’t miss out on these special offers made just for you!”
Emotion: Comedy (keep it casual and have fun with it! A unique and funny subject line can draw the reader in and increase engagement)
Subject line: “Hey you - it’s time to treat yo’ self!”
You can use this subject line checker to test out your subject line before you use it in your email marketing strategy.
3. Add Smart Content
HubSpot’s smart content capability allows for a more targeted and personalized campaign. It goes above and beyond mail merging that personalizes demographics such as first name and company name. You can create targeted content that adapts to each reader, depending on where they stand on the buying stage. This tool can help write content that gets modified based on the reader’s life cycle stage, language and persona, allowing for a contextual marketing strategy to move forward. Use smart content to change how an email will display on a mobile device versus a computer, allowing for better user experience in the digital world. You can segment your database and create content based on each list membership so that in one email you have the capability of modifying content such as
1. Unique call-to-action buttons
2. Different links and/or files to download
3. Language
4. Images and/or videos
To learn more about smart content and how this can improve your email marketing performance click here.
4. Use Seventh Sense
There are many articles that touch upon best send times for email depending on the day. With the HubSpot Seventh Sense Integration, you can personalize email send times based on a user’s email activity. How does it work exactly? Let’s say you have an automation workflow with a three email sequence. The user will go through the workflow and receive each email on the days that you set up. With Seventh Sense, you can add a webhook that re-enrolls each unengaged contact back into your workflow. It’s able to read your reader's actions and apply that knowledge into your next email- allowing for a better performance the next time around.
Now that you have the tools on how to refine your content, personalize emails and improve overall email performance. It’s important to keep the following three things in mind:
- Buyer’s Persona (who are you targeting and why?)
- Buyer’s Stage (where are they in the marketing funnel?)
- Contextualization (does the content matter to your reader?)
Congrats, you’re not only a marketing hero (as HubSpot likes to call us), you’re an email marketing expert!
