Demand Curve for Email Marketing: Tactics to Convert Subscribers

The Superior ROI of Email Marketing

Among all marketing channels, email consistently delivers the most substantial return on investment. Typically, for every dollar invested in email marketing, businesses can anticipate a revenue of $40. This makes it a remarkably efficient strategy.

A key advantage of email lies in its nature as an owned channel. This allows for direct communication with subscribers, bypassing the limitations and fluctuating reach of social media platforms and their algorithms.

Insights from Extensive Startup Analysis

Demand Curve has analyzed the growth strategies of over 500 startups, comprehensively documenting tactics across various growth channels. This research is further informed by the experience of Bell Curve, our agency, which collaborates with prominent companies like Outschool, Imperfect Produce, and Microsoft.

Focusing on High-Impact Email Tactics

To gain a deeper understanding of effective email marketing, we conducted interviews with email marketing professionals at some of this year’s most rapidly expanding startups.

The following strategies represent the most profitable approaches identified, achieving 80% of the potential value with just 20% of the overall effort.

Key Takeaways

• Email marketing provides an exceptional return on investment, averaging $40 earned for every $1 spent.
• As an owned channel, email offers direct access to subscribers, independent of external platform dependencies.
• Focused strategies can maximize email marketing effectiveness, delivering significant results with concentrated effort.

The Critical Importance of Email Subject Lines

The subject line represents the most crucial element of an email, despite often being overlooked by marketers until the email body is complete.

Enhance your email open rates by ensuring your subject lines are immediately understandable. Avoid ambiguity; subscribers won't engage with emails if the purpose isn't clear.

Writing Engaging Subject Lines

Employ a conversational tone in your subject lines. Utilizing informal language and contractions – such as "it’s," "they’re," and "you’ll" – can be highly effective.

This approach not only conserves valuable character space but also fosters a more approachable and easily digestible message.

The Power of Segmentation

Subject lines should resonate with specific subaudiences. Segmented email campaigns generate 760% more revenue compared to untargeted broadcasts.

When collecting email addresses from various website locations, recognize that the context of each signup will differ.

For instance, individuals subscribing after reading content about ketogenic diets should receive emails focused on keto-related education and relevant product offerings.

Sending vegetarian-focused content to this group would be irrelevant and could result in unsubscribes.

Audience Segmentation Best Practices

• Utilize tags and filters within your email marketing platform to segment your audience effectively.
• All modern platforms offer these capabilities.
• Before finalizing a subject line, consider: “Would this email be logical and welcome for this specific subscriber segment?”

Subject Line Length and Mobile Optimization

Keep your subject lines brief and to the point. Approximately 46% of emails are opened on mobile devices.

Therefore, the subject line must be concise enough to display fully on smaller screens without losing its core message.

A length of around fifty characters is generally considered the maximum to prevent truncation on mobile devices.

Shorter subject lines are also easier for subscribers to quickly scan within their inboxes.

Incorporating emojis can reduce character count and create a more personal, text-message-like feel.

This approach can make your email appear less formal and more inviting.

Crafting Emails Designed for Engagement

Upon a subscriber opening an email, three primary responses are possible: complete reading, cursory skimming, or immediate dismissal.

Those subscribers who fully read your emails represent the highest value, as they engage with the entirety of your message. Skimmers will focus primarily on headings and accompanying visuals. Dismissing subscribers will open the email but quickly delete or close it if initial elements fail to capture their interest.

The goal is to minimize dismissals, cater to dedicated readers, and ensure skimmers grasp the core message. Effective email design is crucial to achieving this.

To reduce the number of emails dismissed, select a design that is both visually appealing and aligned with your brand identity. Consider the example from Casper; the starry night backdrop and lunar illustration directly relate to their mattress offerings. A consistently branded visual approach enhances brand recognition.

Optimizing for skimmers requires the use of compelling, action-oriented headlines. Employ design elements that guide the reader's eye towards essential information. As demonstrated by the Headspace example, the rising sun imagery directs attention upwards to the headline and the call-to-action. Skimmers should be able to quickly understand the email's purpose and initiate desired actions without extensive reading.

To maximize reader conversion, ensure the email content aligns with the expectations established by the subject line. Subscribers will anticipate fulfillment of any promises or suggestions made in the subject. Deliver on these expectations concisely – even engaged readers appreciate efficiency.

Effective Calls to Action for Higher Conversions

The primary function of your email content is to motivate recipients to engage with your call-to-action (CTA). This CTA is fundamentally important, as it represents the point where a potential customer transitions into a paying one.

To maximize the effectiveness of your CTA, your accompanying text and headings should articulate a compelling benefit that is exclusively accessible through that CTA.

Crafting Compelling CTA Language

High-performing CTA phrasing generally utilizes action verbs that hint at the value awaiting the user:

• Claim your complimentary trial.
• Unlock your exclusive savings.
• Explore our complete product range.

Conversely, CTAs that underperform often lack specificity or employ passive language:

• Find out more.
• View products.
• Acquire now.

Focus is key; each email communication should feature only a single, clear CTA. Presenting multiple options can diminish conversion rates by introducing unnecessary complexity for the user.

Crucially, the destination page linked to by your CTA must deliver on the promise articulated within your email body and the CTA button itself. This ensures a seamless and satisfying user experience.

Maintaining Consistency and Fulfillment

A disconnect between the initial promise and the landing page experience can lead to frustration and lost conversions. Therefore, meticulous alignment is essential.

Email Communication Strategy

Establishing a clear focus for the email subject line and defining the intended result are crucial first steps. All subsequent content should then be meticulously designed to guide the recipient progressively towards that desired action.

A beneficial approach involves reverse engineering from the ultimate goal. If the objective is a click on a call-to-action (CTA) button, the subject line, headings, and body text should present a compelling value proposition attainable only through that click.

Understanding Your Audience

It's essential to evaluate the email experience from the perspective of diverse subscriber types: those who read thoroughly, those who skim, and those who may not engage at all.

Employ both visual and textual cues to ensure the email's purpose is readily apparent to all three groups. Neglecting this can result in subscriber attrition and diminished revenue.

The Power of Email Marketing

Email marketing consistently delivers the highest return on investment compared to other marketing channels. This is largely due to the engaged nature of an audience that has willingly subscribed to receive communications.

• Email can generate six times more conversions than a typical Twitter post.
• It is 40 times more effective at capturing attention than a Facebook post.

These statistics highlight the significant potential of a well-crafted email strategy to drive results.