8 Ways to Improve Your Email Marketing Performance

 

It’s hard to deny the effectiveness of email marketing when it has one of the most impressive ROIs in the digital marketing world ($36 for every $1 spent, to be exact).

If your email marketing, however, feels stale and isn’t bringing the desired results, you’re in the right place. In this article, we will share tips you could implement to improve your email marketing performance.

Now, here’s the deal—there are two general areas you can work on to improve your email performance:

• The email itself (anything from content to automation)
• The page your audience lands on from that email (you want them to have a good user experience)

So, let’s dive into each of those aspects a little deeper.
 

Optimizing Your Emails

If you’re unhappy with your email performance, the first step is to thoroughly evaluate your current situation and detect areas for improvement. 

Now, here are some ideas of how you could improve your current emails:
 

Ensure emails are mobile-friendly

With most email opens occurring on mobile devices, it’s really important to ensure your emails are mobile-friendly.

Marketers sometimes overlook it because the screens they create emails on are desktops, not mobile devices.

Don’t repeat this mistake—better use these tips to make your emails more mobile-friendly: 

1. Use a responsive design: Side scrolling and needing to pinch-and-zoom on a phone is a no-no. Responsive email templates automatically adjust to different screen sizes, so your content looks great whether viewed on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop. Choosing a good email marketing platform with various pre-made responsive email templates could be your fastest way to achieve that.  
2. Simplify your layout: Mobile screens are smaller, and you cannot fit as much detail on them as you would on a bigger screen. So keep your design clean and straightforward — use a single-column layout and avoid clutter. This way, readers will navigate your email with ease and be able to focus on key messages.
3. Optimize images: Ensure your images are properly sized and compressed to load quickly on mobile devices. Additionally, include alt text for images to convey the message in cases they don't load.
4. Use legible fonts: Choose fonts that are easily read on small screens. You should avoid using font sizes smaller than 14px and place your text where there’s sufficient contrast against the background colors. These things are simple, but they really improve readability for your audience.
5. Test on multiple devices: The same email can look different on iOS and Android or in Gmail and MS Outlook. To ensure they render correctly, you must test your emails on various devices and email clients. Tools like Email on Acid can help you preview and test your emails on different platforms.
    

Personalize your email content

Personalization is key to increasing engagement and conversion rates, and studies prove that—emails with personalization generate up to 40% more revenue than generic ones. Remember, it's all about delivering relevant content to your subscribers.

Here's how you can personalize your email content for better results:

1. Segment your audience: You can divide your email list into segments based on various criteria, like demographics, behavior, purchase history, and more. This way, your content will be tailored to specific audiences, for instance, you might create segments for new subscribers, loyal customers, or inactive users and target messages accordingly. 
   
   Pro tip: Send different cart and browse abandonment emails to customers based on their purchase histories.
    
2. Dynamic content: Use dynamic content blocks to show different content to different segments within the same email. For example, display product recommendations based on past purchases or show different images and copy based on where a specific contact is in the customer journey.
3. Personalize subject lines: You can work on your email content all you want, but if it’s not opened — nobody will see it. To increase the open rate, create subject lines that speak directly to the recipient's interests, loyalty status or number of points, or past interactions. Even something as simple as a recipient’s name can go a long way.
4. Leverage data: Work with what you already have — your CRM, ecommerce platform, website, and other sources that could provide valuable data about your audience. The more data-driven your approach, the more effective your emails will be. Also, use insights from past campaigns to further optimize your emails, such as sending a last-chance email to those who opened the original email but did not make a purchase.
    

Harness the power of automation and AI

We live in exciting times, full of innovation and technology, so make that work for you. Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) can not only reduce the time and effort you put into your email marketing strategies but also improve your email campaigns’ performance. Here’s how you can leverage these technologies:

1. Automated workflows: If you’re still not using automated email workflows, you’ll be surprised by what a game-changer it is. Automated emails make up 41% of all email marketing orders and only 2% of sends. You can create automated email workflows for different customer journeys, such as welcome series, browsing and cart abandonment, re-engagement campaigns, loyalty programs, and so many more. 
   
   Each of them are triggered by a specific action your audience makes, such as viewing specific products and leaving without placing an order. Because they work on autopilot, it ensures timely, relevant, and consistent communication to consumers, freeing up your team to focus on other important tasks.
   
   
    
2. AI-powered segmentation: You can use AI to analyze customer data and identify patterns. From there, it’s easier to create more precise segments and send them targeted campaigns. A huge advantage of AI is that it can work with large amounts of data very quickly and uncover hidden insights that manual analysis might miss.
3. Predictive analytics: AI won’t predict your future, but it can definitely predict possible future customer behavior based on past actions. This enables you to send campaigns that anticipate their needs. For example, predictive analytics can help identify when a customer is likely to stop using your service so you can send a timely incentive to avoid churn.
4. Content optimization: Not only can AI help you create content, but it can also analyze the performance of different existing email content and suggest improvements. For example, it can suggest the best time to send emails or what subject lines are the most effective. 

A/B test for better results

The holy grail for success in email marketing is A/B testing. Also known as split testing, it is essential for understanding what works best in your email campaigns. Here’s how to conduct an A/B test:

1. Test one variable at a time: Focus on one variable per test to accurately determine its impact. Common elements to test include subject lines, email copy, call-to-action buttons, images, and send times. For example, test whether a subject line personalized with a first name performs better than a generic one.
2. Determine a KPI: Clearly outline your key performance indicator (KPI) for each test. Are you looking to increase open rates? Maybe click-through rates or conversions? This way, you’ll be able to measure success and draw meaningful conclusions.
3. Create test groups: We often hear the phrase ‘A/B test’, but it can also be an ‘A/B/C test’ — you create the rules here. So split your email list into two or more groups, just ensure they are similar in size and characteristics for reliable results.
4. Measure, improve, and repeat: Analyze the performance of each variation and choose the version that performs best. Later, implement those changes in future campaigns. Just know that A/B testing is an ongoing process. Continuously test new ideas and refine your emails based on the insights gained.

Greg Zakowicz, Sr. Ecommerce Expert at Omnisend, shares that during his 18+ years of experience, email automations stood out as the most engaging type of emails:

 

Optimizing Your Landing Pages

Getting people to open your emails is one thing—securing that conversion is a whole other matter. Your email can be polished to perfection, but if it leads readers to a page that is laggy and hard to navigate, it will bounce right away. 

Here are some things you can do to improve your landing page’s performance:
 

Improve page loading speed 

Your readers probably aren’t very patient — when they click on a link, they expect the landing page to load quickly. To shorten the loading time and avoid those lost conversions, implement these things:

1. Image optimization: Compress images and use formats like WebP to reduce file size without compromising quality. Also, ensure they are properly sized for different devices and use responsive image techniques. 
2. Lazy loading: Implement lazy loading to load only the elements that are needed at that moment. This can significantly improve initial page load times and improve the user experience. 
3. Browser caching: When you enable browser caching, it then stores statics files locally on the user’s devices, so the next time they visit that same page, it won’t take as long to load. Just make sure to set appropriate cache expiration times for different types of content. For example, images tend to change less often, so they can have a longer expiration time, but if you have news articles that require constant updating, you’ll want to set it to a shorter period.
4. Content Delivery Network (CDN): Use a CDN to make sure your content is delivered quickly, no matter where in the world your visitors are. A CDN can also help handle traffic spikes, improving your page’s reliability.
5. Minify code: Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files to remove unnecessary characters and reduce file sizes. This can reduce the amount of data that needs to be downloaded and speed up page loading. 
6. Reduce redirects: Minimize the number of redirects that are unnecessary or redundant, as each one adds latency to the loading process.
    

Focus on Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics defined by Google that measure real-user experience on your web pages. Improving these metrics can enhance both user experience and SEO. The key metrics include:

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures loading performance. Aim for LCP to occur within 2.5 seconds of when the page starts loading. To improve LCP, optimize images, use fast hosting, and eliminate render-blocking resources. 
2. Interaction to Next Paint (INP): Measures responsiveness. Aim for an INP of less than 200 milliseconds to ensure users can interact with your page quickly. To improve INP, reduce JavaScript execution time, optimize event handlers, and ensure the main thread is free for quick response. 
3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures visual stability. Aim for a CLS score of less than 0.1 to avoid unexpected layout shifts that can frustrate users. To improve CLS, use size attributes for images and videos, avoid inserting content above existing content, and ensure ads and iframes have reserved space. 

 

Monitor and analyze performance metrics

To continuously improve your landing page performance, you should monitor and analyze its KPIs. Here are some ideas for what to focus on:

1. Landing page metrics: Monitor metrics such as page load time, bounce rate, average session duration, and conversion rate — that’s how you gain insights on how well your landing pages are performing.
2. Core Web Vitals: Regularly check your Core Web Vitals scores using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse to see if your pages meet user experience standards.
3. User feedback: Simply ask your visitors. Create surveys or feedback forms to gather insight on existing pain points.

 

Wrap Up

Improving your email marketing performance requires careful optimization of both your emails and the landing pages they lead to. Ultimately, it’s a dynamic process that combines creativity, strategic planning, and technological leverage. By focusing on the areas discussed in this article, you can develop a robust email marketing strategy that both meets immediate goals and adapts to future challenges.
 

FAQs

Is email marketing still effective?

Yes, email marketing is still highly effective. It consistently delivers one of the highest returns on investment (ROI) in digital marketing, with an average of $36 earned for every $1 spent. When executed properly, it allows businesses to build strong relationships with their audience, deliver personalized content, and drive significant engagement and conversions.
 

Is email marketing worth it in 2024?

Absolutely, email marketing is worth it in 2024. As digital marketing continues to evolve, email remains a reliable channel for reaching customers directly. The integration of new technologies like AI and automation enhances its effectiveness by enabling better targeting, personalization, and efficiency. These advancements, combined with its cost-effectiveness, make email marketing a crucial part of any modern marketing strategy.
 

How to make an effective email marketing?

To create effective email marketing, start by optimizing your emails to be mobile-friendly. Personalize your content to resonate with different audience segments, making the messages more relevant. Leverage automation to send timely and consistent emailsand regularly conduct A/B testing to fine-tune your campaigns, and ensure that the landing pages your emails link to are fast-loading and provide a smooth user experience to maximize conversions.