|
|
|
|
June 02, 2015 / 060215
-------------------------
|
|
Email Marketing and Call-to-Actions (CTAs)
Email marketing is pretty straight-forward. And, it's important to realize it falls under the content marketing umbrella.
As an email marketer you send out emails in order to create a
relationship with your subscribers, build trust, and ultimately sell
what you’re offering. It may be a book or other product. It may be a
service. Whichever it is, the saying goes, ‘people buy from people they
trust.’
It’s important to keep in mind though that you should genuinely be
striving to help your audience, especially your subscribers, reach their
goals. It shouldn’t be ALL about selling.
Call-to-actions (CTAs) are words that motivate a viewer to take
action. It may be to sign up to your mailing list. It may be to buy your
book or other product. It may be to take a survey. It may be to sign up
to your course or class. Whatever it is you’re offering or selling, it
needs a CTA.
According to an article at Hubspot.com, “You should have a big, standout call-to-action in every email marketing message you send.”
But, are CTA’s one-size-fits-all?
No. No, they’re not.
There are a number of elements in CTAs, such as the background color,
the text, the text color, the size, the positioning, the design, and so
on. Even how you use a CTA can vary.
Simple Changes, Big Results
An example of how simple changes can increase conversions (clicks /
sales), Heinz Ketchup decided to test the effect of changing the color
of their product. They changed it from red to green and “sold over 10
million bottles in the first seven months.”
Another example is Performable. They changed their CTA button from green to red. It resulted in a 21% increase in conversions.
Testing is a big factor in all marketing. Testing variations of your CTAs can prove to boost your conversions.
A Bit of Knowledge Can Go a Long Way
To tweak your CTA, it’s important to have an idea of which direction to
go. This means you need to know your audience and you need to know what
elements you want to test out.
Is your audience mixed, men and women?
If so, you should know that women prefer blue, purple, and green. Men
prefer blue, green, and black. Testing your CTA button or text with the
color blue or green will cover both bases.
Is your audience primarily English reading?
This reader reads from left to right and top to bottom. Having the copy
(wording, text) lead the reader down to the CTA and having the CTA on
the left should help boost conversion.
Is your copy easily understandable and anxiety free?
Marketing Experiments conducts ongoing marketing research
into what increases conversion. They’ve found that easy to understand
text is essential. They also found that the wording must be right.
You might think that offering a “Free Consultation” or a “Free Trial”
will motivate your reader to take action, but the opposite may be true. A
free consultation or trial may produce anxiety in the reader. She may
feel there’s an implied cost involved.
“Get Started Now” doesn’t have an implied cost attached, so it’s more likely to boost conversion.
Summing it Up
Email marketing is a powerful way to reach your audience. It’s should be
used to help them as well as promote what you’re offering.
Your CTA is what will prompt the reader to take action. Test out the
various elements within the CTA to see what works best for you.
Definitions
Conversion – This is the process of readers moving from reading
to action by clicking on your links, in other words taking the action
step in your CTA.
I hope you found this information interesting and helpful. Too advanced, not enough, just right? I’d really love to know, so please leave a comment – good or bad or email me at: karencioffi@ymail.com
P.S. If you liked this article, PLEASE SHARE IT!
|
|
|
|
Want to increase your online visibility? Want to know the tricks and strategies to use social media and email marketing?
If you said yes to either question, you'll want to check out Get Traffic to Your Website with Inbound Marketing.
It's a 4-week e-class through WOW! Women on Writing and it's sure to get you where you want to be: generating visibility, building authority, and boosting your sales.
FOR DETAILS, CLICK HERE!
|
|
|
|
|
|
=====================
PERMISSION TO REPRINT
=====================
You
may reprint this article from "The Writing World” in its entirety in
your own blog or print/electronic newsletter. But, please include the
following paragraph:
Article reprinted from The Writing World
newsletter. Want more must-know writing and marketing information along
with updates on free webinars right in your inbox? Get access to The
Writing World (http://thewritingworld.com) today.
|
|
|
|
Karen Cioffi, the Article Writing Doctor
Your Content Writing Prescription
Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
For Businesses and Individuals
Email: karencioffi [at] ymail [dot] com
I'm an affiliate for some of the products I recommend. I only tell you about products I've checked out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
