5 EDM Optimization Secrets to Accurately Capture Your Audience's Attention

In the context of Email Direct Marketing (EDM), brands often spend significant amount of time planning marketing campaigns, designing engaging content, and segment markets for personalized marketing. However, it can get frustrating when open rates and click-through rates still fail to show results despite these significant improvements. What could be going wrong? Upon closer analysis, two possibilities emerge:

1. Consumers have no intention of opening the emails, leading to poor open rate performance
2. Consumers opened the emails, but are not interested enough to click into the contents, resulting in low click-through rates

Neither scenario is desirable for any brand. Today, we will share strategies to improve both open rates and click-through rates, ensuring your EDM campaigns achieve the desired results.

Master These 2 Key Points for Subject Lines, and Say Goodbye to Low EDM Open Rates!

When open rate performance is bad, several possibilities should be considered:

1. The email delivery timing does not align with the audience's email usage habits, resulting in the email being overlooked
2. The subject line and preview text failed to capture interests, resulting in low open rates

In terms of choosing the optimal email delivery timing, if emails are uniformly sent at 9:00 AM, it is highly possible that they may be overlooked by audiences who typically check their inboxes at 8:00 PM. As such, brands are encouraged to leverage AI algorithms within their customer relationship management systems to predict the best email delivery timings based on previous interaction data and automate the delivery process to increase visibility.

If open rates still remain stagnant despite email delivery at the optimal timing, the next focus should be on enhancing the email subject line and preview text. What makes an engaging subject line? Even amidst a cluttered inbox, consumers prioritize contents that are highly relevant to their needs and benefits. Subject lines that include personalized information or relevant promotional messages allow the audience to quickly recognize that the email is not a generic mass message. By perfecting email delivery timings and including personalized email subject lines, brands can significantly improve open rates! 

To summarize the above points, there are two key elements to consider when designing subject lines and preview text:

1. Make it a Point to Highlight Promotional Messages in the Subject Line and Preview Text

Clear, relevant, and engaging subject lines significantly boost open rates. According to a report by Campaign Monitor, emails with 'thank you' in the subject line have a 13% higher open rate than average. Similarly, if a brand offers a $100 first-purchase gift to new registered members, it is crucial to highlight this in the subject line so that members can immediately recognize their benefits, increasing the likelihood of conversion. For example: "Congratulations on becoming a new member! Enjoy your $100 first-purchase gift now!"

If the first-purchase gift is not clearly mentioned and the message only communicates “Congratulations on becoming a member of our brand's official website, come and explore our products,” it is less likely to resonate with new members and motivate them to open the email and make a purchase.

2. Incorporate Personalized Information to Deliver a Customized Touch

According to Experian, personalized emails can achieve six times higher transaction rates. In today's era, information-overloading is a common occurrence. EDM messages without personalized content are easily perceived as generic promotional advertisements. Therefore, it is recommended that brands include personalized information (such as the consumer's name) in the subject line and preview text). Additionally, mentioning exclusive offers and highlighting shopping credits for the customer can further enhance the likelihood of email open rates. 

For example: “Dear [Name], your [Amount] shopping credits are about to expire. Check out this season's new arrivals!”

3 Tips to Optimize EDM Click-Through Rates and Maximize Channel Performance! 

If your EDM open rates meet expectations but click-through rates remain stagnant, it suggests that the design of the marketing content is not engaging enough for customers to take further action. Possible issues include:

1. The campaign's appeal needs strengthening
2. The presentation of content does not quickly convey key points

Changing the context of the marketing campaign itself may require extensive time and effort for cross-departmental communication, which might result in poor performance recovery. Therefore, improving the design of the contents should yield quicker results. However, brands often have established design guidelines that may overlook the effectiveness of key points transmission, such as promotional offers and product features. In an era of limited attention spans, if customers cannot quickly grasp the main points at first glance, even the most beautiful design may be futile.

Here are some tips to improve click-through rates: 

1. Use Differentiated Block Layouts to Highlight Key Content

People typically view contents from top to bottom and left to right. Therefore, it is recommended to place the most important campaign activities (such as site-wide promotions or featured product discounts) at the top of the EDM. This approach complements the attention earned by the subject line, further guiding the customer's attention towards significant promotional activities or products, making it easier to drive click-through rates and conversions.

In addition to the main campaign, brands may run other smaller and similar campaigns simultaneously. To ensure customers receive complete information, all campaign messages should be delivered in a single EDM. However, if all campaign blocks are presented in the same size and format, it can cause visual fatigue and negatively impact customers' intention towards the campaign. As such, it is recommended to feature no more than three campaign promotions in one email and use different block sizes to highlight the priority of each activity, helping customers focus more effectively.

2. Use Images to Present Campaign Highlights and Enhance Information Delivery

In today's fast-paced lifestyle, people are accustomed to absorbing information through images. According to Hubspot statistics, information accompanied by images has significantly higher viewership and interaction rates than plain texts, at 94% and 37%, respectively. Therefore, besides using text to explain key activities, it is recommended to use image banners to present major campaign messages and important incentives. This approach does not only quickly captures customer attention, but also ensures that they fully grasp the campaign's key messages.

According to beBit TECH's industry research, using visual elements to emphasize campaign highlights and combining them with top-of-the-page content placement can double click-through rates.

3. Complement Images with Text to Stimulate Click-Through Conversions

Image materials should clearly highlight promotional content, product features, and their discount activities, allowing customers to quickly grasp key points as fast as 5 seconds. Additionally, it is advisable to include actual product images to support customers' understanding and visualization of the products, thereby guiding their click-through intention, further enhancing conversion. 

Moreover, when designing call-to-action (CTA) buttons, brands should incorporate vivid colors and clear instructions, such as “Buy Now” or “Learn More,” to encourage the desired actions. According to Wordstream research, using the word “now” on buttons can increase click-through rates by 8%.

Conclusion

In this brief overview, we have shared some quick tips for improving open rates and click-through rates for your EDM campaigns! If you are interested in learning more about content optimization strategies, or would like professional consultation services on market strategies, please feel free to contact us and share your needs!