SEO Reseller Tips: Shorten Your Marketing Emails Please

Thanksgiving Day has just gone and many SEO resellers took advantage of the holiday to send out emails to their clients. Some are as simple as a Thanksgiving greeting. Others contained he usual news about the business and the industry. Many probably sent promotions via email, too.

But hopefully your email wasn't "stuffed."

In the words of email software company AWeber, email "stuffing" is "when you try to cram way too much into one long message." Are you a private label SEO reseller guilty of stuffing? Then you should definitely read this post.

Statistics Prefer Shorter Emails

To stay updated with the latest SEO and online marketing reseller trends, you’re probably subscribed to various email lists. Do you appreciate cluttered and convoluted emails? Or succinct ones that lead you to more information through a link? Think about it. You won't be able to consume the appetizer, main course, and dessert at the same time, right? The same goes for email and research backs this up.

Studies conducted by Marketo showed that emails with shorter body copy tend to have higher click-through rates (CTR). The marketing software maker compared concise emails with highly descriptive longer ones and found that the shorter version increased click-to-opens by 7%. In another test, this time with a bigger audience, the shorter email beat the long one by 2%.

“We believe difference exists because not only are short emails less likely to overwhelm readers, but also they're not cluttered by text, so the CTA (call to action) appears prominently,” Marketo said. 

Prepare, Segment, Maximize

According to AWeber, the best way to avoid stuffing emails is to use these three tips: prepare a content plan, segment the audience, and maximize other channels. 

For instance, instead of cramming all your SEO and online marketing promotions into one email, you may opt to send a few shorter emails throughout a longer period of time. These smaller messages will be easier to digest for the recipient. And because you’re sending out a number of emails as opposed to a single message, you have more chances of converting subscribers to buyers.

Another strategy is to send a small email to a segment of the audience that is more likely to be interested in that offer. For example, many white label SEO reseller consultants have verticals as their market. Can you segment your food and beverage establishment clients into family friendly places and couple restaurants?

As for maximizing other channels, AWeber recommends sending only the highlights of your promotion via email. The rest can be announced via other channels like social networking accounts and the company blog. 

Focus on CTR, Increase Conversions

Shorter copy generated a high CTR (image: Marketing Experiments Blog)

In a post for the Marketing Experiments Blog, MECLABS senior research editor Brad Bortone argued that marketers often confuse the purpose of an email message with that of a landing page. “Our research shows that selling your product twice – in an email and then the landing page – disrupts the reader’s thought sequence and could possibly hinder conversion,” he said.

The research was conducted on a highly targeted audience that was very interested in the contents of the emails. In the end, the shorter copy posted a 16.9% higher click-through rate. Bortone said there were two lessons here: “How can I “learn more” when there’s not much left to learn?” and “Don’t make me read when you want me to click.”

“Many marketers lose connection with their audience by overstating value, or simply burying it in a wash of information and unnecessary language,” he said, noting that the email copy should be used as “catalyst for further discussion, rather than as an impromptu landing page.”

Copy Shortened, Now What?

Obviously, the first step to cleaning and shortening your emails is editing the copy. Don’t cram everything into one long copy. After you’ve done that, what else can you do?

A great recommendation from emailmonday is to clean your email template. Maybe it’s time you sat down with the designer to see which elements you can take out. “Don’t stuff your email template… Beyond one point, you are not adding value at all. But just confusing people,” the email specialist said.

Another recommendation is to not send one big image. While it may be tempting, emailmonday discourages this practice as the image may not automatically load on your recipient’s browser. It might also not display automatically in popular portals like Gmail. In some client-based email portals, the image can even appear as an attachment.

Avoid Other Common Email Errors

Aside from shortening your copy, cleaning elements, planning, and focusing on the click-through, you must also avoid typical marketer mistakes to improve your email marketing campaigns. Service provider MailChimp listed down common rookie mistakes when it comes to email marketing. 

White label SEO resellers can learn a lot from this list. One of the best pieces of advice from the list is to stop thinking of email marketing as a “blast.” Rather, it should be thought of as a “relationship.” “Email is all about getting permission from customers, sending them stuff they want to read, and listening to their feedback,” the post said.