Emails have always been one of the most effective marketing strategies through which online businesses promote their goods and services. The average customer checks their email at least once every day.

Emails offer business owners a cheap, instant, and effective way to get their products or services to the screens of their customers and increase the number of conversions. It is no surprise then that virtually every online business owner engages in email marketing.

Email marketing can help you generate large volumes of sales, attract customer engagement, and increase your brand awareness, and so on. These objectives are achievable when an email marketing campaign yields high conversion rates, but, sadly, this is not always the case.

Below are five conversion rate optimization tips that will help you achieve higher email marketing conversion rates:

1. Use a fascinating subject line to increase open rates
2. Personalize the contents of the email
3. Convey a sense of urgency/scarcity
4. Include strategic testimonials
5. Use a compelling call to action

1. Use a fascinating subject line to increase open rates

The subject line is the first part of the email that your customer will read. And it is essential to optimize open and click through rates. So, you must be intentional about every single word that you include in the subject line of your emails.

If you hope to increase your email marketing conversion rates, your subject line is where to start.  Subject lines must be carefully crafted to immediately capture the attention of the reader. Your reader must be fascinated to the point where he/she is compelled to open your email. You do not get second chances when it comes to subject lines, a weak subject line will cause the customer to simply keep scrolling through their inbox even if the email contains information that the customer will find useful.

Trigger words can be used to spice up boring subject lines. As the name implies, trigger words are powerful words that can make your customer to take certain actions. They are used to incite specific human emotions or behavior and when used correctly, they can make all the difference in your email marketing campaigns.

(If you like the subject, check out our post here on how to test email subject lines).

2. Personalize the contents of the email

Customers receive tons of emails every day from all sorts of sources. As a result, it is quite easy for them to feel inundated. One way to tickle the interest of a customer who has already read several promotional emails is to make them feel special. Who doesn’t want to feel special?

When you personalize an email, you carefully draft it to perfectly address a specific audience. The customer will feel as though the email was sent to only him/her. It is recommended that you mention the customer’s name at strategic points in the body of the email. Mentioning the customer’s name right before you make a point will help you to create an impression of familiarity and trust in the mind of the customer.

Your customer is more likely to buy into the message of an email when he/she feels like they are reading a message from a friend. Personalizing the contents of your emails is a potent trick that will help you increase the email marketing conversion rates of your email campaign.

3. Convey a sense of urgency/scarcity

Human are naturally social and competitive creatures; it is an innate trait that has helped us to survive through the times. We always feel the need to be part of a group or acquire something that everyone else has before it runs out. This human behavior is one that you should capitalize on in all your email marketing campaigns.

After using a fascinating subject line and personalizing the contents of your emails, you must ensure that your message is crafted in such a way that it conveys a sense of urgency to the reader. It should also transmit an appearance of scarcity to your customers.

The feelings of urgency and scarcity will imprint in the mind of your customers that your product or service is finite in supply and other customers will beat them to it. As a result, they will hurry to make their own purchase so that they don’t get left out.  That’s a great way to achieve a good conversion rate.

4. Include strategic testimonials

Another human tendency that you should exploit is the need to see results. Customers are more likely to make purchases after they have seen testimonials from other satisfied customers. Including testimonials in your emails will go a long way to increase your email marketing conversion rates.

However, you should not flood every paragraph of your emails with testimonials, one or two testimonials should do the trick. What is most important is that the testimonials you include are very relevant to the customer. That way he/she will be able to relate to it and be motivated to take action.

5. Use a compelling call to action

The call to action is probably the most important part of every marketing email. It is the final nudge that pushes the customer to make a purchase on a landing page.

You should ensure that the call to action that you use in your emails is simple and compelling. It is recommended that you use a large or colored font. These maximize the impact of the call to action and will ultimately help you increase your email marketing conversion rates.