3 Email Tricks Big Retailers Use for Success
It’s not easy being a small business email manager. You’re fighting for attention in the inbox against all kinds of other companies including big retailers. Those companies have huge budgets and lots of room for testing.
But even if they have the advantage in dollars there are still somethings you can learn to get ahead of them.
In fact, you can beat them at their own game using their secrets.
Here are three secrets the big retailers use in their email marketing campaigns.
Use these in your own campaigns and your rates should increase.
Big Photos Make a Statement
Sundance is one of the best at using large photos in emails.
The first secret is big photos.
Big retailers do this all the time. They have these photos lying around from their catalog shoots and promo events. They also have product photos they need to take for their ecommerce websites. The companies reuse the photos in their email programs to give people something stunning to see when they open up their inbox.
Photos do well in email. Text works well, but photos really make a great first impression. Sometimes that’s exactly what you need to get someone interested in what you’re doing.
As a small business you can use photos to your advantage.
Urgency Spurs Action
Fossil knows how to use urgency to spur action.
You use urgency all the time. It’s a classic sales technique to give a prospect a deadline to make a decision. It’s something every small business does when selling face-to-face. There is no reason it can’t work for small business email marketing.
If you look around the retail emails you receive throughout the year you’ll see urgency used all the time. The holidays are a recent example. Companies are sending out reminders for last minute shipping just like the Fossil example.
But retailers use deadlines throughout the year. There are always holidays coming up and with those come holiday sales. Companies even put deadlines on sales that don’t have anything to do with the holidays.
When you send out things like sales promotions or even new offers you can add urgency to the message. You can say that an offer will only last for a short period of time. Then you can send out a reminder the day before it ends to spur action.
When people see that they have a week or a month to react they typically put off the decision, but when they see they only have a day or even a few hours they make a decision.
Endorsements Give Social Proof
LL Bean knows how to use customer reviews and partnerships in email.
You’ve probably heard the term “social proof” being thrown around lately. Well there is some merit to the concept and actually it’s not a new concept at all. For years companies have been associated themselves with other companies and using testimonials to convince new customers to make a purchase.
Typically LL Bean will use customer reviews in emails, which is great, but in the example above they take a different approach. This time Bean is using their partnership with a large entity to show the effectiveness of the brand.
By associating with a well known brand (The Weather Channel), Bean is giving social proof to its subscribers.
People like knowing that others have used your company before they are willing to make a purchase. Use testimonials and case studies in your emails to help convince subscribers. You can even send out surveys to your current customers. You’ll get great feedback that will make perfect content for your email marketing program.
Conclusion
There are three incredibly useful tips for getting more interaction for your small business emails. The big retailers may have more budget, but they can’t outthink you.
In fact, you can use these secrets to win the inbox and beat them at their own game.
Now you just have to go and implement them.