Have you noticed how packed our inboxes are these days?
It can be a real challenge to get noticed and grab people’s attention.
That’s why it’s so important to nail down the best campaign strategies that we’ve been talking about for the past 3 days of this challenge! We’ve covered some great best practices in Day 11 and the importance of design in Day 12.
Today, we’ll dive deeper on 3 other pieces: CTAs (call-to-actions), Subject Lines, and Preheader Text.
Without them, even the best content can get lost in the crowd…
CTAs: Call-To-Actions
In Day 12, we said, “Good design also helps you make a positive impression, engage your reader, and highlight your CTA (call-to-action) effectively.”
To do this, make your CTAs clear and prominent. And, remember to have compelling copy on the button or link you want them to click!
- Begin with a verb (action) such as call, contact, click, download, or read.
- Imply urgency if there is reason to do so using words like “today,” or “now.”
- Tell your audience WHY they should take the recommended action.
Use these tips as a starting point to creating compelling, and well-converting, CTAs.
Subject Lines
Creating a good subject line can be tough. You’re trying to grab attention fast while still being clear about what you’re offering. You don’t want to land in spam, and you want to be creative while staying on brand. And if that’s not hard enough, you’ve got to keep it short!
Here are a few tips:
- Start with a few ideas from our Subject Line Generator:
Free Email Subject Line Generator - ActiveCampaign - Avoid misleading or overpromising the contents of the email.
- Lead with urgency.
- Personalize your subject line.
Here’s how you can add a personalization tag to your subject line:
- Open the direct campaign or automation email you want to edit.
- Go to the Campaign Settings page:
- For automation emails, click “Next” to get to the Campaign Settings page.
- Direct campaigns will automatically open to the Campaign Settings page.
- On the Campaign Settings page, click the Lightning Bolt icon in the “Subject Line” field.
- Click into the “Select field” dropdown and click the field you wish to insert. You can also use the search bar in the dropdown to narrow down your options.
In the example below, we’re adding a First name to the end of the subject line:
- Click “Save.” The tag will automatically be added to the end of the subject line:
If you want to keep the tag at the end of your subject line, add a space between the last word and the tag:
You can also cut and paste the tag so it appears in a different spot in your subject line:
Preheader Text
Email preheader text is a small line of text that appears after the subject line in an email inbox. Email preheaders give a short summary of the contents of an email, and the goal is to get people to open your email.
Here’s an example of what email preheaders look like in Gmail.
Here’s an example of what preview text can look like on a mobile screen.
Notice that the text displays differently depending on the length of your subject line.
Your email preheader text should be between 40-130 characters long– just make sure that the beginning of your email preheader contains the most important points.
Here are four email preheader best practices email marketers should keep in mind:
- Add a call to action
- Don’t repeat the subject line
- Make your subject line and preheader text work together
- Use the preheader to build curiosity (don’t just summarize)
In ActiveCampaign, you can change your preheader text in the same place you edit your subject line making email personalization easy.
Day 13 - Task of the Day:
We’ve prepared you for the past 3 days to create a detailed campaign. Put this into practice by creating a Fall Newsletter, Flash Sale, or another relevant Campaign to your business.
And remember, we’re here to help! Drop a comment below if you have questions on any and all things “Campaigns!”
For more help: https://help.activecampaign.com/hc/en-us/articles/10194915935772-Create-and-send-a-campaign