The Morrison Guide to Crafting the Perfect Email Campaign

“Another email?!” 

We never want your customers to react to hearing from you that way, so let’s talk email. When done right, email isn’t just noise. It’s a direct line to your audience, where we can start conversations, build relationships, and drive some serious results. 

Here’s our guide to building the perfect email campaign. 

1. Segment Your Audience

First things first: Stop trying to talk to everyone at once. Segment your audiences based on data like demographics, purchase history, or interests. This lets us create personalized emails that actually resonate with specific groups. The payoff? More attention, a better experience for your audience, and lovely bumps in open rates, click-through rates (CTRs), and conversions. 

2. Define Your Goals

You probably have a lot of actions you’d like your customers to take, but one email shouldn’t try to accomplish everything. We always say, if every message is important then no message is important. Define the primary goal of your email and develop your key message and call to action from there.

3. Stick to Your Brand

Next, keep it real and keep it YOU. Your emails should look, feel, and sound exactly like they’re coming from your company. Leverage your voice and tone, make sure your logo is in there, and use a proper sender name and reply-to address. 

4. Craft a Compelling Subject Line

Ok, now let’s get them to actually open it by crafting a compelling subject line. Keep ’em short (around 50-60 characters) and make sure they provide value and summarize what’s inside. Don’t forget to use that preheader text for extra context. And hey, A/B testing different subject line angles (personalization, questions, even emojis!) is a great way to understand what works best for your audiences. 

5. Make it Visual

Nobody has time to read a novel in email form. Use short, punchy copy and lots of whitespace to make it scannable. Break up text with headings, bullets, and icons. Incorporate images, videos, or GIFs, but remember, the email doesn’t have to tell the whole story. Its job is to get people interested enough to click to your website or landing page. 

6. But Also Make it Responsive

Your email needs to look fantastic on every device. Make it responsive! This means it changes layout to fit whatever screen it’s being viewed on. Be cautious with emails that are just big images, as they can get tricky on mobile. Think distorted images, text that’s too small, and an overall not-great experience. 

7. Include Clear Call to Actions (CTAs)

Okay, they’re hooked, they’re scrolling, now what do you want them to do? You need to give them a next step! Include clear CTAs that are visible, enticing, and actionable. Use contrasting colors to make them pop. Keep the text concise like “Shop Now” or “Learn More”. Make those buttons big enough to easily tap on a phone. And this is crucial: Make sure the landing page they click to actually delivers on the promise you made in the email.

8. Measure & Optimize

Finally, sending the email is just the beginning. You gotta know if it worked! Keep an eye on key metrics like open rate, CTR, conversion rate, and unsubscribe rate. Use UTMs on your links to track what happens after they click. And the golden rule? Continually test and learn. Try different subject lines, visuals, even send time. It’s how we get better, campaign by campaign.

Are you interested in starting an email campaign? From strategy to design and development, Morrison can help you every step of the way!