Plain Text vs. HTML Emails: An Easy Guide for Non-Marketers
An email is more than just an email. Some are simple text, like they were written by a friend. Others, especially in ecommerce, are flooded with images, videos, gifs, and other visual elements. There are reasons why some companies keep their email formats simple, and others go for more complicated designs. We’re going to talk about the types of emails you could send to your email list, and what to know before you choose. Plain Text vs. HTML Emails: What’s the Difference? A plain text email is just that: an email that consists of simple text. It has no images, graphics, videos, gifs, or colors, and it’s easy for ALL…
A/B Testing for Better Email Marketing
If you have an email list (and you’re actually using it), you’re probably aware that email marketing has a great ROI. Every time you send an email to your list, you’re either nurturing those leads or trying to make a sale. But if you’re paying attention to the numbers (which we’ll discuss more below), you probably find that some emails do their job better than others. An email you thought was going to be a big money-maker turned out to be a dud. Or one that you dashed off in the five minutes between a site visit and a health inspection brought in beaucoup bucks—and you have no idea why.…
Key Email Marketing Metrics—And What They’re Telling You
In a perfect world, email copywriters could follow a very simple writing formula. They’d type in the same magic words for every single client and get huge sales week after week. Clients would be thrilled. Copywriters would be thrilled. Everyone would be thrilled. In the real world, it doesn’t always work out that way. Each client is different, and so is their market. While there are tried-and-true copywriting tactics that improve your chances of getting great results, there can also be a lot of trial and error along the way as you figure out what your audience responds to. Assessing what works and what doesn’t can be as simple as…
What Is Voice of Customer Data and How Can It Improve Your Copy?
Anything with the word “data” in it sounds intimidating if you’re not a spreadsheet junkie, but it’s not that scary! In fact, we could remove the word “data” entirely from the term, and it would still mean the same basic thing. The voice of the customer (VOC) is basically how a customer would describe you, your products, and services. But it’s their voice, right? So instead of you and your marketing team sussing out what you think customers think, using VOC channels lets them tell you. Directly. In their own words. Why is that valuable in copy? Copywriting is how you convince a potential customer that your service or offering either solves their problem…
The Easy Guide To Email Subject Lines (with examples!)
Marketers really like their lingo and abbreviations. KPIs! CTAs! CTRs! IPAs! (That last one might be something else.) All this jargon can make some concepts seem complicated when really, they’re pretty easy to understand. You’re a smart cookie. You just don’t have the time to memorize a gajillion technical terms and read through 14 case studies about what works and what doesn’t. So. I’ve put together an easy, mostly jargon-free guide to email subject lines, with some handy examples right from my inbox. We’re gonna talk about The most important metric for evaluating your subject lines; A few different types of subjects; and Some best practices that you can use…
Restaurant Email Marketing #5: Simple Email List Management
Welcome to the fifth and final installment in my Restaurant Email Marketing Series! Here are parts 1 – 4 in case you missed them: Part 1: Build That List Part 2: The Welcome Email Part 3: Content Tips for Better Emails Part 4: Email Optimization for Better Results At this stage in the game, your email list should be growing and your marketing efforts should be thriving. Now it’s time to keep that list clean and tidy through email list management. This means we’re going to remove any email addresses that are bouncing or not engaging with your emails. It may feel counterintuitive to cut email subscribers when the whole…
Restaurant Email Marketing #4: Email Optimization for Better Results
Welcome to Part 4 of my email marketing series! Missed parts 1 – 3? Here you go: Part 1: Build That ListPart 2: The Welcome EmailPart 3: Content Tips for Better Emails Like a recipe for Gateau St. Honoré, email marketing can get complicated. There are infinite little bits to tweak and metrics to check, copy to fiddle with and images to update. That’s why I’ve broken this email series down into parts. Once you’ve begun list building, established your welcome email, and you’re reaching out to your subscribers semi-regularly, you can work on small email optimization adjustments that will get you better results. What is email optimization? It’s changing your…
Restaurant Email Marketing #3: 5 Tips for Better Emails
Welcome to Part 3 of my Restaurant Email Marketing series! Check out Part 1 and Part 2 to get caught up. At this point in the series, we’re ready to chat about your regularly scheduled email content. What you write will vary widely from business to business. But how you write and reach your list can follow some best practices to maximize responses and minimize unsubscribes. Think about your own email inbox. Chances are that you’ve subscribed to a few different email newsletters. There are some that you open right away, and some that you let languish in your inbox until you either delete them or mark them as “read”…
Restaurant Email Marketing #2: The Welcome Email
Welcome to Part 2 of my Email Marketing series! Missed Part 1? Click here to begin at the beginning. So the list building has begun. Congratulations! You’ve taken a step, even if it was just to sign up for a free MailChimp account and install a simple opt-in form on your website. I’m proud of you. The next task on the ol’ to-do list is to create a welcome email. The welcome email is an automated message that your email platform will blast out to anyone who signs up for your list. It will be the customer’s first interaction with your email marketing efforts, so we need to get it…
Restaurant Email Marketing #1: Build That List
The foundation of a restaurant’s email marketing strategy is “the list.” Without that, you may as well be standing in your walk-in, pitching your fabulous food and world-class experience to the produce. And the produce is never impressed. Here on the blog, we’ve talked about email marketing a bit before. But it’s a valuable enough tool that it’s worth diving into the details. What kind of information should you share? How often should you email? What open rates and click-through rates should you expect? All that juicy info is on the docket for upcoming blogs in this Restaurant Email Marketing series. First thing’s first, though — we’re going to talk…
