5 Plain Text Email Best Practices For Digital Marketers

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Digital marketers are responsible for putting up the content in the email that brings traffic to the website and is responsive. To help you out, we have found the 5 plain-text emails best practices you should know.

  1. Keep it short, sweet, and simple

Fancy HTML email newsletters can go really bold and exciting. But a plain text email can be just PLAIN at best.

According to insights highlighted in the study by Smart Insight, a common issue faced by certain marketers in plain text emails is the tendency to overcrowd them with excessive information and links, compensating for the content that might be absent compared to HTML emails. Nevertheless, embracing a minimalist approach could prove to be the most advantageous design decision when formulating a plain text email campaign.

If you think this is bad news for your creative pursuits of exciting email newsletters that are heavy with aesthetics, not so fast.

You have to understand that some consumers within your database have deliberately opted for receiving only plain text emails. They are probably people who don't like a lot of fringes and other distractions in their emails.

With that being said, you can also guess that such a consumer base likes to go really fast with the emails that they receive. They are likely to skim and want to skip to the important part.

As a result of this thinking, you must keep your plain text emails short and straightforward. Not too many embellishments and won't be making a short story in the email.

  1. Eye-catching call-to-action links

Just because you are limited from using HTML format, who says you can’t still use a call-to-action? If anything, with a very clean, sleek and simple plain text email your call-to-action should stand out even more.

Sure it can’t appear as a convenient and catchy call-to-action button, but you can still make your call-to-action link catchy to the eye. The key here is how you word your call-to-action link.

Remember, your call-to-action sentence should not be too long. An effective call-to-action in a plain text email should be short and to the point.

The message should be clear and your subscribers need to know right away what or where that link leads them to. The key to maximising your plain text email call-to-action is a repetition of your CTA.

A single email newsletter should typically have a maximum of three call-to-action links. No more than three as that would be redundant.

  1. Write well and know your punctuation

Since plain text emails are all about the… well, texts… you need to be able to write well.

You are already given such simple tools that are your text and space, you can’t risk being lazy and inattentive by making typos and grammatical mistakes.

A word of caution though: subscribers who have deliberately opted for plain text emails in their settings probably are good readers themselves.

Based on the insights provided in the study conducted by Digital Mahbub, it is crucial to exercise heightened caution to avoid the possibility of typos and grammatical errors. It's important to recognize that subscribers who have intentionally chosen plain text emails within their settings likely possess strong reading skills themselves.

With that being said, you must work to maintain the utmost professionality by knowing how to write well. Correct punctuations and all are important, but text readability is just as equally important.

You don’t want to write long passages that can be hard to read on the go. After all, most of the time, your plain text emails are opened on smartphones.

Your readers are on the go and they will skim your plain text emails. Make sure your sentences are short and clear.

  1. Make the most out of text formatting

Now that you know you are limited by the unavailability of HTML, you can't really grab your reader's attention by using pictures, videos, or even gifs. So how do you grab attention at all with just plain text emails?

Those are literally just walls of text, right? You may dread the idea of your plain text emails looking bleak as can be and your subscribers totally skipping them. But this is wrong thinking!

A lot of your subscribers have opted to not load HTML emails; that means they appreciate plain text emails. So, with this minimalistic space, make the most out of text formatting. You know the basics, capitalised letters and non-capitalised ones.

Although you can't use BIU formatting on plain text emails, you can still use symbols as emojis and asterisks to highlight important words in your plain text emails. Now go get creative!

  1. Don’t forget, your brand name still needs to be shown

Sure, we now understand that plain text emails need to be concise, precise, and just to the point. You want the focus of your content to be about the information, and then the call-to-action, and that hopefully generates leads or sales.

According to insights shared in the report by Daily Story, a call-to-action holds significant importance in all forms of marketing. It serves as a conclusion to your campaign content while offering guidance to your subscribers. Frequently, a call-to-action takes the form of an enticing link leading to a product landing page. In HTML-based content, a call-to-action might encompass an image, a GIF, or even a button.

But, no matter how wonderfully simple your plain text emails could be, don’t forget that you are still a business entity that wants to do serious business. Your credibility, as well as identity, needs to shine through even via plain text emails.

With that being said, in spite of all the simplicity you could ever produce for your plain text emails, don’t forget your brand name.

That way, you still seem credible and serious about your plain text emails. Surely you don’t want your subscribers to get confused about which brand your plain text emails come from, right? So maintain that distinction.

Hope you enjoy reading "5 Plain Text Email Best Practices For Digital Marketers" :)

Is Email Marketing Still Effective?

There is a confusing misunderstanding roaming around the internet users that emergence of many other marketing channels; email marketing, perhaps has lost its value, whereas, the fact is otherwise. Email is still efficient, effective and the speediest way of marketing on the internet.

Due to its simplicity and economy, email marketing has not yet got any replacement. No other internet marketing tool has come equal to email marketing in bringing the Return on Investment (ROI). Due to its conspicuity, clarity, and conciseness, email marketing distinctively stands out of the other marketing channels of the present modern age.

Email marketing still remains on top even in 2020 because email marketing campaigns are run with some objectives. The relevance of email marketing in contemporary practices can never be denied due to its wide and versatile audience. Email marketing campaigns have much higher conversion rates as compared to other marketing platforms.

Segmentation of updated email lists is done on the basis of lead status, their locations, areas of interests, and other demographic data; which permits the intended email messages based on these parameters. The significance of email marketing can also be determined by its effective role to enhance brand recognition in new places and areas.

The durability, reliability, and dependability of email marketing also bring repute to it; due to its automation and ability to be tracked and gauged towards the overall success of the campaign, email marketing is still effective.

The traditional methods of marketing involve a lot of resources, and financial efforts whereas, in comparison email marketing has a very small chunk of an amount to utilize for bringing much higher results.

Had it been any other form of marketing, conventional or digital, electronic or social, or through mobile apps, no one has yet matched the speed, accuracy, and economy of the email marketing. All these features together have made email marketing far ahead and ever effective than all other forms of marketing.

1 Tip For An Efficient SMS Campaign

Run Checks

To ensure efficiency and effectiveness of your brand’s SMS service campaign, you must keep some checks and balances. You must keep an eye on the team, its work and efforts it is putting in to your SMS service.

‘Customer Care’ is an important aspect when it comes to judging a brand. You must try keep your subscribers satisfied at all times.

If you have set up a complaint system or call center, to record any complaints, make sure those complaints are addressed as soon as possible. Any complaint that is kept pending for a long time might affect your brand’s image.

Once a customer has made a complaint, they usually expect a speedy response. The quicker you address their complaints the better. You might want to check the time it takes for your team to address complaints.

A system without checks is most certainly equivalent to a possible failure of campaign.

One Landing Page Mistake That Can Kill Your Conversions

Video commercials with unusual sounds

This is one of the distressing factors to the landing page users. Your visitors may have opened your site while they are at the office. They love browsing a site that does not disturb others with the intense sound. It is disgusting when a video advertisement comes up on your landing page and starts creating unpleasant sound. After hearing this sound, the visitor may instantly close the tab. You will ultimately lose the potential customer of your business. Thus, you have to remove this type of commercials from the landing page of your site. Another negative impact is that the presence of sound decreases the load speed of the page.

However, you can add sound, while you have no other way to convey the message. You may better present an option for turning on the sound of your landing page commercial video.

1 E-commerce Email Marketing Message That Boost Sales

Customer Loyalty and Re-engagement Email

Human minds are programmed to rely on someone they trust. These emails promote a healthier loyal relationship between the customer and you. Once you have won the trust of the customer, he won't think of buying something from any other place. These emails focus on customers who haven’t purchased in a while from your store. You want them back but how you do it? Send these emails to reinforce the bond between you and your customer. If you have enough data on a customer, you should send these emails to a specific life event, for example, their birthdays or anniversaries.

Make them feel special and show them that you actually care for them. Send some discounts on life events. Send win-back emails when they have not been purchasing. These are ones with "WE MISS YOU" headings. As these emails are sent after a longer period, they quickly raise sales.

1 Tip For Writing Email Marketing Copy That Converts

Use more comparisons and metaphors

It has been seen that because of so many emails and content in those, there are chances that people might get bored. Therefore, it is very hard to attract attention. To push readers out of their ease zone and grab them to action, one of the most effective marketing tips and tricks is to use opposites, metaphors, and comparisons.

When it comes to common topics, everyone says the same thing but with minor changes. You could redraft and present similar information in catchy and unique ways. For instance, instead of telling the people to be more enthusiastic about their exercise routine, you could tell them to have a little cheat day while also burning calories on the usual weekdays!

In this way, you could retain their attention smoothly and then telling them about the benefits of exercise. The use of such contradictory statements makes your email marketing copy more impressive and attention-catching.