Category Archive: Email strategy
Things we love: Buttons that call the shots
Why buttons make a believer (and a buyer) out of me
I had an epiphany not long ago, as I was checking email one minute and somehow shopping for “fridge solutions” the next. Did I think I had a fridge problem to solve before I opened this email? No. Did I somehow click the button anyway? Uh-huh.
So what happened? In fact, the email was so remarkably eye-catching and the button so effective that it lured me in. I think this idea of buttons as, well, bait is one worth exploring …
The Container Store lays the groundwork by introducing a common problem (clutter) and then presents us with a crisp, clean button (anti-clutter).
Button, button, who’s got the button?
The purpose of a call-to-action (CTA) button is to give the audience something tangible to do — or to have — at a glance.
In short, a call-to-action button answers three questions for recipients:
+ What’s this?
+ What’s in it for me?
+ What am I supposed to do now?
Eye-catching buttons often appear when you’ve got an apparent marketing goal: Buy this or Sign up.
What surprises me is how rarely they’re done with audience goals top of mind. Your audience may want to get more information — or find out how you’re going to help them solve a problem — before they buy.
Here’s a simple exercise to get in the frame of mind of your audience:
- Write down the target audience and their challenges (as related to your industry or product).
- List all of the things that your audience must know, do or have in order for their challenges to be solved. (It might help to write down their goals from their perspective, using clear action verbs and outcomes.)
- Craft messages that’ll speak to those challenges and goals — and how you’ll help solve them. (Those messages may turn into your campaign themes, the content on your landing page or even the text on the call-to-action button. It all depends how you choose to complete this exercise.)
- Test your messages and call-to-action text on real audience members and ask for reactions and feedback.
- Repeat and refine!
Need more guidance as you’re crafting your messages? You might find these do’s and don’ts from MediaPost helpful.
The psychology of call-to-action buttons
Now that you’ve figured out some of the messages, it’s time to think more about the visual aspects of the button. Clicking requires a high degree of mental arousal, but very low commitment. Most people make up their mind the instant they spot a clear benefit, and yet are rarely conscious of deciding at all.
Typically, CTA buttons take a four-pronged approach:
- Pop: The pop is provided by design characteristics that attract the eye and tell viewers what to do.
- Promise: A promise gives the audience a sense of “what’s in it for me.”
- Placement: Buttons need a conspicuous location or else they’re overlooked.
- Push: Urgent, action-oriented words and graphics (like arrows) trigger an impulse to click.
In a nutshell, buttons appeal to the monkey part of our brain that likes shiny objects. Need recognition is key to clicks, and that’s where the promise comes in. People move fast from identifying a problem to acting on it, and there’s no time for seek-and-find in that moment. If items one, two and three are covered, the push can be soft as a feather. Pointing the way is a courtesy gesture by now. (For even more visual tips for buttons, check out this boagworld article.)
lululemon's (un)buttoned look really works.
Analyze this
It’s time to apply what we’ve learned about buttons to a real example: lululemon’s call to action at right.
- Pop: Clickability is implied with three-dimensional embossed text to carve out a cool (un)buttoned look.
- Promise: The image, copy and odd angle suggest a delightfully devil-may-care brand of fun in store.
- Placement: “X” literally marks the spot; the rider is even about to run over the CTA — that builds momentum.
- Push: The text is fun and unexpected (“Show me stuff to ride in”), and an arrow points out that it’s time to hit the road (and click).
Ultimately, marketers and their audiences share the same goals, otherwise we wouldn’t engage in the first place. At the end of the day, it’s simply a matter of creating buttons that make decisions easy so that everybody gets what they want.
Have you seen some stellar call-to-action buttons lately? We’d love to see other good examples. Share email or website links below, or tell us what makes a button compellingly clickable in your eyes.
Do you read your emails from top to bottom? Me neither.
Get readers to focus on the stuff they want to read, and create quick landing pages with your Emma account
Confession time: I don’t read most of the emails in my inbox. I open them and scan them, but if the email is too lengthy or the content isn’t organized well, I’m likely to move on to the next unread item.
Short paragraphs or teasers are most likely to catch my eye, and they often end with some linked text inviting me to “read more.” Without even thinking too hard about it, I click the link and am transported to more engaging content on a landing page, which contains just the topic or article I’m interested in. The experience feels customized and personal, even though I’m controlling my path.
Think about your own habits in the inbox. I’m not the only email scanner out there, right? Take note of what compels you to read an email and click through to read more, and apply those practices in your own campaigns. And if you’ve never created a landing page before, here’s a quick overview of the basics.
So what exactly is a landing page?
Put simply, a landing page is just the place where readers land when they click on a link in your email. The purpose of a landing page may vary:
- Promotions may link to a product page on a retailer’s website.
- Invitations may link to a registration form.
- Newsletters may link to articles too lengthy to include in the body of the email.
How do I create a landing page quickly?
Sometimes you know you’re going to use landing pages (usually on your website) before you even start creating your campaign. But what if you want to create landing pages on the fly to shorten the length of your overall campaign, and you aren’t able to move the additional content to your website? You can use your Emma account to create a quick landing page on your branded stationery.
- Create a separate campaign for each “read more” link you plan to include in your email. Each campaign will contain the full article or additional material that doesn’t fit in the email you plan to deliver to your readers’ inboxes.
- Send each one of those campaigns to yourself. Doing so creates a link to an online version on your Emma response page, and you’ll need that URL for your “read more” links.
- Access the online version by opening the response for each campaign you just sent to yourself. Just click the “Online Version” link on the left side of the screen when you’re viewing your response overview. Your campaign will open in a new tab. Copy the URL at the top of your browser and keep it handy. This is your landing page link.
- Create the email campaign you plan to send to your subscribers. Add teasers in your content, each with a compelling reason to read on, and use Emma’s editor to link the teaser text to the online versions of your landing pages.
How do I make sure my landing pages are effective?
Smart marketers know how to take advantage of every online interaction, and landing pages are no exception. Here are some easy tips to ensure your landing pages are effective:
- Highlight your brand. If you’re using your custom Emma stationery, you’ve already got a branded framework for your landing page. The key is creating a consistent brand experience across all of your online channels.
- Add some pizzazz to your landing page. Consider these tried and true design tips from Kissmetrics’ Anatomy of a Perfect Landing Page.
- Include something the email didn’t provide. You want to reward your reader for clicking to read on, yes? Don’t repeat what they just read in your email; give them further details — it’s your opportunity to really engage them.
- Create landing pages for your landing pages. This isn’t as complicated as it sounds. Just make sure your landing pages link readers back to your website, blog or Facebook page rather than making it a dead end.
- Pay attention to what readers are clicking on. A great perk of using Emma to create landing pages is that you can easily spot which links get the most traction in your response results. Use that knowledge to better understand what your audience finds compelling.
Want to talk more about landing pages? Let us know how these tips and how-tos work for you, or if you’ve got a few tips of your own to share.
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Like this article? Read more email best practices from Emma.
Five things you didn’t know about daily deals
Click to download the PDF.
Download our Seize the Daily Deals guide here.
Along the way, we discovered some interesting facts. Here are five things we didn’t know about daily deals:
1. Your industry matters
Are you a restaurateur? An interior designer? A ballroom dance instructor? When it comes to daily deals, your industry greatly influences the odds of a successful campaign. A Rice University study found that health services and special events were the most profitable deals for business owners, with 70% of businesses claiming profitability. Restaurants and spas were the least profitable, with 44% of businesses claiming profitability. Ironically, restaurants are also the most highly purchased deal. Go figure.
2. Expect spurts and lulls
The largest surge of daily deal customers typically occurs at the beginning and end of a promotion. A Yipit study found that approximately 25% of coupons are redeemed in both the first and last months of the deal. When determining how long your deal should last, factor these spurts and lulls into your foot traffic estimations. In most cases, a deal with an expiration of three or six months should suffice. A year is too long.
3. 85 is the new 100
Historically, 15-20% of buyers never redeem their coupons, but businesses still receive profits off these sales. So if your business sells 100 deals, look for 80 to 85 to be cashed in. A ForeSee poll found that 62% of these shoppers are potential new, or infrequent customers. With 100 deals sold, your business can expect about 50 new customers walking through the doors.
4. No two deal providers are alike
To differentiate themselves, daily deal providers take either the super store or boutique approach, driving business through either the quantity and reach of their email subscribers or via the importance of location and business niche to their subscribers. Partner with a daily deal site whose business goals are most in line with your own. For example, if your company has a philanthropic vein, you could find a deal provider that will donate a portion of its profits to a non-profit in your company’s name. You can also find vertical-focused sites, like Daily Gourmet for foodies.
5. Timing can be tricky
Most daily deal providers have a waiting list — some as long as nine months. On the one hand, this gives you plenty of time to plan your deal; on the other, if you’ve been putting off running a daily deal until a special event or your next slow time, you might want to consider reaching out to a provider to get a little more information and a realistic timeline.
Ready to plan your first, or next, promotion and looking for more tips? Download our Seize the Daily Deal and get a crash course on planning, launching and profiting from deal-a-day promotions.
Have some daily deal advice of your own? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.
Erin Gagnon is an account executive for the Bradford Group, a full-service public relations, advertising and marketing agency based in Nashville. You can reach her by email at ErinGagnon@theBradfordGrp.com, or via Twitter at @ErinDGagnon.
Lights! Camera! Email?
How to make the most of videos in your email campaigns
A while back, I decided to revisit a craft I’d always wanted to hone: video editing. And, wouldn’t you know it, ever since upgrading to my fancy new software, I’m seeing the potential to make videos all over the place. It’s like my Dad always said: “Give a man a hammer, and every problem looks like a nail.”
As a medium for your message, online video is a mighty fine-looking hammer. Internet Retailer reports that visitors who view product videos are a whopping 85% more likely to make a purchase. It’s easier than ever to create video content, and when done right, it works wonders for your company’s credibility.
In fact, video and email are two of the most effective communication tools on the web. And together they are even more powerful — case studies and split tests show that video links improve conversions by anywhere from 9% to 400%. Numbers like these don’t go unnoticed by advertisers. The Email Experience Council shares that projected budgets for online video ads will increase 22% from 2011 to 2012.
But how can you be sure that video is the right medium for your message? It doesn’t matter how exquisitely crafted your hammer is: If you use it to change a light bulb, you’re going to make quite a mess. So let’s take a look at some ways to make the most of videos. With these in mind, your video content is sure to get great results.
Video provides education
When I decided to change the oil in my car for the first time, I immediately set out in search of instructions on the web. It quickly became clear that reading instructions wasn’t enough: I needed to see it done. A few training videos later, I changed my oil without a hitch. (Sure, it still wasn’t a pretty process, but it could’ve been a lot worse.)
Sometimes, words and images alone aren’t the best way to teach others. GQ Magazine routinely employs crisp, stylish instructional videos in their email campaigns. In their quest to teach guys like me a thing or two about scarves, video content does the trick.
GQ Magazine knows that some things must be demonstrated to sink in.
Video connects us
People love watching and, maybe more importantly, sharing videos. Even those that only last seven seconds. What other medium could prompt the shared experience of millions of people worldwide so quickly?
That’s why I love this video in a recent Global Giving email. In just three minutes, they illustrate the value of donor contributions and the heart of their mission. By pairing this video with a personal email message, Global Giving shows appreciation for their donors in a way that’s more memorable than text and images alone.
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Global Giving invites donors to share in their victories.
Video entertains
What can video do that words simply can’t? Sing and dance. Sometimes it’s okay for a video to be pure entertainment. In the case of artist promos, that’s often the whole point. Indie record label Jagjaguwar — home to Bon Iver and other coffee house favorites — uses video in email to promote their roster and engage in a little online community building, too. By featuring an artist-created music video (shot by the song’s performer, Lia Ices), and inviting readers to submit their own video for this song, they build buzz for an emerging artist while tapping into a lively online videography community.
In a demographically ideal pairing, the winning video played on IFC.com, a prime destination for all aspiring filmmakers. It was the perfect marriage of old-fashioned promotion and user-generated content sharing.
Jagjaguwar gives readers the chance to share their own music video creations.
Suddenly feeling a little Spielbergian? Check out Molly’s tips for sharing video in your email campaigns, grab your video camera (or even just your smartphone) and start exploring.
Just remember: Every video click is a time commitment for your readers, and they watch the seconds go by on their screen. So show them that you value their time by keeping your videos as tight and informative as you can. And if you need any help sharing your video in your email campaigns, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
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