Make the Most of Email Marketing for Libraries

One of the greatest tools for communicating with your patrons is directly through their inbox. Email marketing has become a key component of internal and external communications for many organizations, and can be an effective tool when done correctly. Here are some tips to make the most out of your email marketing.

Make It Personal

The best way to speak directly to the recipient of your email is to do just that! Including their name can have a significant impact on open rates. Sure, we can track metrics and engagement on social media, but nothing compares to actually seeing if someone has opened and read your marketing email. It’s the best way to find out what content is working with your audience and adjust accordingly. That starts right off the top with your subject line. Having a short and snappy subject line that best sums up your email will increase the chances that it will be read. Even utilizing emojis in your subject line can make you stand out. The rest of your email should be brief and to the point. Less text and headings that are concise will give the reader the information that they need in a quick scan, which is about the attention span people have these days. Make sure any call to action is clear and there are obvious links to further information. Before clicking send, give your email a final read-through. Check all the links, proofread for spelling and grammar errors, and send yourself a tester to see how it’s formatting in your inbox.

Fancy Up the Format

We may be living in a digital on-the-go world, but emails are still more likely to be opened on a desktop. When you’re formatting your newsletter or email, be sure to keep that in mind while also catering to those who might read on their mobile device. Keeping your copy brief will allow room for creativity in the design of your email. According to Campaign Monitor, the average office worker receives 120 emails every day, so you’ll have to work to stand out in someone’s inbox! More importantly, many email platforms have spam filters that analyze messages and could move your email to the junk folder for having too many images or too much text. Aiming for 40% text and 60% images can help sidestep those pesky filters. There are many best practices for the layout of your email. Overall, when it comes to design, you’ll want to stay consistent with your branding. Use the same fonts, color palette and tone as your website and social media. Utilize the header space to include your logo and any pertinent information that will grab readers right at the top. Dividing the rest of your email into easily digestible sections to separate the topics that you’re covering will make it easier for them to find what applies to them. And lastly, use high resolution or original images to break up the text or emphasize your message. Having a visually pleasing and effective design can make a huge difference in capturing your patrons’ attention.

Plan It Out

In order to really maximize your open and click rates, you have to make a plan. There are several free or low-cost options for email newsletter services that will allow you to format your email, schedule it to be sent to a curated list of recipients and then track the data of how it is received. Having a plan in place will help to maintain consistency in your email marketing efforts. Most organizations have a set timeframe for a newsletter whether it be monthly, weekly or daily and that newsletter is scheduled to be sent at the same time on those days. Knowing your audience and what information you’d like to relay to them can help you create this plan. The worst thing you could do is bombard your patrons with unnecessary emails. Forcing someone to unsubscribe from your mailing list because they’re getting annoyed with the frequency of your emails is completely preventable. Utilize newsletters to keep patrons in the loop on upcoming events and programs, or shine the spotlight on new resources at the library. This can be accomplished once a month and if something is time sensitive you could always supplement a monthly newsletter with a one-time email alert. Whatever email platform you choose to use, all of them will give you your open-rate statistics after you send. Keep an eye on those numbers to see what’s clicking for readers and adjust accordingly. Email marketing is a great tool to see in real time what information is useful or interesting to your patrons, which can be vital to your marketing plan!