Do you want to know how to craft an exceptional email campaign that’s not only going to stand out in teachers’ inboxes but also get them to engage with your company?
Then we’ve got you covered. We’ve evaluated all of our 2020 client email campaigns and can reveal some top tips for you to use when emailing schools and teachers.
1. The inbox
From name
Let’s start at the beginning. The from name. It’s one of the first things teachers and decision makers will see in their inbox.
The from name lets your audience know who the email is from and plays a big factor in whether your email is opened or not.
Buzz’s top tip:
Always use your company name. Our analysis tells us that emails to schools and teachers from a company get more engagement than emails sent from a personal email address.
Subject line
The email subject line is your first chance to let your audience know what the email is going to be about. This is your opportunity to grab their attention, spark their interest and showcase why your product or service is of use to them.
Buzz’s top tips:
- Subject lines of around 7 – 9 words currently see the best engagement rates.
- Create urgency by using time-sensitive wording.
- Ask your audience a question.
- Reveal a benefit about your product or service.
Discover more about how to write good email subject lines for teachers.
Preview text
The third element of the inbox is the preview text. This tells your audience what the email is going to be about. It will often display the first few lines of text from the main body of the email, but some providers do allow you to create your own preview text.
Buzz’s top tips:
- Write the first few lines of email body copy with the preview text in mind.
- Use it as an opportunity to expand on your subject line.
- As the preview text only shows a snippet of information, keep the text short and sweet.
2. Email body
Design
Once you’ve grabbed attention by acing the from name, subject line and preview text teachers are, of course, going to open your email, go you!
Then, the first element of the email body they’ll see is the email design. This is the overall look of your email, it incorporates everything from the layout and colours, to font and images.
You’ll need to choose between a text email template or HTML designed template. (Don’t worry if you’re unsure what this means, our talented team can talk you through everything.)
Buzz’s top tips:
- Reflect your brand guidelines. Be consistent with your brand font, colours, imagery and tone of voice.
- Arrange your content to guide your reader toward the action you want them to take (more on CTAs below).
- Make sure your emails are mobile optimised (they can be viewed on a mobile phone).
Need some inspiration?
Look at some of our email designs.
Body copy
Your body copy refers to all the words used in the email. It’s how you address your audience, deliver your message and get your audience to react to your email. The body copy should reflect your brand tone of voice (how you speak to your customers) and work in harmony with the design and images used.
Buzz’s top tips:
- Don’t waffle unnecessarily. Only provide key information that’s relevant to your audience and the topic of your email.
- You’ve got a limited time period to hold your audience’s interest so use clear language that’s easy to understand.
- If your email has a lot of information, use headlines and bullet points to help break up the information into easily digestible chunks.
- Whether the aim of your email is to sell a product or service, acquire newsletter signups or get your audience to take part in a survey, reveal the benefit of doing so.
Images
We live in a visual world, so it’ll be no surprise to you that email is the same. The imagery you use should reflect your brand guidelines, be relevant to the topic of your email and be high quality.
Buzz’s top tip:
Add alt text to your images. This is because images are sometimes blocked by default in inboxes. Alt text provides some context to your audience about what your image is.
Calls to Action
Your target audience have liked your from name, subject line and preview text. They’ve taken the time to read your email and want to engage with your company. Now it’s the time to perfect your call to action (CTA).
A CTA tells your audience what to do after they’ve read your email. Whether you want them to take a closer look at a product or service, request further information or complete a survey, your CTA is your chance to get them to do what you want them to.
Buzz’s top tips:
- CTAs are usually in the form of a button.
- The design of the email should ensure your CTAs are clear and visible.
- Where appropriate use active copy.
- Keep the CTA short.
Read our guide to become a CTA whizz.
3. Added extras
Email send time
Don’t let your hard work of perfecting all the email elements go to waste – make sure you send your email at the most opportune time too.
See what day and time will get you the best engagement rates.
Personalisation
Maximise your efforts to stand out in teachers’ inboxes by personalising your emails. Personalisation is an umbrella term, but the best place to start is including the recipient name in the subject line and body copy.
You could personalise your email by targeting specific demographics (such as what subject or year group they teach, where they’re based in the country and what type of school they teach in) that are relevant to your email topic.
Buzz’s top tips:
- Address recipients by name.
- Only send your email to relevant teachers and decision makers.
What next?
However you choose to enhance your email campaign, we hope our top tips have highlighted the areas you could perfect to stand out in teachers’ inboxes.
Whether you choose to design and manage an email campaign yourself or let our team of experts do the hard work for you, the Buzz Education team are here to help you connect with teachers and decision makers.
Our experts are ready and waiting to help with your next email campaign.
Call us today on 01257 460036 or email us at info@buzz-education.com.
