You’ve done everything right.

Crafted an irresistible subject line, featured a stunning banner image, and penned some seriously snappy copy.

So why aren’t your email recipients taking any action?

When it comes to securing purchases from email marketing, businesses and brands need to also focus on persuasion.

Persuading recipients to engage, click through, and buy.

But you don’t have to be a mind reader to nail this strategy. Instead, there are some simple but effective tactics that you can begin implementing today.

Here are five of our favourites.

1.

Personalisation

If you are regular readers of our content, you’ll know that we consider personalisation a key element of any marketing campaign.

One of those reasons is that personalised emails are particularly persuasive.

There are different layers of personalisation that can be added to any email, as long as the marketer has access to the right data,

Let’s start with basic personalisation. Simply using the first name in the subject line or body copy of an email takes very little effort, but adds a foundation of personalisation to begin building upon.

Furthermore, if the marketer has access to behavioural and purchase data, they can tailor the products they feature to the individual, directly addressing their specific needs, wants, and desires. This cuts through the noise of one-size-fits-all email and streamlines the buying process for the recipient. They won’t have to spend so much time trawling through items they have no interest in, instead, their dream products are presented to them, ready for them to buy without delay.

Persuasion in Email Marketing

2

Urgency

Personalised content and product recommendations are a great starting place when it comes to persuasion, but this can be built upon with urgency.

The average consumer buying journey is rarely linear, taking place across multiple channels, networks, and devices. This means it can be easy for the consumer to get caught up in researching, be tempted by a competitor, or simply become distracted.

Creating urgency in email campaigns speeds the process up and encourages those recipients to make a purchase now, before they miss out. This tactic is also ideal for enticing those that are prone to impulse purchases, or buy from a brand regularly.

Urgency can be built into an email in various ways, particularly via time sensitive offers and sales. And also utilising dynamic countdown timers to really add on the pressure.

Persuasion in Email Marketing

3.

Scarcity

Following neatly on from urgency is scarcity.

As the old saying goes “we want what we can’t have”, and this is true when it comes to promoting products in email marketing.

If a consumer is aware that a product is widely available, they won’t feel the need to purchase immediately, and also they may even question why the product hasn’t been snapped up.

Showing that a product has scarce availability also increases the urgency to purchase before it is sold out. But also reassures the consumer that this product is so great, that lots of other people are buying it.

Utilising dynamic content to implement live pricing and availability is the perfect way to show scarcity in your email marketing. This tactic can be utilised on individual products that are going to be of most interest to the recipient; showing them how many of the items have been purchased recently, and how many are left.

So, if they want to snap up their favourite product, they’ll be persuaded into acting swiftly.

Persuasion in Email Marketing

4.

Social proof

Social proof refers to reviews, ratings, testimonials, photos, and videos relating to a business or brand, created by happy customers.

And social proof can be incredibly powerful, with 89% of consumers reporting they will not make a purchase until they have read reviews.

Social proof can easily be incorporated into emails in numerous ways.

Marketers can use static reviews, ratings, and images from their happy customers. They can feature user-generated content (UGC) that their audience have posted on their social networks, particularly ones such as Instagram.

They can even use dynamic content to feature live feeds into their email, whether that be ratings from their website or third-party review site, or social posts including their brand hashtag.

Persuasion in Email Marketing

Persuasion in Email Marketing

5.

Gamification

Gamification uses elements of (you guessed it) games to excite users and offer a fun, engaging experience. Making it the perfect persuasion technique to incorporate into your emails; taking them from static images to something far more original.

Quizzes, tests, and surveys are some popular gamification examples in email marketing. But if you’re looking to persuade your audience to make a purchase, we’d recommend focusing your gamification on vouchers.

For instance, instead of offering a fairly standard discount code, make your recipient go through a short game to receive their voucher. This could include clicking a spinning wheel or a virtual scratch card, for instance. Let your imagination loose!

All of the above makes the recipient feel as though they have won a prize, as opposed to just being given a discount. This adds to the joy of the moment, persuading and encouraging them to continue with the purchase.

Persuasion in Email Marketing

Do you need to add a little persuasion into your email campaigns?

We can help you implement all of the above ideas, and more, with the help of our friendly team of experts and all in one email and web marketing platform.

Get in touch with the team to find out more.