It’s absolutely possible to boost your company’s sales with the right email marketing campaign, but that doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily easy. Your customers are probably distracted when checking their inboxes. Simply sending them a sales email advertising a product, service, or deal doesn’t guarantee they’ll actually take action.
You need to incorporate certain key tactics into your strategy to ensure your email marketing campaign has a positive effect on sales. One way to achieve your goals is to inspire a sense of urgency in your customers. If a customer reading your sales email feels like they only have a limited amount of time to take advantage of a promotion, they’ll be much more likely to make a purchase.
Here’s the Trick
Luckily, there’s a very simple way to generate this sense of urgency: include a countdown clock in your email campaign, letting customers know when a deal or promotion expires. This tool, along with an email verification software, should be part of every email marketer’s arsenal. Both are incredibly effective at increasing the success rates of email campaigns: One by allowing sales emails to actually reach customers, and the other by encouraging recipients to convert.
It’s important to keep in mind that a countdown clock isn’t the same thing as a little bit of text letting customers know when a sale ends. Odds are good you already include content to that effect in your sales emails.
A countdown clock is more dynamic than mere text. With every passing second, it reminds customers that the amount of time they have to get a discount is running out.
It’s also relatively easy to include one in your email campaign. These timers are essentially GIFs, so they will show up on nearly every customer’s email, regardless of their email client.
Why They Work
The results of a University of Kentucky study will help you better understand why a sense of urgency can boost sales. Researchers have discovered that when a person feels as though they’re in an urgent situation, they stop thinking as much about a subject, and instead shift to an action-oriented state of mind.
Email marketers must be aware of this principle. When customers spend too much time thinking about making a purchase, they may talk themselves out of it. When they aren’t overthinking, they take action.
Psychologists understand that a sense of urgency doesn’t merely inspire action; it’s also something you can trigger in people through the right sales email, even if they’re usually chronic procrastinators. A customer that might otherwise put off taking advantage of one of your promotions until it’s too late will often change their behavior under the right conditions.
How to Integrate Them
An email countdown timer creates those conditions. Every time a customer opens your sales email, it reminds them they need to act fast.
Companies like Sendtric and CountdownMail offer these timers. Additionally, your email service provider might include it as a feature option. WIth these easy-to-use tools, you don’t even need to assign the task of making a countdown timer to a staff member if none of your employees are qualified to do so.
It’s worth noting that a clear call to action is still important. Studies have shown that people are more likely to take action when provided with specific instructions on precisely what action to take. Essentially, you should be directing their urgency by leading them directly to conversion through a CTA.
Email timers are simple to implement, and they generate a sense of urgency that drives sales. Make sure they play a role in your marketing campaign.