Few digital strategies are better equipped to get your eBook in front of your target audience than email marketing.

There’s a famous statistic stating that for every $1 you spend on email marketing you can yield a $38 ROI. The caveat here is that for you to see these kinds of returns, you need to do email marketing right.

In many cases, “doing it right” means using it to supercharge your other marketing content.

You’ve invested lots of time and effort in creating your eBook. Now it needs to reach as many sets of eyeballs as possible. Email is often the best way to ensure your target audience gets the message.

But how do you craft emails that will maximize traffic to your digital publication and how can Artificial Intelligence (AI) help?

Like with any other form of marketing in today’s digital age, there are nuances and various things to consider. Below we look at some tips that will help you drive more traffic and engagement with email marketing.

1. Boost your email open rates rates with the help of AI

The most important thing you can do to get more people to open your email is to use a catchy email subject line.

Tips for good subject lines:

Keep the subject line short (max. 50 characters)
Expectation management: be honest about what’s in the email (don’t say free when it’s not free)
Write using the active voice, in the present tense

It’s also important to optimize the preview text (or snippet). This is a line of text that displays in most email clients right after, or below, the subject.

When you leave the preview text blank, you’ll see something default like “click here for the web version” — a missed opportunity. Instead, use the preview text to communicate the most important details and entice your recipients to open the email.

Check out StoryLab.ai’s AI-Powered Email Subject Line Generator to get ideas for your next emails. 

Here’s what it looks like when we use the input ‘Email Marketing’

2. Improve your email click-through rates

It’s a step in the right direction if recipients open your email. But what you really want is for them to engage and ultimately click through to your eBook. That’s where optimizing the contents of your email becomes important.

Firstly, keep your email short and to the point. Keep in mind that the goal is not necessarily for them to read your email, the goal is to get them to click through to your publication.

Use bullet points to make your email quickly scannable and easy to digest. Many theorize that using an odd number of bullets is better and makes it easier for your reader to remember.

Another key is personalization. More than 80% of consumers say personalization factors into their purchasing decisions. This includes personalizing email subject lines, but it goes beyond that — you can use recipient behavior to help boost your click-through rate (CTR). For example, sending repeat or follow-up emails based on whether a recipient clicked on your previous email is a savvy move.

Check out StoryLab.ai’s AI-Powered Email Copy Generator and get copy ideas.

Another tip for boosting CTR is to create a sense of urgency. Anything that creates a ticking clock and makes the reader feel he or she might miss something special is a good tactic. Letting your audience know that an offer is limited or will expire after a certain amount of time will do the trick.

Finally, optimizing your calls to action has the most potential to affect your CTR. It’s so important, in fact, that it deserves its own section here.

3. Optimize your Email CTAs

Your email marketing strategy is all for naught if it doesn’t include a clear and prominent call-to-action (CTA). It’s the CTA that will compel readers to take further action (i.e. click through to your publication), so make sure it’s attractive.

First, you’ll likely want to make your CTA a button. Using a visual element tends to catch the eye and is more intuitive. Split-tests revealed that button-based CTAs have higher CTRs.

Colors are important, too. Make sure the CTA is bright and bold, and that there’s plenty of white space around it so the reader’s eyes focus where you want them to. Placing your CTA “above the fold,” where it’s the first thing people see is guaranteed to increase your CTR.

And if you can’t get your CTA button above the fold, consider adding a hyperlink in the first paragraph so that people don’t have to scroll down to get to the most important part.

It’s also good practice to make the text short and sweet — both the text of the button and the text surrounding it. Use short sentences, heavy on active verbs, to inspire action.

4. Utilize Video in your Email Marketing

Adding video is another great way to supercharge your email marketing. Statistics by Wistia, in fact, say that you can see up to a 300% increase in click-through rates by incorporating video.

People instinctively respond to images, and videos go even further in their ability to catch a reader’s attention. Moreover, a video can convey far more information and sentiment in the same amount of space.

You can use it to humanize your brand by showing the people behind the message you’re sending. Or you can use video to pull back the curtain and give a sneak peek at the contents of your publication.

Do note that some email providers are not compatible with embedded video, so check before implementing your strategy. A tip to get around this is to use an animated GIF that links to the full video clip.

5. Keep track of your Email Marketing success

As with all marketing activities, it’s vital to pay attention to the data. As you try new tactics, be sure to incorporate a strategy for measuring the success of your changes.

Look at what your audience clicks on. Look at what subject lines perform best. Just as important: what does not perform well? Through testing and analyzing your results, you can improve your email strategy, steadily boost engagement and get more clicks to your eBook. And don’t be afraid to enlist the help of some tried and true email tools to help in this endeavor.

6. Use AI to build an entire campaign in minutes

You want to promote your ebook far and wide. Email Marketing is great, but you should go even further. Create a landing page, email campaign, social media posts, and more in minutes with the help of the AI Campaign Builder. Check out the short video below.

Bonus tip

Promoting your eBook or white paper takes a lot of time. This article just got into how you can promote it with email marketing. Be sure that the eBook you create is interactive and captures the attention of your audience. Static or Interactive PDFs are just not good enough for the job. Next to not being immersive and responsive on all devices, it won’t get you the data you need to consistently optimize your eBook. Create Interactive eBooks with an HTML-5 solution starting today.

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ChatGPT Alternative for Creating Great Marketing Copy With AI
How To Effectively Promote Your Digital Magazine
Ultimate Guide to Content Creation

Author bio

Ritesh is a digital marketing manager with years of experience in driving growth. He’s currently the director of inbound marketing at Foleon. You can find more about him on his LinkedIn profile.