Best Practices for Conversational Email Marketing

You’ve taken our Conversational Marketing Certification and optimized your Drift chat.  What if there was a way to make your emails conversational, too? 🤯

Give your Email Bot a human name! 🤖

When you’re creating your subdomain to be used for bot emails (maybe hello.taylorcompany.com) we also recommend using a human name such as Taylor Bot.  The more human and conversational, the more engagement we see from prospects.

We also believe it’s best to be transparent on which emails are coming from a human and which are from a bot.  We feel it’s best to be open and honest to build trust with your prospects.  So make sure you at least make let the user know they're talking with a bot.

Plain text vs HTML Email

Although your HTML emails are probably very beautiful, the plainer the email the more engagement we see.  It looks more like a human wrote it (think of you composing an email to a friend or family - you don’t take time to design it).  Give your designer a break and watch your reply rate skyrocket! 🚀

Emojis? 🤔

Again, let’s make it as fun and human as possible - a lesson we took from B:C companies.  Of course, you should know your audience - a financial institution might not use as many emojis as a PR firm.  We love using these at Drift to make our emails stand out. ⚡️

Choppy Copy

If you are able to grab your recipient's attention, don’t lose it by showing them a wall of text they won’t read.  Keep the sentences short and skimmable. We also recommend using lowercase subject lines - your prospects will value authenticity over perfection.

Structuring your CTA (That's "Call to Action" for newbies.)

Your conversational email Campaigns should have very clear calls to action.  We suggest something like “reply yes to this email to get started” for a nurture campaign or “reply yes to register” for a webinar.  The more clear and straightforward your CTA is, the easier it is for your Bot to interpret it. Make sure there is only one CTA per email, as multiple prompts will decrease action and attention.

Test, Test & Test Again

Like any marketing program, it’s important to continuously optimize your email campaigns as you see results. Two simple tests to try first? Test the CTRs on plain text vs. HTML formatted emails, and the conversion rates on “click here” vs. “reply yes” CTAs. There’s no one-size-fits-all email, and testing is the best way to find the right conversational marketing formula for your brand and your audiences.

Need some help? Go ahead and email us at support@drift.com. Not using Drift yet? Get your free account here.