Getting Your Customers to Open Emails: The Successful Use of Preview Text in Your Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing messages can be categorized into two types: those swiftly discarded and those that spark the thought, “Hey, there might be something valuable here for me.” As business owners, your aim is to craft messages that fall into the latter category. This prompts the question: How do we achieve this?
Numerous methods exist for enhancing our marketing emails; however, a lesser-known yet highly effective approach involves utilizing Preview Text. This game-changing technique elevates the calibre of marketing emails and enhances open rates. Have we piqued your interest? Great, let’s delve straight into it.
What is Preview Text?
This is the text that appears as a preview next to the subject line in the inbox area, typically presented in a subtle grey color, which might vary slightly across different email providers. Its primary objective is to encapsulate the core content of the email, enticing customers to click and peruse the entire message.
There’s a tendency at times to conflate Preview Text with Preheader Text. However, Preheader Text is actually content extracted automatically from the campaign itself, typically derived from the initial paragraph or the upper portion of the email’s outset.
Why is it important to write Preview Text for your marketing emails?
Stand out from the competition
As previously discussed, Preview Text offers a notable edge in crafting marketing emails. However, many business owners remain entirely unaware of its existence. Crafting a successful preview text—one that manages to correspond with the subject line, creates interest, and drives action—will bestow your business with a substantial advantage, setting you apart from competitors within your customers’ inbox.
Intrigue the customers
An excellent subject line is certainly crucial when it comes to marketing emails – but even the best subject line you encounter will become much more complete and successful thanks to the Preview Text that complements it. While the subject line offers a glimpse into email content, Preview Text functions as an augmenting force, leveraging it. For example, if you’re planning to launch a new product: the subject line sets the stage, and the Preview Text acts as an amplifier, featuring additional details, a compelling call to action, and captivating content to heighten customer intrigue, ultimately driving them to open the email and explore the new product.
Be perceived less as spam
Marketing emails incorporating Preview Text are perceived as more amicable and less like spam. An effective text will create a positive impression towards your business, enhance credibility, and clearly reflect what content will appear in the body of the email – in contrast to messages without Preview Text that might appear robotic and questionable.
Increase the message opening percentage
Each received email undergoes an automated and anonymous evaluation, based on the sender’s name, subject line, and preview text. This quick assessment determines the email’s credibility and pertinence to us. A harmonious combination of the sender’s name, subject line, and preview text contributes to heightened email open rates.
How to write an excellent Preview Text?
Using the help of AI – Using a content creation platform like ChatGPT can be invaluable in crafting an exceptional Preview Text that seamlessly complements the overall content of your marketing email. Here’s an instruction to generate a motivating Preview Text along with the complete email content, providing you with diverse options for compelling texts to consider:
Create a call to action and incorporate incentives – Crafting Preview Text with a strategic call to action or enticing incentives significantly heightens the likelihood of contacts engagement. It’s crucial to predetermine the precise action you aim to prompt in the contacts and only then write a short, focused text with a promise regarding the content that will be delivered in the full email. For instance, if you’re sending an email to promote lottery registration, formulate a Preview Text that highlights the registration opportunity and emphasizes the allure of an equitable prize awaiting the winners.
Write different text from the subject line – By the way, if you were curious – achieving the most from the Preview Text necessitates more than mere “copy and paste” of the subject line. Ensure to craft a dedicated text that aligns with and augments the subject line, enabling you to fully exploit its potential.
Combine the code that hides the Preheader Text – Lastly, an important tip from us – in the scenario where you’ve written a Preview Text that doesn’t reach the maximum character limit (up to 130 characters), the remaining characters are auto-filled from within the campaign content. To prevent that, add the following code after composing the Preview Text:
The code: ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
