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How to make an interactive email

5 ways to create an interactive email your readers will love

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What happens when a fabulously interactive email lands in your inbox? It stands out from all the others and you get involved, right?

So, what’s stopping you from making your emails more interactive?

Here’s the thing…

You’re competing in people’s inboxes with all the other emails they get. Part of your challenge is to get them to open your email in the first place. If you’re struggling with that, read this.

But, once they’ve opened your email, well, you want them to do something. And that’s down to you – you have to give them a reason to act.

There are ways you can make your emails more interactive, but before we get into that, let’s look at why you really should.

3 reasons to create interactive emails

1.     Highlight new product features

Rather than list new features in a product, wouldn’t it be cool if your readers could see them? After all, images and videos portray your message so much more quickly than words. Check out this example from Canva.

2.     Sneak peek of an announcement or event

Got a sale or an event coming up? Think about how much excitement you can create with an interactive email that adds to the excitement. It doesn’t have to be massively complicated. In fact, the simpler the better because it will have more impact.

3.     Increase your email engagement

Who doesn’t want better engagement with the emails they send out? I know I do! Changing up the format of your emails will give your readers a bit of a surprise when they open them. Whether you’re looking for clicks or even replies, give your readers a reason to do it.

OK, so now you know why I think you should create interactive emails, let’s get on to how you do it. I’ve listed 5 things you can try. Of course, once you get creative, you will think of more.

Polls

Who doesn’t love a good poll? We love to share our opinions. Polls are a great way to give your readers different content and find out something useful to help you. For example, I insert polls to help me understand marketing topics my readers want to know more about.

Or you could use a poll to help with product development. Say you’re a baker. You could ask your list the next cupcake flavour you should make.

There are lots of different ways to use polls. Let your imagination run free!

Polls help you create an interactive email

Gifs

Movement catches our eye, right? Think of the things that stop you from scrolling on social media. Gifs are one thing. So why create an interactive email with a gif? If your inbox is set up like mine, you have a preview pane. Your eyes would be instantly drawn to that movement.

A word of caution though. Don’t use too many Gifs in one email. One is plenty – you want it to make an impact. And maybe don’t use them in every email. That gets boring!

You can search for gifs in Giphy which integrates with Canva (one of my faves) so you can create the size of gif you want to include in your email.

RSVP

How about letting people tell you whether they can attend an event or not right in the email? No clicking on a link and filling in your name. This is a really cool feature in Constant Contact (did I mention I love them?)

The beauty of this feature for you is that the answers are stored right in your email results, so you don’t have to go looking for them. Who doesn’t love to save some time?

Countdown timer

This is a great way to add some urgency to your emails. Whether it’s for a sale or an event, your readers will instantly see there is a time limit involved. I’ve discovered a tool called Countdown Mail where you can create timers specifically to insert in your emails. Don’t know about you, but I’m going to give this a go!

Countdown timers aren’t just great for sales or events. Here are a few other reasons you might want to use one.

  • Product or website launches
  • Free trial notifications
  • Milestone celebrations

Countdown mail can be used with a variety of email service providers.

Quiz

You know that poll feature I mentioned first off? Well, you could use that to create a quiz for your readers. You could even turn it into a competition. For example, you might give some of your time as a prize if you’re a consultant.

Of course, if you do have a prize, it’s wise to set some parameters on what’s being offered and it’s a really good idea to have terms and conditions,

I hope I’ve shown you that it’s not too difficult to make your emails stand out. By thinking of ways you can involve your readers, you will encourage more engagement from them. That can only be good for you, right?

If you’re struggling to get on top of email marketing, why not check out my coaching packages? We can work on your strategy, plan, and content together and make email marketing a business generator for you.

2 thoughts on “5 ways to create an interactive email your readers will love

  1. I like your ideas, they surely seem engaging, but I also read it somewhere that it’s good to include your company’s logo in the end, or as a signature, not sure if it is necessary, maybe it can be useful to show your authenticity among all the spam emails going around, what are your views on this?

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