Key takeaways
- Lead with a concise, benefits-focused value proposition (usually in the email header) to set expectations and drive conversions.
- Support the value proposition with selective visuals, screen captures or images that highlight key features, while avoiding visual overload.
- Use clickable CTA buttons rather than plain text links to increase click-throughs.
- Build responsive email templates so messages render across mobile and desktop platforms (examples: Gmail app, Outlook on desktop).
- Continue email engagement after download: welcome messages, educational content and feedback requests turn users into advocates and boost organic awareness.
Introduction
One of the most effective ways to spread your message to the digital world is by developing a useful and engaging app. Of course, simply providing a tool or service that improves the life of the person on the other side of the screen isn’t enough. To really watch downloads take off, you need to boost awareness within your target audience and make sure these individuals know exactly what to expect from your app. With this in mind, let’s talk about how email marketing can fill this void and ensure that you leave no stone unturned as you help your latest digital offering hit the ground running.
Put Your Value Proposition Center Stage
In terms of developing email content that helps capture the attention of your audience and boost downloads of your mobile app, Tom Taulli of Forbes magazine points out that you’ll be hard pressed to find a better portion of the message to build around than the value proposition. The main reason for pinpointing the value proposition as a major factor in the conversion process revolves around the fact that viewers – even if they only spend a moment glancing over this statement – spend a lot of time thinking about this part of the email.
A strong value proposition keeps things short and to the point, while also focusing on the benefits of your app. Naturally, tweaking the number of sentences and words that go into this statement – usually located in the header caption of your email – requires a little bit of work. However, finding the “sweet spot” that stands as the perfect blend of brevity and impactful content ensures that your promotional offering doesn’t get lost or forgotten in the turmoil of a busy inbox.
Engage in “Show and Tell”
Once you have the details regarding your value proposition hammered out, it’s time to talk about supporting your message with stunning visuals. As Taulli goes on to explain, users process visual content at a rate that is 60,000 times greater than text content, so it’s always a good idea to back up you primary message with graphic demonstrations or examples.
A good rule of thumb on this front is to avoid visual overload – you don’t want your message to be sluggish as it loads up – and highlight key functions or features. Does your app do something that the competition could only dream off? Show it off with a great screen capture or image. Additionally, consider making your call-to-action (CTA) a clickable button as well; Taulli notes that these buttons carry a 28 percent higher click-through rate when compared to standard text links.
Think Responsively
Outside of these factors, Smashing magazine’s Ros Hodgekiss points out that a responsive design is a strong addition to your email marketing promotional plan of attack. Considering that you are dabbling in the business of mobile apps, it makes sense to have a set of templates that cater to viewers who are on-the-go.
Generally, a solid responsive design tries to support as many platforms as possible. From the Gmail app to Outlook on the desktop, working with a template or team of email marketing experts who can develop and design methods to work properly on these myriad platforms is vital to the success of your promotional content and securing even more downloads for your app.
Keep the Conversation Rolling
Finally, even after you start capturing conversions and your app downloads soar, the role of a strong email marketing campaign is far from over. One of the biggest missed opportunities, whether you’re a major brand or just starting off with a grass roots app development, comes in the form of failing to leverage existing users.
By remarketing via an inbox initiative, you can capture the potential held within this group. Sending welcome emails, educational offerings, or simply soliciting feedback is a great way to keep the conversation rolling. From here, letting these users spread this knowledge via word-of-mouth and social posts gives your app a major boost in organic growth and awareness. Regardless of your position in the industry, having this kind of aid on your side is definitely a hard asset to pass up.
As you can see, making a splash with a new app is far from an easy task – in fact, if you’re not ready to leverage the powerful of all of the tools at your disposal, this process can feel downright impossible. Thankfully, by putting what you’ve learned here about the connection between email marketing and raising awareness for your app to good use, there’s no reason why this offering can’t take the mobile world by storm.
FAQ
Email marketing raises awareness and sets clear expectations by leading with a strong value proposition, supporting that message with targeted visuals and clickable CTAs, using responsive templates for mobile viewers and remarketing to existing users to drive ongoing downloads and word-of-mouth growth.
Keep the value proposition short, benefits-focused and impactful. Place it in the email’s header caption so readers can quickly grasp what your app delivers.
Use visuals to demonstrate key functions or a standout feature (for example, a screen capture). Avoid visual overload to prevent slow loading and pick images that directly support the primary message.
Yes. Clickable CTA buttons have a 28% higher click-through rate compared with standard text links.
Because many recipients view emails on mobile and desktop, a responsive design ensures your content displays and functions across platforms (Gmail app and Outlook on desktop), which is important for mobile-app promotion.
Use remarketing emails: send welcome messages, educational content and feedback requests to keep the conversation going. Engaged users can then share their experiences via word-of-mouth and social posts, boosting organic growth.
