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| Email Marketing |
Despite being one of the earliest forms of digital communication, email is still the most widely utilized.
Sure, there are innovative ways to reach out to your audience and clients. Social media, live chat, and other communication tools are examples. Email, on the other hand, is the king of marketing channels, with more than 4 billion users.
Email marketing also offers a return on investment of $38 for every dollar spent, indicating that it should be included in every marketer's toolkit.
Email marketing continues to outperform social media, SEO, and affiliate marketing as the most effective marketing medium.
I'm not sure why. Why is decades-old technology still one of the most effective marketing methods, despite all the buzz around new channels?
People prefer email over other channels, despite the advent of social media. After all, what good is it to promote to someone who isn't present?
The majority of people use email, according to statistics, and the number of people using it is growing every year.
Furthermore, you own the connections with email marketing, so you don't have to worry about algorithm updates reducing your reach.
That's why it's more crucial than ever to create an effective email marketing strategy.
There's just one problem: most individuals have no idea how to do it properly. (You've almost certainly seen those people in your inbox.)
This article will show you how to create effective email marketing campaigns with ideas and methods.
What is Email Marketing?
Sending promotional communications to a large number of people is known as email marketing. Its purpose is usually to produce sales or leads, although it may also include advertising.
Remember: You’re a Guest in Their Inbox
Everywhere they look, people are bombarded with interruptions, pitches, and adverts.
Even if you believe your message is unique. Your email is one in a million in the eyes of the recipient, and not in a positive manner.
This is why it's critical to be aware of your surroundings and to be courteous.
It's like being invited to a dinner party when you get into someone's inbox. You do so respectfully if they ask you to remove your shoes.
It's the same with email marketing, so let me just mention that you should always be on your best behavior and remember that you're a visitor in their mailbox before we get started.
Let's speak about how to start from the ground up with your email marketing plan.
How Does Email Marketing Work?
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Email Marketing |
Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing tactics, because of its simplicity and ability to be automated.
An efficient email marketing campaign, in its most basic form, includes three key components:
1. An Email List
An active email list is required to execute successful email marketing. This is a list of email addresses that have indicated a desire to receive marketing emails from your company.
You may grow an email list in a variety of ways. One of the simplest is to develop a lead magnet (also known as an offer) that your target audience will enjoy in exchange for their email addresses, such as a voucher.
2. An Email Service Provider
An email service provider (ESP), usually referred to as an email marketing platform, is software that assists you in managing your email list. It also assists with the creation and implementation of automated email marketing campaigns.
You can automate actions that are prompted by the behaviors of your target audience by using an ESP. These allow you to customize each interaction with them, resulting in higher levels of engagement and conversion.
3. Clearly Defined Objectives
Email marketing can help you achieve a variety of business objectives. You can, for example, utilize email marketing to:
- increase sales
- increase brand recognition
- lead generation and nurturing
- keep your customers interested
- Boost customer retention and lifetime value
Your email list, ESP, and campaign goals must all be in sync to run a successful email marketing campaign. You can then get down to business.
The first step is to categorize your email list by demographics or actions taken by subscribers.
Create an email, or a series of emails, to persuade customers to take action (your goal).
Finally, use your email service provider (ESP) to send emails and track the campaign automatically.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Email Marketing
Email marketing, like any other marketing method, has benefits and drawbacks. Let's take a look at a few of the most significant:
Advantages of Email Marketing
Email Is Permission-based
When a customer gives you their email address, it's like giving you the keys to their house. Obtaining permission to enter rather than showing up uninvited improves engagement and conversion rates.
Affords You Direct Access to Your Audience
You can connect with subscribers directly about their schedules. Furthermore, because individuals check their emails on a daily basis, your message is likely to be read.
Gives You More Control
You do not own the platform like most other marketing platforms. All of your hard work will be lost if the platform goes away.
You control the relationships you build with your subscribers when you use email.
More Personalization Capabilities
To generate tailored and hyper-targeted advertisements, you can employ demographic or psychographic data. Segmented and tailored marketing has been shown to improve income by up to 760 percent, according to research.
Measurable
It's critical to evaluate the performance of a marketing campaign, and automated email marketing makes this process simple.
Scalable
Email marketing campaigns can grow in size without straining your resources or sacrificing quality.
Disadvantages of Email Marketing
Tough Competition
Tough Competition is one of the disadvantages of email marketing.
It can be difficult to stand out in a packed inbox. To ensure that your emails get read and opened, you must be imaginative.
You Need an Email List
You must already have an email list in order to use email marketing effectively.
Tricky Rules and Regulations to Navigate
A number of restrictions govern the usage of email for corporate reasons. GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and the CCPA are just a few examples. All of them mention that you are not permitted to send unsolicited emails.
Unfortunately, even after subscribing to the list, some subscribers report your emails as spam. Your sender's reputation suffers as a result.
Delivery and Deliverability Issues
It's not a given that your email will be sent to recipients' inboxes. You must deal with delivery and deliverability concerns in order to operate successful email marketing campaigns.
Email Marketing Examples
Let's take a look at a handful of email marketing examples to get some ideas.
What does this email get right?
- Great subject line: The subject line focuses on the key pain point of the target audience, which is improving their health.
- Color psychology is used: bright, warm hues elicit sentiments of well-being and happiness.
- Well-timed: The email is sent when the customer's supply is about to run out and is targeted to persons who have purchased the goods.
Bluehost
Bluehost, a hosting company well-known for its services, decided to try its hand at developing a website builder.
Bluehost's new Website Builder makes creating a website simple.
- Sells the benefits, not features: By focusing on the benefits, the content becomes more enticing.
- Clean design: The email's clean design makes it aesthetically pleasant and straightforward to read.
- Excellent targeting: Bluehost understands that their audience is primarily made up of small business owners that lack technical knowledge. The email is written in a way that appeals to this population.
How to Automate Your Email Marketing
While the automation process varies with each ESP, there are a few stages that you may follow to automate your email marketing.
Define Your Segments
List segmentation is the first step in creating effective email marketing campaigns. To organize your subscribers, use the information you have about them. As a result, you'll be able to build more personalized marketing.
Design an Efficient Workflow
It's time to create a procedure after segmenting your email list. This is a sequence of emails that will help you achieve the campaign's goal.
Determine the Right Triggers
Determine the triggers that will send the next email in the sequence after you've built your workflow. Customers opening your email, clicking on a link, or not opening it at all within a predetermined time range are all examples of triggers.
Best Email Marketing Strategies
To be successful with email marketing, you must be strategic in your campaign design. Here are some of the most effective email marketing tactics.
Use the Right List Building Strategies
The quality of your email list determines the success of your email marketing initiatives. To create such a list, you'll need to employ list-building tactics that appeal to your target audience. A case study marketed on LinkedIn, for example, might help a B2B business grow a list of engaged subscribers, but it would fail if employed by a B2C brand.
Practice Good Email List Hygiene
Another important email marketing tactic is to keep your email list clean. Cleaning out inactive subscribers and out-of-date email addresses will help you maintain a strong sender reputation.
Keep Your List Warm
Send emails to your list on a regular basis to keep your subscribers interested (warm). However, infrequent emailing may cause subscribers to lose track of who you are, resulting in low conversion rates.
You can execute a re-engagement campaign if some of your subscribers have gone cold.
Focus on One Objective
Each campaign and email should have a single goal in mind. With email marketing, trying to kill two (or more) birds with one stone doesn't work. Your audience will be confused, and your conversion rates will suffer as a result.
Define and Track the Right KPIs
Sending a couple of emails to your subscribers isn't enough when it comes to email marketing. It also requires keeping track of the results of your campaigns. To do so, you'll need to identify and track the appropriate KPIs (KPIs).
Every marketer should be aware of the following seven email marketing tools.
You'll need to use email marketing tools to optimize your operations if you want to run a successful campaign. The following are the top seven things you should know:
Providers of Email Services (ESP)
An email service provider (ESP) is one of the most important email marketing tools you'll need. The following are some of the best ESPs:
- AWeber: With features like automated product recommendations and shoppable emails, AWeber is ideal for e-commerce email marketing campaigns. Plans begin at $16.15 per month.
- Systeme.io is ideal for small firms that need to send out simple email campaigns. It features a robust feature set, including CRM, live chat, and SMS, to name a few. Monthly plans start at $27.
How to Write Result-Oriented Email Marketing Copy
Whatever your email marketing goal is, email marketing copy is crucial.
That is why it is critical that you write yours well. To do so, follow these steps:
Know Your Audience
Knowing your target is the first step in writing appealing email marketing text. This will allow you to segment your list more effectively and write hyper-targeted email text.
Craft a Hard-to-Ignore Subject Line
One of the most crucial aspects of email text is the subject line, which helps readers decide whether or not to open your email. To create a subject line that is difficult to overlook, use the following formula:
- use keywords
- make it benefit-driven
- use active voice
- personalize as much as possible
Get the Preview Text Right
The email preview content appears below or next to the subject line. It serves as an elevator pitch to persuade individuals to open your email and is limited to a maximum of 140 characters (email client dependent). Your value proposition is reinforced by an optimized preview text that is an extension of your subject line.
Make It Easy to Read
People are preoccupied. That is why you should compose your email copy in such a way that it is simple to read and comprehend. To do so, follow these steps:
- Short sentences and paragraphs are used
- avoiding jargon and overly complex terms
- making use of bullet points
Your readers will be more engaged with your emails if they find them easy to read.
Leverage Storytelling
Stories are an effective technique to attract people's attention and convey a message. That's why, in your email copy, you should use storytelling.
Use Psychology to Your Advantage
Humans are pre-programmed to respond in certain ways. Make use of psychological triggers to guide your audience toward achieving your campaign's goals. A few instances of triggers are as follows:
- dread of being left behind (FOMO)
- Psyche of Color
- evidence from the public
These triggers, when used correctly, can aid in the creation of email text that is effective.
Email Marketing Step 1: Build Your List
You'll need someone to send emails to before you can start sending them out. What's the best way to begin started with your mailing list? Begin by including a banner or form on your website that simply asks visitors to sign up for your newsletter.
Then take these suggestions into consideration.
1. Provide a Motivator
Consider email addresses as a form of currency: you would give away money for nothing, would you? The simplest method for collecting email addresses is to provide a prize.
Of course, there are a variety of approaches. Some people prefer to give out free items, while others would rather send out a newsletter or provide product updates.
Morning Brew, for example, provides readers with a simple benefit: daily updates that are engaging and interesting.
Search Engine Journal has a little form in the right sidebar that offers daily news and also asks what themes the user is interested in, allowing them to send more relevant content.
A checklist, ebook, white paper, or other downloadable material can also be included. Another effective technique to persuade people to volunteer their email addresses is through contests and incentives.
I can't tell you which path is best for your company, but I can tell you that having a clear aim in mind before requesting an address is critical.
This is when copywriting and a strong call to action come into play.
Establish your trustworthiness, explain the purpose of the emails, and entice people to sign up for them.
"Enter your email for updates" isn't enough to pique people's interest. Rather, focus on details.
"Enter your email for updates" isn't enough to pique people's interest. Rather, focus on details.
You can persuade more people to subscribe by giving them a specific call to action or reward in exchange for their email address.
The following are some frequent methods for persuading individuals to join:
- email series
- free downloads
- free white papers or eBooks
- New releases and product updates are included in the updated lists.
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Make your incentive obvious and appealing, and don't be afraid to promote it.
2. Follow Email Marketing Laws and Regulations
You should also make sure your emails comply with local laws and regulations, such as CAN-SPAM and GDPR.
Don't be put off by the legalese; just make sure you don't buy email lists and use double opt-in alternatives so people know what they're signing up for. Finally, make unsubscribing simple.
Email Marketing Step 2: Provide Great Content
It's up to you to set the bar for email marketing expectations.
A successful email campaign may be predicted if your call to action is powerful and your follow-up is consistent.
If you pledge to send one email each week but instead send them every day, you're setting yourself up for failure.
On the other hand, if someone expects daily or important product updates and you don't provide them, they'll be just as angry.
This is why the initial follow-up email is so critical to your email marketing campaign's success.
Send an Introduction Email
Here's an example of a standard Airbnb welcome email to a new host. It covers the fundamentals of the procedure as well as what you may expect from Airbnb.
Make use of the fact that almost every email service provider allows you to design an automatic greeting sequence.
The first follow-up email should be sent right away to identify yourself and explain what you intend to do with the email address of your new member.
Long-winded and detailed is preferable to quick and unnoticeable, but if you can pull off quick and concise, all the better.
It's only a matter of meeting their expectations from here.
Don’t Pitch Right Away
You're not keeping an email list just for the sake of keeping one; you're there to engage customers and close transactions.
It can be difficult to make the transition from an email list that gives a lot of free content to one that sells a product.
It's a good idea to plan out your pitching ahead of time in order to perform it well. You don't want to start pitching to everyone at once.
Your campaign will be significantly more successful if clients expect sales pitches from time to time.
Try to put yourself in the reader's shoes if you're going to sell frequently.
Examine your message to see if it's in line with the goals you've established. If at all possible, figure out what the customer has previously expressed interest in and send them similar offers.
Those that send blind offers are much more likely to lose their permission to do so in the future.
Again, each company has unique requirements, so there are no hard and fast rules about how frequently you can pitch or submit material.
Remember that an email list is a permission asset, so it's always better to be cautious than sorry.
How to Write a Great Email Newsletter
Let's look at the distinctions between a good and a bad newsletter.
The fact that you don't recall ever asking to receive it is the first clue that you've gotten a terrible newsletter.
This typically occurs when a company fails to keep a consistent email practice or manually adds someone to their list after getting a business card or personal email.
Make sure that everyone remembers you by not letting your emails go dormant for too long. At least once a month, or once a week if possible, write an email.
The most engaging newsletters, in my opinion, are those that combine messaging and updates well.
While the email may include a list of product updates and photographs, it is balanced out by a personal remark or kind memo.
Use your newsletter to improve your relationship with your readers/customers rather than pitching them.
Save the pitch for special announcements, offers, and updates.
Use Email Automation Carefully
It's easy to believe you'll have time to personally answer to each new subscriber if you're just getting started with an email list.
It becomes very impossible to maintain up once you have more than a handful of subscribers.
You'll start to get increasingly complicated campaigns, and it'll be tough to keep up with everyone all of the time.
This is what top marketers appear to do. How?
Email automation is their key.
It sends emails that you have scheduled in advance automatically.
You may avoid "going dark" for any period of time by scheduling a series of emails to send in advance.
Companies frequently design a sequence of emails that will automatically go out over the course of a few days to a few months, warming up everyone who joins their list.
That way, you'll know they're listening when you need to promote a new product or a sale.
You're less likely to annoy your readers because you've formed a relationship with them over several weeks or months.
Email Marketing Step 3: Analytics and Segmentation
Let's talk about how to take things to the next level now that you understand the fundamentals of a great email campaign.
Using segmentation and analytics to fine-tune your broadcasts and provide even greater outcomes than a standard campaign.
How To Understand Email Analytics
We've discussed the value of analytics in web copy previously, and email is no exception.
Every email service provider with which I've ever dealt offers free analytics.
The most important metrics are the open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribes. Let's take a look at each one individually to see what we can learn from them.
To begin, your open rate refers to the number of people who read your emails. It's based on a single, unnoticed tracking pixel that appears when someone clicks on your message.
When it comes to open rates, they usually indicate how successfully you've established a relationship with your subscribers. People should be eager to open and read your emails.
If your open rate is poor, you probably have a large number of unengaged subscribers. You should put forth more effort to provide value and manage expectations. Here are a few tips to help you improve your open rate.
The number of people that opened your email and clicked on a link is known as the click-through rate, or CTR (if any).
If your CTR is poor, it suggests your message is either not well-targeted or simply not reaching through. Concentrate on refining your copy in this situation.
Finally, the number of people who have clicked the "unsubscribe" button at the bottom of your email is referred to as your unsubscribe rate.
You've progressed past the stage of producing value and crafting effective copy if your unsubscribe rate is abnormally high in relation to your opt-in rate... You still have a lot of work to do.
You've essentially built a sieve, and anyone who signs up will eventually leave. If this sounds like you, try to figure out when individuals leave and act on that knowledge.
Rework a certain automated email if they're leaving after receiving it. If clients leave after getting marketing emails, reconsider how you advertise deals.
If they leave your email funnel early, you need to make sure your original call to action is in sync with what you're sending.
Email analytics are important because, if you pay attention, they'll tell you exactly what you're doing wrong.
"Paying attention" is, of course, the key here.
How To Segment Your Email Marketing List
If you're not familiar with the word, email segmentation refers to the process of segmenting your email list into more focused groups.
Here are some ideas for segmenting a long list:
- (as opposed to leads who haven't purchased) customer list
- members of a mailing list
- email list for the day (in comparison to weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc)
- age, locality, and work title are all demographics.
- marketing or sales-related subjects, for example.
Dividing your list allows you to send more targeted messaging, much as targeting in paid ads.
Some consumers, for example, want both product and sales updates, while others only want to know when new versions are released. A new sales function, but not a new marketing tool, may pique the interest of sales team leads.
You can send a broadcast solely to people who didn't open your previous message (ask them why), or only to those who show interest, using segmentation (a second pitch).
To A/B test headlines, content, or best practices, you can divide your communications into separate groups.
As you can see, segmentation isn't rocket science, but it does take time, which is why so few people master it.
If you do, you'll be able to break away from the crowd right away.
How Much Is Your Email List Worth?
Your email list is one of your most important assets, and if you learn how to properly manage it, it will more than pay for itself.
You can start tracking how much money your list members spend on average over time. This will provide you with an estimate of the value of your list.
If a list of 10,000 people typically spends $50,000 on a campaign and you run two of them each year, each subscriber is worth $10 per year.
When you do the math like that, it's easy to understand how losing hundreds of members may be disastrous for your business.
Email Marketing FAQs
What advantages can email marketing provide?
Email marketing can help businesses reach a larger audience, increase sales, recover abandoned carts, and deepen their relationships with their customers.
What is the most effective method for establishing a mailing list?
You may provide a free email course, a downloadable asset, or a giveaway.
What regulations apply to email marketing?
You must protect users' privacy and refrain from sending emails to purchased lists under CAN-SPAM and GDPR (for Europe).
What is email automation and how does it benefit you?
When a subscriber adds an item to their cart or downloads an asset, email automation allows you to construct complicated email campaigns that send emails based on their actions.
What are the best practices for segmenting an email list?
Split subscribers into groups based on demographics, interests, or customers vs. non-customers using your email solution. After that, send each segment personalized messages.
Email Marketing Conclusion
It's time to rethink your plan if you've been ignoring email marketing.
Marketers who are willing to learn how to do email marketing correctly can reap tremendous rewards. It doesn't need to be overly difficult.
To begin, keep in mind that you are a visitor in your subscribers' inboxes. Your subscribers are only one click away from losing interest in your emails for good. Maintain a professional demeanor, be courteous, and provide value.
You'll need to obtain authorization before you begin. It is, without a doubt, the correct action to do. It's also a legal obligation in an era of enhanced data regulations, such as the EU's GDPR.
You should keep your promises. Provide them with what they've requested, and follow up with emails on a frequent basis to ensure that your actions are in line with their expectations.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to increasing email automation. It's all about finding what works best for you and your company's voice and style.
Once you've mastered the basics, you can progress to email segmentation and analytics. To provide more valuable emails, begin sending different types of emails to different groups of people.
How do you keep your readers interested in your emails?
