What is an Email Marketing Strategy? - Guide
An email marketing strategy is a collection of procedures that a marketer develops and implements in order to attain specific marketing objectives using email marketing. This strategy provides organizations with a direct line of communication with prospects and customers in order to promote their brands.
Given that a business can earn at least $40 for every $1 spent on email marketing, a growing number of marketers are turning to this strategy. However, it's worth noting that ineffective marketing strategies are doomed to fail and thus fail to deliver the expected return on investment (ROI). For a successful email marketing strategy, a well-planned strategy should outline goals and provide an easy-to-follow roadmap. Aweber helps online business owners navigate all stages of developing successful email marketing strategies.
Why is having an email marketing strategy so important?
A strategy is necessary for a variety of reasons. The following are the most essential and notable of them.
A business plan
With the help of an email marketing strategy, marketers can plan out their email advertising procedure ahead of time. As a result, other business stakeholders will be aware of what they need to do at any given time, ensuring synchronicity during the execution of an email campaign.
A corporation can plan when to send promotional or non-promotional emails using an email marketing strategy. Time-based promos are emails that contain time-sensitive messages that encourage recipients to take action, such as buying a discounted item, signing up for a new class, or making an appointment. Marketers can consider creating a three-part marketing email series for these campaigns, including an announcement (ideally two weeks ahead of time), a reminder (1 week before the event), and a last-minute reminder (1 or 2 days before the event.)
Emails that aren't promotional are less timely and sales-oriented. They are mostly used to build relationships with clients and provide value to them. Non-promotional emails, in a contrast to promotional emails, which tend to increase sales, allow marketers to establish the interests of their readers, which aids in mailing list segmentation. As a result, they can send more targeted communications to prospects and customers, helping to nurture and enhance their connections.
Gauge your results
All of a company's objectives are spelled out in its email marketing tactics. To have a sense of direction while launching an email campaign, a company must first establish marketing objectives. Aside from that, email marketing tactics allow businesses to assess the efficacy of their efforts.
Pick the best tactics
In this context, tactics relate to the methods and tips that a marketer uses to push their plan and, as a result, meet their objectives. “Start a cart abandonment program to reduce the number of lost sales,” for example, might be an example of a method.
How to Create an Email Marketing Strategy
- Establish objectives for your email marketing.
- Select the email marketing software that is required.
- Decide who you want to target.
- Determine the best methods for growing your list.
- Create segments for your mailing list.
- Determine which email types should be sent.
- Make an email distribution timetable.
- Email content should be formatted.
- Make your emails as efficient as possible.
- Split-testing is a method of determining whether or not a product is worth
- Keep an eye on email statistics.
We'll now take a look at the stages that marketers must take in order to create an effective marketing strategy.
Set email marketing goals
The following objectives are served by marketing emails:
- Boost consumer participation.
- Boost customer retention.
- increase your return on investment
- Keep your client relationships strong.
As a result, marketers must produce emails that support any of these or other objectives.
Pick the necessary email marketing tools
The first step in creating an email marketing plan is to choose the correct tools. An Email Service Provider (ESP) with an automation tool, among other capabilities, is required for a marketer.
Aweber makes it simple to generate, organize, and deliver emails. Marketers can use Automation to follow up with customers and send the right emails at the right time. For example, you can send welcome emails to new customers, abandoned cart emails to remind consumers to act on the things they've left in their cart, and so on. Aweber is offering a free 30-day trial to help you get started with your email marketing plan.
Determine the target audience
The marketer must next grow their email subscriber base. To accomplish so, you must first determine who your company's target audience is. For example, if a company sells baby clothes, its target market is mostly made up of expectant women. As a result, traditional methods of obtaining this demographic's email addresses make sense.
Identify the appropriate list building tactics
Subscriptions are a wonderful approach to grow your mailing list. You may use Aweber to add subscription forms to your website and acquire high-quality subscribers that are eager to hear from your company. Subscription forms can be placed in parts of your website that receive a lot of traffic.
Create multichannel subscription forms with Aweber to boost your online presence. In Facebook Messenger and Telegram, users can subscribe to emails, SMS campaigns, and chatbots. All you have to do now is paste the link into your chatbot.
Divide your mailing list into segments
Segmenting is a useful technique for sending highly targeted email marketing. Marketers can segment their mailing lists based on purchase behavior using Aweber. As a result, you can rest assured that you're sending relevant and personalized messages to customers.
Identify the types of emails to send
Marketers send a wide range of different types of emails. The type of email you send depends on the goal of your campaign. For example, send a welcome email to someone who has newly joined your mailing list. This is an excellent opportunity to discuss the advantages of working with you. Send an abandoned cart email to customers who have added things to their shopping cart but have not purchased them. Learn more about the different types of email campaigns.
Create a schedule for sending emails
Determine the best time to send promotional emails to ensure that subscribers read them. As a result, it's crucial to experiment and figure out when subscribers are most engaged. A/B testing is beneficial.
Format the email content
Promotional email messages must be correctly presented for email marketing to be successful. Marketers should select formats, typefaces, and text sizes that are appropriate for the sort of email they are sending. With Aweber, you can build stunning email templates that are personalized to match your brand using a drag-and-drop editor.
Optimize your emails
According to a 2017 Adestra study, 83.8 percent of mobile device owners open emails on their phones. As a result, if you want to target this audience, you need to optimize your email content for mobile. The following are some methods for ensuring mobile-friendly email content:
- Making topic lines that are short.
- Emails are limited to 600 pixels wide.
- Using templates with a single column.
- Small photos are shown.
- CTAs that are unique.
- Various mobile devices were used to conduct the testing.
- Menu bars are avoided.
- Making use of a huge typeface (ideally 13-14 pixels).
Conduct split-testing
Marketers can use A/B testing to see which version of their email performs better by changing various components of the email, such as subject lines (the most popular option), graphics, CTAs, headlines, offers, and so on.
Techniques to Improve your Email Marketing Strategy for eCommerce
- In exchange for an email address, offer an incentive.
- Subscribers can be segmented immediately from the subscription form.
- Send a greetings email.
- Clients should be segmented based on their behavior.
- Upsell and cross-sell opportunities exist.
- Emails with milestones should be sent.
- Re-engagement efforts should be run.
- Reward your long-term consumers.
1. Provide an incentive in exchange for an email address
This is referred to as a lead magnet. You may greatly boost the number of subscriptions and make a lead's initial purchase less unpleasant by using this tool. Give your website visitors a deal they can't refuse. Keep in mind that it should be beneficial to your potential clientele. You can provide users with free shipping or a coupon for a discount on their first purchase. Create fear of missing out and limit the duration of your offer to speed up your leads' decision-making process.
This is also a technique used by Gap. Signing up for the brand's emails entitles you to a 25% discount. They also claim to send out emails informing members of new arrivals and special offers.
2. Segment subscribers right from the subscription form
Segmentation is critical in the realm of eCommerce. Clothing for men, women, and children may be available in your store. If you send emails to men about children's or women's apparel, your open rate and user engagement will suffer. Segmentation allows you to send personalized and relevant campaigns to each user on your email list. Fill in some additional fields to get the information you need. You might query about a user's gender or the types of products they like.
This info will be added as a variable to your email list after subscribers fill out your form. Then you can choose whether to send your email campaign to a specific variable or a mailing list section. As a consequence, each member will receive the offers that they want.
Take a look at the Puma subscription page. In exchange for an email address, they provide a first-purchase discount and ask users to share their date of birth and shopping interests in order to receive exclusive offers.
3. Send a welcome email
A welcome email is your opportunity to make a good first impression on potential customers. To properly educate your audience, you can send a single email or a series of three emails.
A welcome email series can help you accomplish a lot of things. Set a friendly tone of communication with your brand, inform subscribers of the advantages of doing business with you, share top-rated products, or make a special offer.
4. Segment clients based on their behavior
Go beyond ordinary segmentation based on your subscribers' information. Every day, hundreds of visitors visit your online store to explore product cards, add goods to shopping carts and wishlists, and, of course, make purchases. You may keep track of their actions and establish segments for cart abandoners, users who visit the same pages and add the same items to their shopping carts, and so on. You can then send them promotional campaigns to boost sales.
5. Upsell and cross-sell
You may boost customer retention, loyalty, and sales by using these marketing methods. Both strategies entail selling more than a customer wants.
Marketers utilize cross-selling to persuade customers to purchase more items in addition to their original order. Brands, for example, frequently bundle a smartphone with a case or earphones. This campaign is always to the point because these goods are used together.
Upselling refers to recommending more expensive, improved, and better products over the clients' first pick. For example, instead of a free trial, marketers push larger-screen televisions, the latest iPhone, or a premium plan. The task at hand is to explain why this product is a superior option and to go over the advantages a customer will receive after acquiring it.
6. Send milestone emails
Milestone emails aid in the development of long-term client connections. This email usually denotes a specific point in the client lifecycle. It could be a client's birthday or anniversary, for example. Because of their individualized nature, these initiatives enjoy high open rates and click-through rates. To send a milestone email, you'll need to gather information like clients' birthdays, subscription dates, first purchases, and other key milestones.
You can use this information to congratulate your client on these significant occasions and thank them for their continued support of your company. Reward them with a one-of-a-kind offer. They will remember your thoughtfulness and return to your brand.
Mud Pie sends this email to mark a user's anniversary and offer a $10 discount on their next purchase.
7. Run re-engagement campaigns
To keep your mailing list in good shape, this is a must-do chore. Your subscribers may lose interest in your brand, decide they no longer require your services, or simply forget about you. But don't delete them from your mailing list just yet. A re-engagement campaign can help you regain their trust.
Find out why your readers aren't engaging with your brand with this email. You can provide a form with numerous explanations for visitors to choose from after they click the unsubscribe link. If you're not ready to give up, provide them an incentive and remind them of the advantages of being a member of your community. It could be a limited-time offer or a discount.
This re-engagement email was sent together with a special offer of 20% off the next order from Virgin Experience Days.
8. Reward loyal customers
These individuals aid in the growth of your company, bring you a lot of money and spread the positive word about your brand. Because it's considerably more difficult to get a new customer, you keep such customers and reward them.
You can build a special loyalty club for customers who place more than X orders, awarding points for each purchase based on their check and allowing them to trade them in for a product or a discount.
Subscribers to PetSmart's loyalty program can earn points and receive unique treats for every $1 spent. They also vow to surprise each pet on their birthday and deliver special offers via email.
