You might think that email marketing is a stale tactic, but it’s not. However, if you do yours badly, it will get old quicker than you think. Email marketing is not just for marketing; it’s also great for customer acquisition. It is a great way to maintain relationships with current clients, and establish new ones with prospects.
Of course the first step to doing your email marketing is building your subscriber’s list, and you do that by getting permission first. You may choose to give a “gift” upon subscription (free downloads, for example) or be straightforward and ask them to sign up to receive updates and great content. (And great content is what makes email marketing work… more on this later.)
Now that you’ve got your subscriber base, it’s time to start on your effective email marketing.
- Personalize
First, address the recipient by their name. No generic “Dear reader / customer” greetings, please. It’s also important that they see who exactly is talking to them. Keep the sender name/field consistent to keep it familiar and to build trust. This is very important.
- Segment your list
Part of personalizing is creating a message that targets the specific reader. That increases your chances of being opened and actually read. You can segment many ways, some examples are clients lists vis-a-vis prospects list; daily emails vis-à-vis weekly or monthly; by location; and so on. By segmenting, you’re not just sending generic emails to everyone. Your message is more targeted and relevant to the reader.
Gather as much data as you can for your list: age, gender, location, customer journey, etc.
- Hook them in with a killer intro
Your subject line will decide if your email will be opened or deleted. Keep it short but interesting, and keep it honest. Avoid baiting your reader, so the email content must actually justify your subject line. Copy writing is a skill, so it may be a good idea to invest in a good writer.
- Simplify everything, but keep it compelling
This goes for copy and design. Your reader receives tons of emails; keep yours an easy read. Don’t write too much; get straight to the point. Keep the design simple yet attractive. It shouldn’t take your reader two minutes tops to absorb what you’re trying to say.
- Curate your content
Not everything is worth sharing. Look at your content and ask yourself this question: “Is this valuable to the reader receiving it?” If it does, hit send. Chances are, it will be read. Mapping your customer’s journey—what did they read, what did they purchase, what didn’t they bother with, etc.—will also help you in determining what content to write.
- Create a call to action
Don’t dilly-dally: make your purpose known. Create a call to action based on what you want them to do (i.e. check out the product, go to your website, complete a survey, make a purchase, etc.) and make sure this stands out. Make sure the button or hyperlink is easily seen (and working!).
- Test it out
Before sending out, make sure that you check and test your email. Proofread, check images and design, make sure all links are working. Send several test emails to be certain. You also want to make sure that your email is optimized for any screening device: desktop, tablet, and smartphone. Everyone is mobile these days.
You can also do split testing (sending slightly different versions of the email to a sample of your subscribers). Compare the results of the two versions, and send out whatever performs better to the rest of your subscriber list. Results of the split testing can also inform your next emails, so this is a necessary and valuable step.
- Space it out
Do not bombard your subscribers with emails every day, especially if they are just redundant. After some time, you will notice when you get the best feedback or results from your campaign, so create a schedule based on that.
When your readers subscribe, make sure that they can decide on the frequency of the emails. And make sure that you stick to the schedule they pick.
With the right efforts, your email marketing campaign can produce great results. And don’t be disheartened when someone unsubscribes. In case this happens, you can give them the option to opt down (versus opt out)—this means they can change the frequency of emails or choose the kind of content they receive. But they’re still there, ready to receive your great emails and next sales pitch.
Your sales email marketing campaign can be further optimized when paired with a powerful sales strategy. Learn more about sales acceleration by downloading this free e-book.
