Email is one of the most direct and effective marketing methods available to us, despite the rise of other channels like social media. It’s simple, it’s relatively cheap, it’s super targeted, and it gives you instant access to the inboxes of a user base over four billion strong. The question is, where do you start?
Before shooting off any emails, you’ll need some software that lets you upload recipient details and blast thousands at a time. There’s a boatload of different tools out there for businesses of any size, so it’s best to do some research and pick your poison.
Mailchimp is our personal favourite. Then there’s Klaviyo, Constant Contact and HubSpot, which are all worth checking out too.
You’ll require some email addresses too, of course. However, GDPR requires that a user opts in first, which is why you need to offer people a valuable incentive to subscribe quickly and easily. This could be anything from a discount on their next order, to them being the first to read your expert insight.
This will be determined by your goals for email marketing. Want to keep up brand awareness and drive traffic? Create a campaign that uses frequent newsletters and links to your other content, such as videos, podcasts and blogs. Looking to encourage sales or get more signups? Build excitement with product launch announcements and let people know whenever you run a promotion.
Figuring out your goals will make it far easier to determine what kind of content to run and who to send it to.
Email campaigns can live or die by the subject line. Make sure that it’s benefit-driven, features keywords, and written in active language to reel readers in.
In the email itself, start with a strong headline, perhaps some eye-catching visuals, and clearly outline the rewards a reader will reap by clicking the call to action – which should itself be clear as day.
Keep all your emails on brand for consistency, and don’t fall into the habit of only shooting out promotional content. Your email campaigns should aim to provide value as well as sell products and services.
Personalising your email campaigns is a sure-fire way of enhancing their effectiveness. Most pieces of email marketing software will let you segment your email lists, which means you can send out different campaigns based on location, demographics, past customer activity, that sort of thing.
Segmenting your audiences and using tags like <customer name> (which is built into most email marketing software) will ensure that your recipients are reading content that they find relevant to their lives and needs.
All that’s left to do now is analyse the results and tweak as often as required. Most email marketing tools will show you your emails’ open rates, click-through rates, generated revenue, and all that good stuff.
You could even try A/B testing different variations of an email to see what works best. Even the slightest of changes to an email’s subject line, layout, visuals, timing, or call to action can help you to hit that sweet spot.
Need a helping hand launching and managing email campaigns? Do get in touch – we’ll have you communicating to the masses in no time.
