It is not that difficult to obtain someone’s email address but using it to successfully engage with them and turn that dialogue into a new customer is not always that easy.
The first hurdle that you have to overcome is getting the recipient to open the email and read the contents, and even if you manage that task, there are more things that need to fall into place before you can call your email approach a success.
Here are the key points to consider and steps to take if you want to improve your chances of creating a positive and successful email marketing campaign.
1. Think Carefully About Your Goals
There are plenty of questions that need answering before you can go ahead with your email marketing campaign and it is always best to take your time searching out the right solutions if you want to maximize the opportunity.
You might be fired up with a new promotional offering or simply trying to drive your sales figures higher, but if you do want to ensure that your email campaign is as successful as possible, you will have to focus specifically on what you want to achieve.
Knowing what your ultimate goal is with your email campaign will help you focus on the key points that need to be covered, such as working out what message will be in your email text.
2. Choosing the Right Email Type
All emails are not the same and if you don’t create the right one that is fit for its intended purpose it is not going to hit the right note or generate the best response.
If you have an established list of email subscribers who you contact on a regular basis, this would be classed as a relational email, where you already have an established audience and you can put your news or promotional offer into the form of a newsletter, or something similar.
Another type of email would be a transactional email, where you are confirming an action such as an order placed or a request for further information.
Knowing which type of email approach to use is highly relevant, as it defines the style of approach and content you use in your email campaign.
3. Picking the Right Email Platform
Deciding on your choice of email provider, such as Mailchimp vs Klaviyo, for example, is one aspect that needs consideration, and another prime point that could be pivotal to your success is setting your goals.
You can always send your emails out using your own server if your needs are fairly simple, but if you are serious about generating a professional email marketing campaign is sustainable over a period of time you should consider the idea of choosing an email marketing platform.
This will give you the ability to automate your mailings, measure responses accurately, and even incorporate social media ad campaigns too.
4. Build Your Email List
The next important step in the process is to build your email list.
You will probably have accumulated a fair number of email contacts over time and these can form the basis of your list if you want, as long as you go through them and tidy up what you do and don’t want to be included.
A successful email campaign will often depend on having new contacts added to the list so that you can achieve organic growth as your list expands.
5. Generating New Email Leads
There are several strategies that you can deploy in order to either build a new list of prospects from scratch or acquire from external sources.
Inbound marketing is a proven way-way of building your email list but it can be a slow process. The aim is to try and attract visitors to your website and give them a reason or an incentive to provide their email details.
Make it as easy as possible to subscribe and make sure you provide reassurances on spam, as this can be a barrier to people signing up and giving their email details.
6. Segmentation Matters
One of the keys to email marketing success is being able to send highly-targeted emails that are as relevant and interesting as possible to the recipient.
This is why you need to work on grouping your email contacts into various segments.
You might want a list of people who have bought from you before, a list of prospects who are in a certain geographical location, or maybe people who have subscribed but are yet to purchase.
Breaking email prospects down into various categories will allow you to be much more targeted with your approach.
7. Map out Your Email Strategy
Decide how many emails you are going to send to each person and what follow-ups will be utilized when you get a response.
You will find that many successful email marketers have an email protocol they observe, once they know what works for them.
This could be sending an introductory email, a followup email, and a further communication sent within a workable timescale.
8. Don’t Underestimate the Power of Your Subject Line
You can get all the mechanics of preparing your email campaign in place but if you don’t manage to craft your subject line in the right way, you will not get the response you were hoping for.
A lot of research goes into the psychology of what works and the length of your message is highly relevant too.
Aim to get your powerful and persuasive message across in about 40-50 characters, as this seems to be an optimum number that people will read and respond to.
Work on getting what you want to say condensed down into that sort of number on your subject line.
9. Signing Off
As well as working on a compelling body of text you have to aim to finish your email message in just the right way.
Make sure you include relevant links and information such as contact information, links to your social media sites, plus an unsubscribe link, which is required for anti-spam rules and shows you email responsibly as well.
Email marketing is a great way to grow your business but it does require dedication and a fair bit of thought about your approach and target audience if your campaign is going to be a success.
