Email marketing involves more than just drafting cookie-cutter messages and broadcasting them to thousands of people. That kind of approach is likely to lead to few responses, negligible read and click rates, and low sales.
Email marketing campaigns must be well-thought-out if they are to yield results. They should deliver relevant content to customers and prospects. Each mail must seek to elicit interest in your product and strengthen existing relationships with clients. We share some useful tips on effective email marketing.
#1: Build a Subscriber List
There is no email marketing without emails. Ergo, the first step is developing a list of contacts who’ve bought your product and those who might to do so in future. You can do this by having strategically positioned subscription links or forms on your web pages, blogs, and social media profiles.
You can also take advantage of more traditional meeting points such as conferences, exhibitions and industry events. Whereas you might not gather as many contacts in such meetings as you would online, contacts obtained through such face-to-face interaction are likely to feel more connected to your brand and thus be more responsive to emails.
#2: List Cleanup
Building a subscriber list is a largely automated process. You encourage visitors to your site and social media profiles to leave their email addresses so you can keep them posted on your newest blog posts and latest product offers. While this means you can accumulate contacts and leads with no human intervention, it also implies you won’t always be able to catch erroneous or otherwise problematic entries.
You’ll only know that someone mistyped their email or provided a nonexistent address when you eventually send your first mail to them. You can then use the bounced emails to weed out incorrect addresses. There are more proactive approaches to cleaning up your list. One of these is through the use of a bulk email checker. The checkers rely on proprietary algorithms and validation techniques to determine whether an address is valid and deliverable.
#3: Engaging Content
You can build an exhaustive subscriber list that accurately captures your target market. This will however all come to naught if the content of your emails is neither engaging nor relevant. Your messages should be interesting, entertaining and designed to instantly pique the reader’s attention. The tone should be entertaining and distinctive yet professional and assured.
Create unique subject lines that have a fresh feel. If your product is meant for a specific demographic, customize the emails for maximum impact. Many businesses underestimate the power of a great email. Remember, if the message connects with your audience, they’re more likely to share it with their circle of friends and family.
#4: Thorough Testing
Your emails should be readable on a wide range of browsers, email clients and devices without muddying the message. An email that seems perfect on Microsoft Outlook may fall short on Gmail. Today’s email marketing campaigns incorporate audiovisual content and plenty of links. Thoroughly test your emails on different platforms before going live to confirm that they retain their structure irrespective of what system the recipient is using.
You only have one shot to make a good first impression so make it count. Customers and prospects who receive a distorted or poorly formatted email are unlikely to notify you. They’ll simply ignore your messages going forward or, in the worst case, unsubscribe from your mailing list.
#5: Perfect Timing
It’s important to err on the side of caution by assuming the majority of your audience are in full time employment. You want to send your emails on days and times when they are most likely to be read. If most of your audience is asleep or busy, your message may very well be buried in their inbox and end up ignored.
A number of studies have identified 10am and 8pm as the best time to send email. The former is when most adults will have settled into their work while the latter will catch many people on their way or having just arrived at home. That being said, segmentation may be necessary if your recipients are spread across time zones or are of varied demographics.
The above tips will help you create effective email marketing campaigns, nurture more leads and ultimately grow your sales.
