Updated on November 4, 2019
If you own a small business, then you likely think about further growth and new customers. Perhaps, you would like to explore new markets, and if this idea looks interesting to you, then you’ll certainly need a good email marketing strategy.
When creating a long-term marketing plan, businesses should pay particular attention to email marketing. According to research, email marketing is more alive than ever, and it plays a surprisingly important role. This is a reason why you shouldn’t forget about your old marketing plans. Although the rules of this game may change all the time, there’s always a place for methods that have proven to be effective, as well as for the latest developments in this field. We are going to help you improve your email marketing campaign with some useful tips.
What Makes an Effective Email Marketing Strategy
A good marketing strategy is a lot more than just a bunch of emails sent to as many people as possible. There are different types of emails and newsletters which have clearly defined purposes and certain features that make them effective in the context of marketing. For example, a good marketing email must contain a call-to-action (CTA).
Everybody may receive dozens of marketing emails every day, so what makes your email so special? You should interact with your audience, and your call to action should be as clear and concise as possible so that they can quickly react to it and take action. Effective calls to action considerably increase conversion rates. However, don’t forget to explain why your subscribers should click a button or visit a link. You can ask them to take a survey or to donate some money to a charity. You can also encourage them to participate in your bonus or referral program.
Another important aspect of any effective email marketing campaign is personalization. Your emails must be personalized so that a subscriber wouldn’t be addressed as “dear user/subscriber.” Make sure to call your subscribers by their first or last name. In addition, you don’t want your emails to be boring, which means that you will certainly benefit from adding images. Interesting images can help your audience understand what is the purpose of your email, as well as its general meaning.
There are a few most common types of marketing campaigns, which differ by their main purposes and the used methods.
Drip campaigns involve sending emails automatically according to a certain schedule. Usually, such campaigns are triggered by a certain event (subscription, download from a website, etc.) and are aimed to turn leads into customers.
Full-funnel campaigns are aimed to guide the audience through the full customer lifecycle: awareness, engagement, purchase, retention, growth, and advocacy. These campaigns help understand what aspects of marketing give the biggest return on investment so that you can focus on them further.
Interactive campaigns are very effective, in fact, interactive content is particularly engaging and brings twice as many conversions compared to non-interactive content. It’s also an opportunity to get more information about your subscribers by including polls or quizzes.
A/B testing campaigns allow you to analyze data on click rates, deliverability, etc. A/B tests are a very powerful tool used to choose the most effective variant of the content, sending various versions to different groups of cold and warm leads.
How to Create a Powerful Email Marketing Campaign
Use welcome emails: When a prospect is ready for a free trial, or when somebody new signs up on your website, you can send welcome emails. Provide any necessary contact info in the first email. A few days later, send useful instructions and how-to guides to help your subscribers use your service or product. In the next email, send some valuable information that might help them overcome common problems.
Deep segmentation: Segmentation, as well as personalization, makes it much easier to perform A/B tests and to obtain meaningful data. Usually, marketers segment their audience taking into account demographic data, personal interests, and other useful information about subscribers. You can also analyze how your subscribers react to your emails. If someone clicks on some image but ignores another one, you can send this subscriber content related to the first image. On the other hand, if they ignore a few letters in a row, you can try another approach. There is also such a thing as self-segmentation — your subscribers can provide their data by answering questions and completing surveys.
Use different kinds of content: People like beautiful content, so you certainly need to use images and videos. Fun content gets much more attention than a boring text, however, there are also people who prefer textual emails. They load faster and are less likely to be perceived as annoying. Short text-based emails don’t look like ads but remind us of emails we receive from our friends. Use different kinds of content to make more people react to your emails.
Send newsletters: A newsletter is a great opportunity to tell more about your brand in an interesting and educational way. Provide useful facts about your industry and tell your subscribers what’s new about your company. Newsletters help keep subscribers engaged with your brand.
Don’t forget about your former customers: Even if they have switched to another brand, it doesn’t mean that you cannot win them back. Contact them from time to time and share your best offers. What if they have any issues with the new service or product? That’s when they may return to their previous option.
Don’t forget that there are many ways to increase the effectiveness of your emails:
- Use interesting and personalized subject lines, don’t be afraid to use emojis.
- Don’t use too many links so that subscribers can easily focus on your call-to-action.
- Combine email marketing with other channels: SMS, social media, etc.
- Don’t send your emails too often, otherwise, they will be quickly marked as spam.
- Study your audience and determine the best time for your emails.
- Make sure your content is valuable.
Conclusion
An effective email marketing campaign can work wonders, however, you have to make sure your emails are actually good. Make them personalized, interesting, and eye-catching. Study your subscribers and keep them engaged. Welcome them to your website, send birthday cards, and don’t forget to provide them with useful content related to your product or service. Email marketing is effective like never before, so use our tips and watch your business grow!
About the Author
Berta Melder is an experienced brand manager, content strategist and co-founder of the Masterra Writers, contributor and guest blogger for many websites. Being passionate about her job, she cooperates with different education courses and helps participants develop the brand management skills. Follow her on Twitter.