In this increasingly digital world, email marketing has proven to be an effective tool in increasing business revenue.
In a time when everyone’s inbox is crowded with emails, you have to work harder to get your message through – but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
What Sets Email Marketing Apart From Other Forms Of Advertising?
Email marketing works because it also includes incentivizing the customer.
Customers love getting something for free and they will give you their email address in exchange for a whitepaper or other useful content.
When combined with paid ads on Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and Twitter Promoted Accounts, email marketing can help you scale your business.
Why Email Marketing?
Email marketing is the only form of advertising that lets customers come to you instead of you having to go out and find them. It’s also an extremely targeted way to market your products.
For example, if someone subscribes to a whitepaper on your website about how to fish, then they are much more likely to be interested in your fishing equipment or advice than if they didn’t subscribe at all.
Targeted Emails
High open rates are an indication that your subscribers trust you and see value in what you have to offer. They are more likely to buy something when they feel personally connected to it or when they feel like the email is being sent specifically for them.
To do this, segment your list into groups based on data points such as location, age, gender, interests, and purchase history. You can then send targeted messages that address their needs or go after a specific type of audience.
For example, if you specialize in baby products, then create content specifically tailored for new parents; or get creative with funny videos geared towards kids.
Increase Your Open Rate
The higher your open rate, the more successful your campaign will be – plain and simple. To increase your open rate, focus on a great subject line and a compelling offer.
Keep the email short and to the point so that recipients don’t feel overwhelmed or annoyed by long messages.
Also, include an effective call-to-action with a link to your landing page for them to take advantage of your offer right away.
Email Automation
Having trouble keeping up with emails? You can decrease workload by setting up email automation. In other words – create different rules for your subscribers based on their behavior.
For instance, you can automatically send receipts after someone makes a purchase from you; follow up every few days if they haven’t made another purchase within 30 days, or deter them from unsubscribing by increasing your frequency, when you notice they are opening your emails.
Don’t Abuse Your Subscribers’ Trust
Although email marketing allows you to be segmented and targeted, it’s important not to abuse that privilege. By using your subscribers’ data against them, you risk losing their trust and the value of your brand.
For example, sending ads out at random is going to have a negative impact on how people see you – especially if they signed up for a whitepaper on how to fish and all they get in their inbox is spam about fishing lures.
Hire a Professional
If you’re new to email marketing, there’s no shame in asking a digital marketing agency for help. In fact, most small businesses hire these agencies because of their proven track record and experience.
It’s much easier to trust your email campaign with an expert than to learn how to make an effective campaign by yourself.
If you’re looking for long-term results, consider a partnership like this as an investment that will definitely pay off in the future.
Keep Your Emails Professional
Remembering that email marketing is the most targeted way to advertise, you should always keep your tone professional and not come across as salesy.
Showing subscribers that you value them and respect their time will strengthen your relationship with them.
Add a Personal Touch
You want to make sure your message gets read by someone who might want what you’re selling. You know that crafting your perfect pitch and how to get people hooked from the very first line is important.
It’s not enough to just think about what you’re going to write – it’s also necessary for you to add a personal touch when possible. The design is very important
The more personalized your email sounds, the better chance of getting a response from potential customers.
You can achieve this in a few different ways. First, try to use the customer’s name whenever possible. You can also reference something that you know about them from their profile or previous interactions with your company.
If you’re able to create a message that feels like it was specifically tailored for them, they’ll be more likely to read it and consider your offer.
But don’t go overboard – too much personalization can seem creepy or fake, so make sure you strike the right balance.
Additionally, personalizing your emails can help you avoid spam filters. Most spam filters use a combination of two factors: content and sender information.
If you tick both boxes, then your message will almost certainly end up in the junk folder. However, if only one or neither is true — that’s when it becomes more likely for emails to get through successfully.
You should always follow these rules when sending out any email campaign so as not to waste valuable resources.
Keep It Short and Sweet
No one has time to read long emails nowadays, especially when there are so many other things vying for our attention online. That’s why it’s important to keep your messages short and sweet. Try to limit yourself to two or three paragraphs at most.
If you have a lot of information to share, consider splitting it up into multiple emails rather than just one long message that could be overwhelming for recipients who are already busy people.
Include a Link Back To Your Website
When you’re writing an email, make sure there’s at least one link back to your website or landing page. This will help drive traffic and increase sales over time as more people find out about what it is that makes them want from your company (or product).
The best way to do this is with an anchor text hyperlink in the body of an email message leading directly back home.
That way, if someone clicks on it, they’ll get taken right where they need to be without having read through all those paragraphs first. Plus, there won’t be any extra steps involved, like copying links into their browser (which can be quite annoying).
Include Images and Videos In Your Emails
Video marketing is an excellent way to engage your subscribers. It can help you drive more traffic, increase social shares and expand your customer base.
Don’t forget that all of this helps with search engine optimization (SEO).
For example, if you own a restaurant, create videos showing the preparation process for classic dishes; or upload tutorials on how to use your products. Those types of videos are likely to go viral in no time
Keep Track Of What You Send
Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of what you’ve sent out over email – especially if you have multiple lists sending content simultaneously. Some companies have created tools that track data like opens, clicks, and unsubscribes.
These reports are invaluable when it comes to adjusting your future campaigns for optimal results.
Elemailer gives you the perfect solution for this, everything organized, email statistics right inside your dashboard.
In order to achieve success with email marketing, you must always be consistent in the types of content you send out and how often you send them.
Sending too many emails or not sending enough will drive people away from your business instead of closer to it.
You should also make sure that follow-up is a part of your overall strategy so that customers remember who you are when they need your services.
What’s The Best Time To Send An Email?
You need to know when your audience is likely to be checking their emails in order to increase open rates. A great way for this is by using an extension for Gmail, which shows you when they opened (or if they read it at all).
Then, you can use other tools to make sure users are actually who they say they are before taking any further steps. Finally, once you’ve gathered enough data, you can customize your timing according to what you’ve learned.
For instance, you’ll know how to time your CTA’s so that they are more effective.
Conclusion
Email marketing is an essential part of any small business owner’s arsenal – it can help increase revenue by exposing you or your product to more potential customers.
These are just a few ways that you can maximize the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns. Try some (or all) of these tips and see how your results improve.