Running a successful email marketing campaign requires planning, precision, and proper execution. The days of simply sending a promotional email are gone, as customers now expect more from the businesses they purchase from. But how can the everyday entrepreneur keep up with advancing technology and deliver quality email marketing content that sells?
It goes without saying that the first order of business for a successful email campaign is the content. Without informative, optimized content that speaks to your target market directly, all other efforts to enhance your email marketing strategy will be futile. If you haven’t already, consider reading up on how to write email marketing copy that your ideal customer will actually enjoy reading.
When (and only when) you have developed content you are confident in, should you begin revamping your email marketing process.
How do you streamline your marketing process for maximum impact and performance?
We’re glad you asked!
Below are our top seven methods to take your email marketing system from satisfactory to superb:
1. PERFECTING YOUR TIMING
Did you know that when (and how often) you send email correspondence to your target audiences can be just as critical to the performance of your campaign as the content itself? It’s true!
In fact, 61 percent of consumers enjoy receiving promotional emails weekly. And Tuesday is considered to be the best day of the week to send emails, as it has the highest open rates.
Doing your research and making an informed decision about how often you will send content is integral to creating a consistent experience for your readers. Create a content schedule and do your best to adhere to it strictly. The less confusion there is on your end about the timing of your campaigns, the less confusion your subscribers will feel as well.
2. IDENTIFYING YOURSELF
When your business sends email marketing content to its subscriber base, where does the content come from? Believe it or not, the email address you use to send out your communications could be working against you!
In a recent study conducted by Pinpointe Marketing, it was found that sending email marketing content from a personalized email account can improve open rates by as much as 35 per cent.
What does this mean for you, the business owner? In a nutshell, it may be worth your while to set up a second personalized email account for one of your staff members and use this account as the “from” address in any external email communication with your target markets.
After all, people are more trusting of individuals than they are of generic accounts like “[email protected]”.
If you really want to skyrocket those opening rates, include a photo and the contact information of an employee in the email campaign. The more human your content feels, the more results you’ll see.
3. SPEAKING DIRECTLY TO YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER
When creating an email campaign, it’s imperative that you clarify who you are speaking to. Ask yourself: who is it that would benefit most from this email?
For example: if you want to send a promotional email to previous clients who live in a specific city, why not fine-tune your email to appeal to those specific people as much as possible?
One of the most influential ways to do this is by sending location-based emails.
By picking a specific neighborhood or location to focus on, you can develop optimized content that is geographically tailored. Some ways you can do this include:
- Including a Google Map to your nearest retail location in the email campaign, so potential customers know the easiest way to get to you
- Including testimonials or online reviews from satisfied customers who live in the same area you are targeting
- Create weather-based offers based on the current weather conditions in your targeted area. For example: if it is a cold, snowy day, a clothing store might offer a discount on winter accessories.
- Run a “Refer a Friend” special to expand your exposure within a specific geographical area
4. SHUTTING DOWN THE SPAM CYCLE
One of the most frustrating inconveniences any company can experience when investing in email marketing is having their campaigns flagged as spam by email services like GMail and Microsoft Outlook.
But how can companies get around these pesky filtration systems?
To start, it is recommended that you clean up your subscriber lists regularly, and provide a clear, obvious way for people to unsubscribe to your email updates if they choose.
Why? Because every time a reader flags your email as spam, that action is recorded and remembered by your email service provider. Even if the email wasn’t spam at all!
This means that the more people who flag your email as spam, the more your future emails will be treated like spam by GMail and other major email platforms.
The best way to combat this is to ensure that the people who are receiving your emails really do want to receive them. Ask your subscriber list to their preferred senders list. This will ensure that your communications never end up in the spam folder!
5. TAKING STRIDES IN THE DESIGN DEPARTMENT
No matter how interesting your email copy may be, without an eye-catching, appealing design, your message will fall flat.
And since emails are now able to hold much more data and are the most customizable they’ve ever been, there really isn’t any reason why businesses shouldn’t be making their communications visually appealing.
There many pre-designed templates you can use as a baseline for your campaign, and cost-effective websites where you can find copyright-free images.
This comprehensive list of design tools is a great place to start for any entrepreneur who wants to step up their email marketing designs without blowing through a huge chunk of their budget.
Lastly, always remember to keep your CTA images large, use contrasting colors to make them more noticeable, and stick to a 3-column maximum for your layout. The more clear, concise, and seamless your design is, the easier it will be for your subscribers to discern what you want them to do and take action.
6. PUTTING YOUR PROMOTION INTO OVERDRIVE
When was the last time you promoted the release of your latest e-newsletter across your social media channels?
If you had to rack your brain for longer than three seconds, it’s likely been too long.
Posting teasers from your email campaigns is a fantastic way to entice your followers and others on the web to subscribe to receive updates from your company.
With hundreds of useful social media marketing tools now available to business owners, there really isn’t an excuse to not engage in social media promotion. Especially since it is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach new potential customers and strengthen your brand awareness.
Try repurposing one of the content pieces from your email campaign as a blog post, with a CTA at the bottom encouraging readers to subscribe for similar updates in the future. Or hold a contest on your Facebook page offering a value-adding service at a discounted price to three lucky email subscribers.
The more buzz you generate, the more reach your email campaigns will have!
7. CONSTANTLY COLLECTING INFORMATION
This last point is an email marketing must. At every possible opportunity, your business should be gathering as much information about your subscriber base as possible.
How do you do this? By asking for it, of course!
Any time you are offering valuable information to your readers, it should be seen as a trade. For example: if you are including a link to a free downloadable cheat sheet in your email campaign, ask your readers to tell you their job title and the size of the company they work for before gaining access to the link.
Regularly asking for small tidbits of information is much more effective than asking a potential customer to fill out an entire questionnaire. And you’ll be surprised at how many internet users will be willing to provide you with the information you need, if you set up the situation correctly.
Remember, people are always more apt to provide information when they want something. Provide enough value to your target customer, and you can collect highly-valuable information that you can use to further optimize your marketing efforts.
