Emails are a quicker way to correspond with another person. We get that much. But as a business, it’s more than just emailing someone a funny video you found online. It’s a marketing tool.
And if you are looking to establish your presence online, and to promote or engage with current and prospective clients—building an email marketing campaign is an absolute must.
Digital marketing is a tricky business, that is always evolving. Staying on top of the current and future trends can be a difficult task. That’s why we are writing you this comprehensive guide to steer you in the right direction when it comes to email marketing. These methods are time-tested and proven to work regardless of digital marketing trends.
Here’s how!
Let’s Get Personal
Have you ever received an email that starts off by saying, “hello folks?” Believe it or not, emails like that do exist and are very ineffective.
Wny?
It’s not personal and it doesn’t make the recipient feel like the email is even directly meant for them. It’s always best to use people’s name when engaging with them, right? Emails shouldn’t be any different.
Thankfully, the online world has continued to evolve, where anyone can manage their email tools to personalize each email with that person’s first name in the beginning of the message.
By putting someone’s first name at the beginning of the email, you are sending the idea that whatever your campaign effort involves…involves them.
Don’t Talk To Strangers
While this has nothing to do with some creepy person trolling the streets with a van full of candy, it is important that you erase the “stranger” element and replace it with “the relevant element.”
What does that mean?
It means, know who your audience is. That’s right, this is very important. If you don’t know who your audience is, then you won’t know how to target them. And if you are targeting them, regardless of your audience identity, chances are, you are spamming.
Let’s assume, you know your brand, and you know your audience. Next thing to do, that most digital marketing guru’s agree to, is list segmentation.
List or email segmentation is one of the most effective ways to operate your campaign. This can be done using different tools, companies and platforms. One of the better companies that help with your list segmentation, is Mailchimp.
Mailchimp coordinates, filters, and targets your email subscriber and contact list to properly assist you with your campaign targeting.
For example, Mailchimp would know that Person A wouldn’t want to read an email about female hygiene products based on that customer’s consumer behavior and list identification information. Conversely, the app would take the female hygiene product as it pertains to a relevant customer and their information as well as consumer buying behavior, and send them that email.
Claritas, is another tool or company you can use that helps identify consumer behavior and buying trends.
K.I.S.S: Short N’ Sweet
The old motto, keep it simple stupid, certainly applies in email marketing campaigns too. Whether you are building product awareness, or just simply sending an advertisement, the email shouldn’t be anymore than four sentences.
This is for two reasons: mobile users and attention spans.
People are too busy and just simply don’t have the time or attention span to read an owner’s manual of an email. That, and most people are getting their information on the fly. That’s right, most consumers answer the emails via their cell phones.
Not only should you keep the length short, but you need to keep your message or email strong and to the point. Be clear about what you are sending or offering. You want a strong call to action, at least two times in that email. Preferably, one in the beginning and a strong C.T.A. at the end.
A call to action can be anything from, “download now,” or “follow us on Facebook.”
You should also throw in a link that will redirect your audience to a landing page. This will help with your SEO and keep your email list engage. By the same token, try not to cram in too much information. Remember, attention spans and time availability.
What’s The Incentive Here?
Incentives, incentives, incentives. Get yourself acquainted with that word and idea. People like free stuff and deals.
This can be anything from a future product being half-off to a free E-book. Giving your audience an incentive is a great way to retaining a relationship with them and keeping their engagement.
Of course, this gets back to knowing your audience and how to target them. Once you utilize some of the tools above, you will be better served in how you offer and engage your email list during particular campaigns.
Opt-In
Another great way at getting to know your email subscriber list, and engaging with your audience, is by improving the quality. Improving the quality can be done through offering your audience to sign up for your email newsletters or list.
An opt-in screen is a great way to decrease the chances of your business and brand ending up the bulky waste bucket of the spam folder. It’s also courteous to give your potential and current customers the ability and choice to subscribe and unsubscribe.
Always make that option clear and easy. The opt-in approach shouldn’t feel like an application. In other words, matching the theme of above, keep it short and simple. Also, don’t ask for too much personal information. This can discourage people based on annoyance alone. You will want to ask very basic questions and then give your target the ability to easily opt-in.
Leadpages is a company that can help you handle your opt-in requirements. They offer an easy to use interface and they will give you a 14 day free trial to see if you like their services.
Test. Testing..
So what’s a successful and effective email marketing campaign if you don’t know what works and what doesn’t?
Welcome to A/B Testing or Split Testing. This is a great way to see how effective your marketing campaign really was.
A company like Zoho, specializes with email marketing campaigns and can help you manage your email and list segmentation.
A/B Testing is simply sending out two emails to a specific or targeted audience to see which scored or fared better. What reactions were triggered if any? What was the response? Was email A more engaging than email B?
With a privy of information available at your disposal, using A/B Testing or a company like Zoho, to manage your email marketing campaigns with Split Testing, this will help you score much better down the road and higher on your next email marketing campaign, while serving you the results of past and current campaigns.
Until The Next Campaign
Now you know what to look for and what to do, when you build up your email marketing campaign.
If you just know you have something, whether it’s a service or a product, or information, and you want to share it with the world or to your customers, then get on board with the email marketing campaign train.
Know your audience, create a clear picture, make it short and to the point, close hard, and watch the results come in.
Email marketing is very effective and still holds up well as one of the best techniques in digital marketing. Focusing on your email campaigns doesn’t mean you can let your guard down on the other elements in digital marketing. Quite the opposite. But if you keep these principles in mind, you too will have a much more successful email marketing campaign the next time you hit the send button.