Email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to keep in touch with customers, especially if you’re part of an online business. It’s relatively cheap, easy to automate and convenient to use. Still, it can be tricky to know where to start or what you should do when it comes to email marketing – especially if you haven’t tried it before. To make sure your email marketing goes as smoothly as possible, follow these 10 tips for successful email marketing.
1) A Good Subject Line Keeps People Reading
The subject line is arguably your first chance to grab a reader’s attention and entice them to read on. If you can write one that compels people to click on it, you have a much better chance of keeping them interested in what’s coming next. Think about what would make you open an email if someone forwarded it to you. If your subject line is too dull or doesn’t reflect what’s inside, many readers will just scroll past it.
2) Create Personal, Customized Emails
The easiest way to make your emails look personal is to add a real name and photo at the top of your email. But even if you don’t have an actual picture, use your company name and title in place of Hello! It all contributes to that sense of familiarity. Don’t go overboard though; you don’t want people thinking they’re getting emails from a friend instead of a business.
3) Get Useful Emails on Autopilot
Aside from designing and sending great emails, one of the most effective ways to grow your list is to have a nurturing autoresponder sequence ready when subscribers first sign up. With an autoresponder series in place, you can automatically collect new leads and convert them into customers. You can also provide other value-adding resources like how-to guides, videos or ebooks that your leads will find useful as they get familiar with your brand.
4) Automation Makes Sending Simple and Effective
Don’t overwhelm your customers with too many emails. Make a small number of messages, and schedule them to be sent out on a regular basis. This will help you avoid filling your inbox, annoying potential clients and ultimately getting blacklisted by ISPs. Remember that email marketing should complement other forms of digital marketing—don’t rely on it as your only promotional channel.
5) Get Creative!
One of email marketing’s greatest strengths is that it provides a low-cost, direct channel to customers. Emails aren’t tied to any specific time or place, so they give you more flexibility than other marketing vehicles. But that also means you need to be creative and conscientious about your approach—if your emails are boring or don’t follow best practices, subscribers won’t bother looking at them. Here are some tips for getting noticed and engaging your audience with creative emails.
6) Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up
Following up is a great way to increase your open rate and get noticed. To find customers who have shown an interest in your product or service but have yet to buy, you can use Facebook’s Lookalike Audiences. Target these people with a follow-up email offering them a discount for not having bought from you already.
7) Know Your Audience
The first thing you need to do is take some time to really get to know your audience. What are their demographics? What are their likes and dislikes? Most importantly, what do they want? If you can’t answer these questions, it will be difficult for you to write something that your audience will be interested in reading.
8) Offer Something Of Value
When using an email marketing campaign, offer some kind of incentive to your reader in exchange for their email address. This can be as simple as a free e-book or just an informative newsletter with valuable content that your readers would want. Giving your readers something of value will motivate them to sign up and continue reading future emails. If you don’t give away anything in return, you run a higher risk of not attracting any new subscribers or running into spam filters.
9) Use Video to Attract Readers And Boost Engagement
With video gaining more and more popularity, marketers are able to get their message across in a new way. This is especially important for email marketing campaigns. Using video can help draw customers in, boost engagement, and increase open rates. Try producing a series of videos that include tips on how to get started with your service or product, or answer frequently asked questions from your customers. Once you produce a few videos, try including them in your next email campaign as a way to inform and engage your readers at once.
10) When In Doubt – Test!
Not every email marketing campaign you run will be a smashing success. This doesn’t mean you should give up on email marketing altogether. Instead, test, tweak and continue to send emails to your list until you find an effective frequency that gets results. Track everything: if something works – keep doing it! If something doesn’t work? Don’t do it again!