Email marketing has come a very long way in a relatively short time and, as our shopping habits and preferences continue to evolve and move more online, the importance of successful email promotion has never been greater.
In a world where there are now more web pages than people, the online environment has become a very crowded place in recent years with firms from all over the planet jostling for prominence and trying to find interesting and new ways to reach out to – and engage with – clients (both prospective and existing).
Email Marketing – Just One Part of a Bigger Strategy
Running an email promotions campaign should be considered just one part of your overall marketing mix, but it can prove to be one of the most effective ways to build brand loyalty and encourage repeat custom with a level of customization that’s hard to achieve by any other medium.
Why Email Marketing is Still Important?
Despite predictions that email marketing would die out, in truth, the opposite is the case and, if run effectively, reaching out by email can be one of the most successful ways to drive new traffic and encourage sales. Indeed, if you integrate other apps into your campaign, you can take a holistic approach to your email marketing that is customer-focused and tailored to each user.
For example, if you employ web monitoring tools coupled with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, you could target your email shots by user preferences or previous purchases, resulting in more compelling content that has an increased likelihood of encouraging repeat sales.
Moreover, using dedicated email platforms, you’ll also be able to maintain brand consistency across all your communications, making your mailshots instantly recognizable as coming from your firm.
Email Marketing Best Practices – Ways to Improve Your Email Campaigns
However, if you’re new to the concept of marketing by email, it can seem a daunting prospect – so just how can you devise a strategy that’s likely to drive more sales? Read on for some tips, tried and tested by the experts.
1. Define the Aims of the Campaign
As with so many other areas of life, planning is central to the success of a marketing campaign, so you should first decide on the aims of your promotions and how you intend to realize them. As noted above, there is now a huge range of complementary apps and platforms that can be used to largely automate your marketing content, so think carefully about what you want to achieve. Possible goals might include (but aren’t limited to):
- Driving more traffic to your e-com site
- Increasing sales
- Growing brand loyalty
- Reaching out into new markets
- Generating higher repeat custom rates
- Improving your firm’s customer care
In each case above, the additional software you might use will likely vary for the greatest chances of success. For example, if you want to increase sales, you might consider using CRM software to automatically generate emails bespoke to each user based on their previous purchases.
2. Remember the Importance of Segmented Lists
Related to the above, it’s important to realize all your users are different and will be more inclined to be interested in different types of email e.g., news, coupons, sales and promotions, etc. You also likely have different demographics in your mailing list that will be better served by different types of email (e.g., if you offer discounts to students or retirees). You should remember to split your email lists by type, interest, age, etc to have the best chances of a response.
3. Avoid Using ‘do-not-reply’ Email Addresses
Nobody likes receiving emails from a highly impersonal ‘donotreply@‘ email address so, instead, think about using the actual name of a person in your marketing team. Successful email campaigns appear personal to the user – donotreply addresses say the complete opposite.
4. Use Personalization
Also linked to the above, users are unlikely to respond to an email that feels like it’s been mass-sent to a group with little thought for their personal preferences or interests. At the very least, use first names as a greeting but also consider extending the level of personalization by including Call-To-Action (CTA) prompts – perhaps based on previous interests or purchases.
5. Give Your emails a Compelling Subject Line
It should go without saying but the subject line of an email lets the user know what they can expect from the mail so ensure you use interesting language in your title to give them a compelling reason to click on it.
Useful examples might include spelling out a special discount or letting the user know you have a new product in stock once more. Again, breaking your mailing list down into interests will make this task considerably easier and allow you to target users more precisely.
Now, you know the best practices to run a successful email marketing campaign. Let’s find out how to implement these best practices in your next email campaign.
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