A successful email marketing campaign can help your business to bring in new clients, inform existing clients of what is going on in the business and most importantly bring in profits and raise brand awareness. Regardless of what many say this remains a highly effective marketing technique which provides exceptionally high ROI and continues to work for a huge number of businesses around the world.
The key to a successful and profitable email marketing campaign is in the preparation and in your approach and these 5 tips will help you ensure that this year you gain engagement, leads and sales from your email marketing strategy.
Goal Definition
Setting goals is the first step in every marketing strategy and even more so when it comes to email marketing. Think about what it is that you are trying to achieve from your strategy in order for it to be successful. These are some of the goals which you could be looking to achieve:
- Bringing in new subscribers
- Communication with existing subscribers
- Seeking engagement directly for sales of a product or service
- Re-engagement of inactive subscribers
Once you understand what you are trying to achieve you will instantly boost your chances of success.
Audience Definition
If this is the first email marketing campaign which you have invested in then targeting those who you send emails to will be tricky when you send the first batch. Once the first wave has been completed you can gather huge amounts of data on who your audience is, who is engaging the most and how you can target your content. These metrics are vital to future success and the focus of your attention going forward should be on drilling down into your target audience in order to increase subscribers, engagement and ultimately sales.
Email Types
Not all emails will feature the same type of content and as you begin to learn more about your audience you will need to have designed each style of email well in order to gain the interaction which you are looking for. Let’s take a look at which email types work best for different situations:
- Promotional Email – Self promotional emails which seek to sell directly, inform the recipient about sales and offers.
- Relational Email – This will usually be a response to a recipients actions which include content such as weekly newsletters, free gifts and broader information about the business.
- Transactional Email – These emails are for pre-existing subscribers for information such as signup notifications, confirmations of purchase, messages of welcome and thanks, as well as subscriber information updates.
Nailing the Subject Line
The power of a subject line must never be underestimated, get it wrong and your email campaign will be infinitely weaker as a result. Using data which has been produced on engagement vs subject line length we can see that the optimum length for success is between 61-70 characters. Subject lines should never be more than 90 characters if you want strong engagement. Don’t forget that on mobile less of the subject line will be seen, which is why you have to make a lasting impression in the opening line, here are some tips on crafting the perfect subject line.
- Tell the user what they will see when they open the email, don’t try to be clever or mystical, keep it honest and direct.
- Using the person’s name will gain better engagement.
- Do your research and avoid common spam words which will see your email go straight to junk.
Styling the Copy
Now that you have engaged the recipient it is time to wow them with your content, and this is your chance to close the deal. Break the copy down into three sections for the highest chance of success, just like you are writing a story with an introduction that grabs them, an information-packed middle and a strong ending. Let’s take a look at some details:
- Personal – Adding a human element to the business and its story will gain better responses, use the recipient’s name and speak candidly about who you are and why the business exists.
- Hard Sell – Avoid launching your sales and offers directly, the initial idea is to gain interaction, the sales will come later.
- Polls and Surveys – These have been proven to encourage engagement from recipients
- Value – The key to this email is giving your readers some value, giving them information which they may not know about using information which relates to your business.
- Community – People love to be a part of something so really try to push the sense of community in terms of what you are trying to achieve as a business.
This preliminary work will be vital to your overall success and it is worth the time and effort which you will have to put in to achieve it. Get the email marketing campaign right and you will see a very strong return on your investment.