When helping clients establish a successful marketing strategy, we emphasize three foundational principles:
- Build on Solid Ground:
Don’t rely solely on platforms that can change or disappear. While useful, these tools shouldn’t be the foundation of your marketing efforts. Social media, online advertising and search engine optimization are great resources to help you build your business. However, they are all subject to algorithm updates, governmental regulation and ownership changes. - Balance Customer Acquisition and Retention:
Acquiring new customers is crucial, but retaining existing ones is more cost-effective and profitable in the long run. It 6 to 7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep an existing customer. The likelihood of selling to a new customer is 5-20% whereas the likelihood of a sale to an existing customer is between 60-70%. - Diversify Your Channels:
Relying on one channel is risky and limits engagement opportunities. A diversified approach ensures resilience and a broader reach.
Email marketing excels in fulfilling these principles. It’s an indispensable tool for building relationships with customers, both new and existing. Contrary to popular belief, email marketing is far from dead. Despite the rise of new communication platforms, email marketing remains relevant and effective due to its adaptability, direct reach, and cost-effectiveness. It’s a direct and effective way to foster loyalty and convert potential leads into customers.
It can serve numerous purposes beyond promotion. It helps build awareness about new products or services, educates audiences about a brand’s value, and maintains customer engagement between purchases. This multifaceted approach is integral to a comprehensive marketing strategy, encompassing lead generation and brand building.
Email marketing operates by sending emails to current and potential customers. It’s not just about driving sales; it’s also about cultivating trust and fostering long-term relationships through regular newsletters and updates. These communications can vary from informative newsletters, typically sent weekly or monthly, to more direct promotional campaigns highlighting specific products, services or ongoing sales.
One significant advantage of email marketing is its ability to create personalized and targeted campaigns. Personalization can range from including the subscriber’s name in the subject line to sending tailored product recommendations based on past purchases. This level of customization enhances the effectiveness of email marketing by making each communication more relevant and engaging for the recipient.
Some of the benefits of email marketing
- Measurable: Understand your audience, improve your strategy, and maximize your return on investment (ROI). Measuring, evaluating, and analyzing should be woven into your campaign from the very beginning.
- Low cost, high ROI: According to Constant Contact, the average ROI through email marketing is $36 for every $1 spent.
- You own your list. You have complete control over your efforts. You are not subject to algorithm updates, company ownership changes or government oversight.
- Build relationship: By focusing on the customers, list segmentation, and personalization, you can learn more about their needs, wants, and struggles. When your content educates and entertains your subscribers, you learn about them and how to best engage with them.
- Increased web traffic: By including personalized and targeted messages that encourage subscribers to click through to your website.
According to zerobounce.net
88% of email users check their inbox multiple times a day.
Crafting Effective Emails
Original Content is Key: Avoid repurposing content from other channels. Tailor your emails to your audience—different messages for existing customers and potential clients. For existing customers, focus on success stories and practical uses of your product or service. For potential clients, build trust through informative and engaging content.
Purposeful Communication: Each email should have a clear purpose. Educate, inform, and entertain your audience without being overly sales-focused. Hard selling should be reserved for specific occasions; instead, nurture your audience through their buying journey with valuable information and real-world examples.
Frequency and List Building
Email Frequency: Start with a monthly newsletter. Monitor engagement through open and click-through rates to decide if more frequent emails are warranted. Consistency is key to seeing results.
Building Your List: Use original content that educates and entertains. Lead magnets, such as insightful documents, can attract new subscribers. Offers and discounts can also incentivize sign-ups, but avoid devaluing your product with excessive discounts.
Typical Types of Marketing Emails
Promotional Emails: These focus on promoting your product or service to potential customers, aiming to increase awareness and drive sales.
Newsletter Emails: Sent on a regular schedule, these emails typically contain company updates, event or promotional announcements, and blog content, keeping your audience informed and engaged.
Lead Nurturing Emails: Often part of an automated sequence, these emails guide potential customers through your marketing funnel, encouraging them toward making a purchase.
Survey Emails: Used for data collection, these emails feature surveys or questionnaires to gather quantitative data from your customers.
Milestone Emails: These emails celebrate personal milestones of the customer or significant moments in their relationship with your company, fostering a deeper connection.
Welcome Emails: Typically, the first email communication with a potential or new customer, these emails set the tone for your future interactions.
Dedicated Emails: Also known as standalone emails, they focus on informing your email list about a specific offer or announcement.
Re-engagement Emails: Designed to reconnect with email subscribers who have stopped engaging with your regular emails, these help revive interest and interaction.
Abandoned Cart Emails: Sent to customers who added products to their shopping cart but didn’t complete the checkout process, these emails encourage them to finalize their purchase.
Transactional Emails: These facilitate transactions or provide updates on existing orders or purchases, ensuring smooth and transparent communication.
60% of consumers reported that they have
made a purchase as a result of a promotional email (OptinMonster)
Tips for Success
Compelling Subject Lines: We focus on mobile delivery. A subject line, ideally should be less than 45 characters long.
Data Review: Regularly analyze your data to adjust your strategy. Track metrics like delivery rates, open rates, and click-through rates.
List Segmentation: Targeted emails to segmented lists drive higher engagement. According to HubSpot, segmented emails see 30% more opens and 50% more click-throughs.
Avoid Large Files: Large images or attachments can cause deliverability issues and may lead to your email being blocked. Keep your layout simple.
Concise Content: With many emails read on mobile devices, keep your messages under 400 words to ensure readability. We prefer to keep it in the 200 word range.
Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): A brief statement or sentence that encourages the reader to take action. Let them know what you want them to do next.
Add Preview Text: Displayed with the subject line. The preview text let’s the reader know what the email is about. A strong preview text will increase your open rate.
Manage Your Email List: Review and audit your list. Remove addresses that are undeliverable or bounced. By “pruning” your list you ensure compliance with your email provider and CANSPAM laws all the while optimizing for performance.
Optimize for Mobile: As mentioned above – keep your copy short, don’t attaching large files, keep your subject line concise.
Recommended Email Systems
Consider these reliable email systems to enhance your efforts:
– Convert Kit: https://convertkit.com/
– Mailchimp: https://mailchimp.com/
– Constant Contact: https://www.constantcontact.com/
– Brevo: https://www.brevo.com/
– AWeber: https://www.aweber.com/
There are a lot more options than this list. Spend 20-30 minutes researching and watching tutorials to find a system that fits your needs and budget. Most platforms offer free versions with some limitations, so choose one that aligns with your objectives and workflow.
By following these guidelines, you can harness the power of email marketing to connect with customers, build relationships, and grow your business.
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