Did you know that your business is six times more likely to get a click-through from an email than a Tweet?
With 3.9 billion daily users, email has the highest ROI of any marketing channel. If you haven’t made it a part of your digital marketing strategy in 2021, now is the time to get started! But how exactly can you do so? Kick off a strong marketing year for your business by utilizing our four crucial steps to begin a successful email marketing campaign.
Establish Goals.
So you want to start getting the ROI you’re looking for from marketing? Great! Before jumping in head first, take a minute to think about your goals; what do you really want to achieve with emails? Your goals will dictate the type of campaigns you send, who you send them to, the content you create, and how you measure success.
Email should be an important component of your digital marketing plan because of its effectiveness in driving conversions and building brand loyalty. It can be used to achieve a wide variety of goals, so establishing what those goals are up front and aligning them with your company’s overall marketing KPIs is key.
Build Your Email List.
Now that you have established your goals, you need to build your email list. There are a couple of different ways to do so, but the right method for each campaign really depends on the goals you’ve established. You can import a list of known contacts, build a new list from scratch, or both!
If you’re building a new list from scratch, then you’ll need a way to start capturing email addresses. A common method for starting a new email list is trading a valuable incentive for your audience’s email address. This is a simple subscribe opportunity that provides your audience with value. No matter how many subscription opportunities you present to a visitor, they likely will not act unless you provide a valuable incentive. On the other hand, even if you have a great incentive, visitors won’t subscribe if the process is lengthy, difficult, or requests too much information.
Thinking about what kind of value you can offer your audience? Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Compelling content: If you have a blog or produce other helpful content on your website, offer exclusive content to subscribers via email.
- Discounts: If you sell goods through an online store, offering people a discount off their first order if they subscribe to your email list is an amazing incentive. Not only does it encourage people to subscribe, but it also gives them an incentive to purchase as well.
- Free or express shipping upgrade: Offering free or upgraded shipping on your customers’ purchases is a great incentive to join your list. Not only is this offer highly relevant – particularly when offered during the checkout process – but being able to get a desirable item into their hands quicker is a powerful motivator for people to subscribe.
And don’t forget- once your offer is in place, give visitors frequent opportunities to take advantage of it! Try adding it to your website header, slider, at the end of blog posts, or as a pop-up.
Plan Your Campaign(s).
There are many different types of email campaigns, and which one you select depends on the goals you established. The most common ones include:
- Newsletters
- Marketing Offers
- Announcements
- Event Invitations
- Educational content
With your goals, email list, and email type decided, you can move on to the actual creation of the email. The content, design, and layout of your emails must be strategic and tactical. Some best-practices for a successful email campaign include:
- Structuring your campaign for easy reading
- Using images and visuals to boost engagement and information retention
- Personalizing your email campaigns
- Segmenting your lists based on geographic location, demographics, market, and/or past activity.
- Making it easy to convert by using clear call to actions and customer pathways.
- Taking a strategic approach to when and how frequently you send.
Measure Results.
Once you’ve sent your first email, you can begin tracking the analytics of your campaign. Many popular email marketing platforms include straightforward reporting that tracks sends, bounces, unsubscribes, opens, clicks, and other common metrics.
By carefully monitoring the analytics, you can optimize your campaigns for better future results.
59% of respondents say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions.
Looking to generate more leads, traffic, and engagement?
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