Are your Email Marketing efforts paying off? If you are like many companies, you have seen a decrease in the effectiveness of your email campaigns. The largest factor in this is the amount of emails your lists are receiving. However, if you have been keeping up with effective marketers, you would know that done right, email marketing is still the lowest cost and most effective digital marketing campaign. It all starts with how you strategized your plan and set up your emails for your expected success.
Like any effective digital media campaign, the beginning of your Email Marketing campaigns need to start by asking yourself the question, “What do I want the person receiving this email to do?”. It is not enough to just hit send, you need to set expectations and promote a particular action that allows you to measure your success. Remember marketing without measurement is not marketing. You must measure your results so you can improve your campaign’s effectiveness over time. Here are 5 tips to get you back on track to effective Email Marketing.
Tip 1. Don’t send out the same email template to all of your contacts. The key today is segmenting your audience into their interests so you can customize your email campaigns to be relevant to the recipient. To accomplish this, use the segments and tags features in your email marketing program in addition to separating your contacts into a more relevant list based on their interests. Most Email Marketing programs also let you customize the greeting, message and/or the contact name to make it more personal. You an even add emojis, but make them relevant or they look like spam. Also remember to send your email out when your target market is online. Timing is one of the most important factors affecting an email campaigns open and click-thru rate.
Tip 2. Give your fans, followers & email subscribers something that makes them look forward to your next communication. Ask yourself about your list’s needs and when you separate your list, customize the email message for those segments. Can you provide something in the next email that saves them time, money, or gives them industry or How To Tips that would be difficult for them to figure out themselves? Be their hero. Provide answers to questions by other consumers so they see that your company understands their needs. The key is to connect with your audience and elicit a response.
Tip 3. Add action items that spell out exactly what you want your audience to do once they receive your email. So if you want folks to see your catalog, add a button that sends them there (with a link). If you have a downloadable document that can save them time on shopping for products like yours, provide them with that list and suggest how to shop smarter. Consider adding links to videos, industry studies, different applications for your products or testimonials to your best reviews. Make sure that each link is trackable and located above the swipe point on a smart phone—don’t make them have to hunt for what to do next.
Tip 4. Give them a reason to take the next action, whether it is an email me link or a buy now button. The key here is to make it as easy as possible for them to take the action you would like to see most. Make sure your link goes directly to a page that includes all the information they need to take that action, from a phone number to a shopping cart or form. Do not link to your homepage unless it contains all I need to know to expedite an action. And consider setting up an automated email series if you know your sales require multiple messages in order to get the deal. Again, only to those folks tagged to get the series due to their interest.
Tip 5. Before you begin, carefully review your past email campaign analytics to confirm the actions that you have asked them to take. Did you provide that call-to-action button and did they use it? If not, avoid sending a similar template email. Instead use my tips above and set up 2 efforts (A-B Testing) and send each out to 50% of your list. A good open rate is anywhere from 13-30% depending on the industry. And the click through rate is as important as your ultimate goal is to elicit an action after they open it.
If you need help creating more effective Email Marketing in 2019, contact us by email or call us at 310-791-6300. Get more done with your Email Marketing efforts. If you need an effective Email Marketing template-based program with 6 days a week phone support, click here to try a free 60 day trial of #ConstantContact. Contact me for a coupon code to save 30% Off for 3 months when you are ready to buy.
Liz Harsch is a media planner and trainer for small business owners with Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, SBA, Cities and MWD and County outreach partners, APICS plus many Chambers of Commerce for over 10 years. She owns Tailor-Made Advertising in Torrance, California and provides marketing, training and consulting to identify marketing and media alternatives for business owners. She can be reached at her Torrance, CA office at 310-791-6300 or by email at liz@adteamla.com. You can also see her upcoming training workshops calendar at http://adteamla.com/facebook.
