Email Marketing
Best Practices And Tips For Beginning Email Marketers
Email Marketing 101
Email Marketing, in a nutshell, is a way to send messages to your prospects and customers about your business, your promotions and any other news you think they might find of interest. Ultimately the goal is to lead them to your website or your squeeze page, push them through your sales funnel and get them to make a purchase or do business with you.
Though some may think that email marketing is old school, nothing could be further from the truth. Email is a vital element to your overall marketing strategy which will help you increase traffic to your website, build your database of subscribers, and ultimately increase conversions.
Here are some best practices and tips for newbies:
Killer Subject Line
Just like with direct mail marketing, if your subject line or opener doesn’t get their attention, your piece is going in the trash. You’ve got to make them feel curious or motivated; anything to get them to click. Whenever possible, make your email personal. A good example of a personalized subject line is, “Hey Tom, did you meet your marketing goals last month?” A boring, non-attention grabbing example is, “improve your marketing outcomes” Write out at least 20 subject lines before you settle on one and then split test.
Content, Content, Content
If you’ve heard them say “content is king” once you’ve heard it at least a hundred times, but the reality is, it’s true. Without meaning to pile on the pressure, if you’ve managed to get your customer to open your email with your curiosity-catching subject line, you’ve then got just a few seconds to keep their attention by crushing it with killer content.
Your email should be easy to read, interesting and relevant to your target. Also, make sure you write to your customer; make it personal. Create a desire to click through to your website and ask for what you want by creating a compelling call to action (CTA).
Finally, use a good CRM to segment your emails according to target relevancy.
Timing
You can significantly impact your open rates by choosing the right time to send out your email blasts. Saturday morning at 11am is probably not the most optimal. Think about it; when do you check your email? Most of us check our email first thing in the morning before we get cracking on our day. A good time to send email blasts (they say) is a Tuesday or Thursday morning, very early. As always, test test test and then try alternative sending times and days.
You can access analytics reports from your email marketing service provider which will tell you when your highest open rates are.
Drop Frequency
Consistency is key when it comes to email marketing. It’s a big mistake to email your list at different times of the day and week; if your customers like hearing from you, or like what you’re selling, they will expect to see your email at a certain time and day each week or month. Be on time and be consistent. Utilize your email marketing software to schedule drops in advance.
Create a Sense of Urgency
Never allow your customers or leads to close your email and forget about it. Create a sense of urgency by encouraging them to take action immediately. A good way to do this are limiting the promotion or offer to a certain time frame.