11 Tips for Effective Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the tried-and-true methods for turning prospects into customers and customers into loyal buyers — perhaps even brand ambassadors and affiliates. When properly used, email marketing keeps you front and center and ensures you’re not going to be forgotten in all the hubbub of the Internet.
Whether you’re starting your first email marketing campaign, or you’ve had one for months or years, it’s always helpful to get tips on being more effective. Below, you’ll find 11 hints to improve the way your email marketing works for the benefit of your company:
- Stick to valuable information: Sometimes, organizations get so excited to send out emails that they forget the information has to be of value to the reader. If you’re truly the expert in your industry, there’s plenty you could share with your email recipients. Tell them little-known secrets that will benefit them and promote sharing. You’ll be seen as a leader, and your open rates should continue to improve.
- Offer sincerely limited offers: Email marketing recipients know when they’re being deceived. They get tired of hearing about “limited time offers” that just keep getting extended. The next time you are going to offer specials that you call “limited,” be sure they truly are. Make the deals very sweet and the deadline strict. You’ll overcome readers’ temptations to procrastinate or dawdle.
- Be personal and genuine: No one wants to get an email that feels dry and boring. Why should they read it? Make your email marketing as personal and genuine as you can, with the understanding that you can’t write an individual note to everyone. Be conversational, rather than academic. Encourage relationship-building and don’t lecture your audience.
- Spend time coming up with a fantastic subject line: Readers decide to open email marketing items based on the subject line. In fact, it’s the first thing they see. With that in mind, plan to spend time coming up with several different headlines and then choosing the best one. You may even want to conduct a split test to see which headlines perform best.
- Learn from your most popular emails: Which of your email marketing emails were opened more than any others? Do you know why they attracted so many people? Did they also help convert readers into customers? You should be answering these questions. Analyze your data and see if you can duplicate the phenomenon in future emails by applying what you learn.
- Send emails consistently: Get in an email marketing routine and don’t let it slide. It doesn’t have to be once a week, or even once a month. Pick a frequency that makes sense for you and your business. Then, stick to your email marketing calendar. Regular readers will know when to expect your next email.
- Emulate the best email marketing: Make sure you get on other companies’ email marketing subscriber lists, so you can see what they’re doing. When you find ones that are sending out spectacular email marketing content, learn from them. There’s nothing wrong with taking a lesson from successful email marketers!
- Add links to your site and social media pages: Do your emails include links back to products, services, articles and social media platforms? Be sure to add those links, especially if you have a strong call-to-action (CTA).
- Start with a big welcome: The first time someone subscribes to your email list, they should immediately get a warm welcome. For retailers, this might be a limited-time amount off merchandise. Regardless of what you offer in your welcome, however, be certain it’s sent as a thank you.
- Check to see how your email marketing looks on all screens: The way your emails look on your laptop may not be the way they look on your smart phone. Test your emails before you send them out to your whole list, and see how they appear on smart phones, tablets, laptops and bigger computer monitors.
- Edit your content: Finally, don’t forget to add an editor’s touch to your content. In this day and age, there is absolutely no reason to have misspellings or poor grammar. If writing isn’t your thing, hire someone who can make your content sing.
By focusing on successful email marketing strategies, you’ll feel better about the dialogue you’re creating between you and your subscribers.
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