Email marketing allows you to create a deeper relationship with a wider audience at a fraction of the cost of traditional media while also increasing brand awareness.
What is Email Marketing?
A marketing email is a form of direct marketing via email that allows you to communicate a message to an audience. This audience is a collection of your email list and they tend to be either a current or a potential customer. Email marketing is a great way to stay connected with your clients while also promoting your business.
With email marketing, you can easily and quickly reach target audiences without the need for print space, television or radio time, or high production costs. Also, with email marketing software, you can maintain an email list that has been segmented based on several factors and target them individually with unique campaigns.
Why is Email Marketing Successful?
One huge positive to email marketing is that it is low in cost - it’s that simple. Whether you do it yourself, or through an email marketing agency, marketing to hundreds of consumers via email is going to cost you very little in comparison to other channels of advertising. And other than being cost-effective, published findings showed that 85 percent of retailers consider email marketing one of the most effective customer acquisition tactics (Inc.com, 2018).
Another appeal to email marketing is its versatility. Depending on the size of the email database and the skills of the marketer, email marketing messages can range from simple to very complex. They can also be personalized to include things like the name of the user and even more. You can do this with the likes of Dotmailer.
Another reason is that it’s a great way to keep customers informed. It helps to keep business owners and consumers stay connected. A recent study showed that 28 percent of online shoppers subscribe to store or product emails in order to stay informed (especially if discounts are offered)(McGregor, 2018). Studies also showed that 64 percent of Internet users have printed a discount coupon from an email (Inc.com, 2018). One of the primary reasons people choose to opt-in for emails is for the special or exclusive offers and news. The customer wants to be in the know and up-to-date with your business.
Successful Email Marketing Tips
Before you can create a successful email marketing campaign you need to have a good sized email list. There are different ways to collect these emails, for instance, you could offer a signup form on your website for updates or free downloads of some variety. You don’t have to target your whole mailing list either, you could segment them into groups but this depends on what you’re trying to get across and to whom. One thing to consider is timing. Try not to be too ‘spammy’. The biggest risk in sending out an email marketing campaign is in return you receive a large number of un-subscribers. You want to share valuable content and information with your customers.
Consider your subject line. Is it clear and informative? Perhaps even personalised? It is far better to use a clear subject line that tells the reader exactly what is inside the email and creates immediate curiosity or interest. If you’re offering a discount code, make it known in the subject line, don’t hide it in the body of the email as the buyer may never click on it and know. A coupon code is a great way to entice your customers to open your email and lead to a call to action and can help drive clicks which lead to an increased conversion rate.
This leads to the next point. Write directly to your target audience. Whether it’s women who are interested in beauty products or men who are interested in fashion - create a concise email speaking directly to them, don’t just be generic. Be time sensitive as well with your call to action. If you’re an online retailer offering 20% off on their next purchase. Writing “Today Only - Receive 20% Off All New In” is a good example. Your reader should want to click because there is an immediate benefit and you can also leverage curiosity. Letting your reader know there's valuable content inside is more likely to drive the customer to where you want them to go - and that’s your site.
Lastly, before you send out an email campaign, test it first. Take two concepts you think will be successful and dry run it on a much smaller sample group. Look at the metrics to see which one performs better, that one is the definite winner. This way you can make any last minute tweaks to make sure it’s as successful as possible before you go ahead and launch your email marketing campaign.
Best Email Marketing Tools and Services
Dotmailer is a great service to not only help you create marketing campaigns and help engage one-to-one with your users but much more. They help you create bespoke emails for your customers and tailor them to your chosen demographic cohorts to increase conversion rates. However, if you don’t quite have the budget for Dotmailer just yet, MailChimp is another platform you could use. They connect eCommerce shopping carts and track the results - an excellent feature for an entrepreneur, especially those starting out.
Email continues to be the most powerful of the online channels so ensure you’re making the most of it.
Email Marketing Personalisation
One of the most effective ways to increase conversion rates through email marketing is to make sure your emails are all personalised and you can do this in a number of ways.
Think outside of just inserting their name in the email - think about the subject line too. Emails with personalised subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened (Campaignmonitor.com, 2018). Also look into data and purchase history. Don't spam all your customers on your mailing list with the same thing. For instance, you may have a sale on jackets but you should aim to only send these emails out to customers that have purchased searched jackets in the past.
Similarly, you can email unique product recommendations to your customers based on their purchase or search history as part of your email marketing campaign. This can help to boost conversion rates. Creating real-time, one-to-one targeted content that speaks right to the individual will also help to create a long-term relationship and increase the lifetime value of that customer.
However, there are a few instances where it’s okay to send your email to ‘all’, such as if your brand publishes blog posts or a monthly newsletter. Also if you’re making an important change to your business that will affect customers, it’s good to inform all of them - this could be updated terms and conditions. Another good example is if you’re launching a new product, you want to make sure all your customers are aware.
Conversion from Email Marketing
One way to help increase conversion from email marketing is to optimise your emails for mobile - you should test the optimisation to figure out which elements work as intended and which don’t so your campaigns are mobile friendly. Run an A/B test to evaluate the changes you have implemented and see how your segments react to them. There are some things you need to consider when creating mobile optimised email campaigns. This includes things like making sure your font is big enough to read on a smaller screen and spacing out so readers can skim read and not feel overwhelmed with text. Making any links you’ve included visible and easy to access. Reducing image sizes to make them load quicker.
Another way to increase the chances of conversion rates is to segment your email lists. You can do this by categories like demographics and preferences and interests. Once you segment your list, you need to find the best way to approach your customers. By using segmentation to send out more personalised email campaigns, you will increase the relevance for your customers and therefore the interest. Your subject line, the sender name, and the quality of the content are the three things that will determine your recipients' reactions to your campaign and the reaction you do not what is for them to unsubscribe or remove themselves from your mailing list.
You should also consider using the double opt-in method for your customers. This is when you ask them to confirm their email address and that they've signed up for a newsletter by clicking on a confirmation link they receive via email. This way you eliminate all the emails that contain typos or are delivered to the wrong recipient and can grow your list, though maybe at a slower pace, it will consist of real people. More so, Increases the likelihood that recipients will engage with your emails.
Cart Abandonment Emails
Cart abandonment is when a customer fills up their shopping cart online but for whatever reason, chooses not to follow through with the payment and ‘abandons’ it. In an effort to try and capture some of these lost sales, cart abandonment emails are sent to customers who have added products to their cart but failed to check out. When sending cart abandonment emails it’s good to be both specific and personal with your emails. Depending on when you send your email, people might have forgotten about their cart items. So be specific and specify which items are remaining in their cart and it helps if you leave images, this is much more effective. Using visual marketing to show people which items they’ve left makes the email more personal and reminds them of what they’re potentially missing out on.
Again, it’s a good idea to include a discount code so they can finish their purchase. Offering a special extra 10% or 15% discount offer for your user in their exclusive email to finish their checkout process. It will make them feel valued and their email will feel personalised as it’s not something everyone is getting. To read more on cart abandonment emails and how to increase conversion using them, we have a whole article on it here.
Final Round up of Email Marketing
According to statistics released by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing brings in $40 for every $1 spend, outperforming search, display and social marketing. Aside from it being a financially rewarding process, email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with your customers. Email marketing allows you to create a deeper relationship with a wider audience at a fraction of the cost of traditional media while also increasing brand awareness. Each email that is sent to consumers exposes them to your business and your brand.
You can target your audience - you have the chance to control exactly who sees an email by segmenting your contacts based on factors like demographics or location. Targeting emails ensure that your audience receives content suited specifically to their needs. Email marketing also allows you to boost conversion through offering customers unique product suggestions and discount codes.
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