Email marketing is a popular technique used by many businesses. When it’s done right, it can also be one of the best marketing techniques. This marketing strategy allows the business to become much more personal to the customer. They feel more connected to the business.
That’s because emails are a direct line of communication. We’re not talking about mass newsletters that are sent out to thousands of people. Instead, email marketing can ignite your inbound strategy if you’re able to make it feel more personal to your customers.
Building an emotional connection with your clients will spark a more keen interest in them. Something as simple as sending an email on their birthday and giving them a unique discount code to use when they checkout of our online store can go a long way.
Email marketing can help you to grow your business. Your subscribers already have an interest in the product or service that you have on offer — if they didn’t then they wouldn’t have subscribed. This means that half the job is already done! You’re more likely to convert leads from email marketing, but it’s all about sending the right email, at the right time.
If you link your email marketing with a CRM you can group your subscribers into categories. This allows you to send them the content that they want to see — and are more likely to respond to. It’s a great way to personalise your marketing strategy and cater to each of your clients.
So, how do we get email marketing right?
There are a ton of factors to consider in what makes the “perfect” email marketing campaign. You want to have a campaign that will ensure that you’ll be able to convert your leads into sales. However, there is a basic framework that you need to put into place if you want your customers to respond well to your emails rather than sending them straight to the junk folder.
Here we go
- Don’t be generic. Customers don’t always respond well to generic emails and newsletters. The basic template that they see every time they open the email becomes stale after the first few weeks. Eventually, they’ll skim through your entire email looking for the important points and ignore the rest, which isn’t ideal.
- Focus on the message. Whatever it is that your business is selling — product or service — find something interesting to talk about. It could be a witty customer review or even something entirely unrelated — a great movie or song that’s released recently. All you need to do is capture the reader’s attention. If the reader knows that they’re going to enjoy reading your email, they might even end up waiting for your email to arrive in their inbox so they can see what you’ve got to say. On the other hand, if they’re just going to open your email to see what you’re advertising next, it’s likely that they won’t stay subscribed for long. In other words, be a bit more human rather than being a marketing robot.
- Add a call to action. It’s important to carry a message and hook your reader early on. However, you’re still marketing something at the end of the day. Always remember to add a CTA somewhere in your emails, whether it’s a free ebook, a new blog post, or even your latest product. If you can get your readers to interact with your email, then you know you’re on the right track and there’s potential for conversion.
Finding the right customers
The beauty of email marketing is that you make it personal. This is the element that’s missing from social media marketing, and it’s one of the reasons why email marketing can be so effective. You can use a technique known as “segmentation” to divide your list of subscribers and send them personalised emails — if you use a CRM this becomes even easier to do.
For example, if a customer enters their information on your website and subscribes to your email list, you shouldn’t be sending them random emails that they know nothing about. Instead, it’s better to start off with introductions and a simpler explanation of what your business does. You can then set off a series of emails that slowly introduce them to the business and the way that your newsletter works. This ensures that all of your customers start off on page one, rather than new customers having to jump straight into chapter six of your book.
Final Thoughts
Email marketing is one of the best ways to fuel your inbound strategy. While many people overlook this key marketing technique, it’s incredible how effective it can be if you use it correctly. It might be a steep learning curve, but once you get it right, it’ll work wonders for your business.