Years of experience have taught us how to create an email marketing strategy that generates scolding hot leads for sales teams.
It’s time we share some of our success.
This complete guide to email marketing will teach you how to write effective email marketing content that converts, the common pitfalls of spam mail and the best email marketing practices for 2021.
This guide includes:
-What is email marketing
-How to write effective email marketing content
-How to avoid ending up in spam
-CAN-SPAM & GRPR email marketing regulations
-Email marketing best practices
-Email marketing analytics
Let’s begin with an email marketing definition.
Email marketing targets prospects and clients with email communications. These emails build connections with a target audience, boost brand awareness and nurture leads.
The importance of email marketing is clear. 73% of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email while 59% of subscribers say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions.
So if you thought email marketing is dead, think again.
If you’re worried about being late to the game, it’s never too late to start email marketing. Let me walk you through the step-by-step process of how to grow your business with email marketing.
A clear determination of your objectives, as well as a defined target audience and KPIs will give you a roadmap and measure for email marketing success.
Consider your audience’s interests and pain points and use this information to segment your campaigns. Having a clear vision of your objectives and audiences needs will help you decide the focus metrics and best ways to achieve them.
The best email marketing service for you depends on how large your database is, what features your strategy requires and how well it integrates with your other marketing software.
Here are two examples of an email marketing services:
–ActiveCampaign – This platform has a wide range of advanced market and sales automation features, and real-time analytics to monitor campaign performance. It’s AB testing feature also allows you to optimize your campaigns for best results.
–MailChimp – MailChimp is the world’s largest email marketing platform, and its compatibility with marketing platforms like Salesforce, WordPress and Google Analytics explains why. It serves thousands of businesses big and small, as well as being a beginner’s choice due to its simplicity.
–Hubspot – HubSpot is an all-in-one marketing tool that also works as a separate email marketing platform. It has a wide variety of cool email templates and easy tools to make your campaigns unique and visually engaging.
Before sending anything, you need a database to send to. And building and segmenting this database should be top of your to-do list.
Here are some effective ways to grow your email list:
PRO TIP: Never buy an email list. Sending emails to a list where the subscribers never gave their consent not only is illegal but also negatively impacts your sender reputation.
Successfully segmenting your email communications can result in as much as a whopping 760% increase in revenue.
And as with all marketing efforts: the more relevant your campaign, the better the results. Segmentation simply divides your email lists to send more relevant and personalized emails to your recipients.
Here are different ways you can segment your email lists:
PRO TIP: Keep in mind the GDPR regulations related to data segmentation if you are targeting people in the EU.
Sending a great email is kind of like being a great date. Conversation has to flow smoothly and leaving a good impression is a must.
If you want to be a five star date, then bringing a gift and having a compelling story is a good start.
The same rules apply to your email communications: always provide value, be personable and write copy that grabs attention.
Personalization
Personalized emails have 26% higher open rates, and 14% better click-through rate than non-personalized ones.
So what is the best way to personalize emails?
-Always use the first name
-Include region-specific information when appropriate
-Use segmented email lists and create personalized email funnels
-Send end your emails with a personal signature from an employee, not your company
Write eye-catching copy
An average office worker receives 121 emails daily. This means you need to write quality email content to stand out from the crowd.
Firstly, using catchy subject lines that grab attention but aren’t misleading increases your open rate. Keep the body of your email consistent with your tone of voice, and stick to one topic so it’s clear and easy to follow. And remember to include an enticing call to action (CTA) to turn your lead into a sales opportunity.
PRO TIP: This Headline Analyzer tool is a great way to check whether your headlines work or not.
Every time you send out an email, ask yourself: What’s in it for them?
For your subscribers to keep opening your emails, you need to give them a reason to. If you only talk about yourself or don’t have anything interesting to share there.
Here are some ways to provide value:
-Share useful resources
-Solve a problem
-Educate
-Entertain
-Give away prizes
Martech software provider Hubspot proves its value with every email it sends:
It’s personalized, customer-centric, and keeps the copy concise to keep the readers engaged. It provides value by offering to solve the audience’s problem, and includes a clear CTA.
16% of all emails never make it into the inbox. To make sure your emails don’t end up in spam and your company doesn’t have to pay a hefty fine, you need to be aware of the rules and regulations.
Here are some general tips to stay on the safe side. However, it’s vital that you find out the specific regulations for your area and target audience.
Always follow these CAN-SPAM Act guidelines when email marketing in the US.
GDPR regulations
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the privacy and security law that was passed by the European Union (EU) in 2018. Although it’s only effective in the EU, it impacts any company that targets an EU audience. Here are a few tips on how to get started with GDPR compliant email marketing.
Even if your emails are perfectly GDPR and CAN-SPAM Act compliant, it doesn’t mean you still won’t end up in the spam. Here are some additional tips to make your way into your audience’s inbox.
Even though there are a number of rules, don’t be disheartened and give up on email marketing. Pain does lead to gain as 59% of marketers say email is their biggest source of ROI.
The optimal sending time and frequency depends on your specific audience and can be measured from your own analytics. However, there are some general guidelines that are useful to know.
Source: Coschedule.com
According to the research by Intercom, the best time to send emails is between 10 am and 2 pm. HubSpot’s data supports this with stating that the peak time for email opens is at 11 am. The best days to send emails are Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
According to the research by Smartrmail, the optimal sending frequency is 4-8 emails per month.
Source: Smartrmail.com
The best way to improve your open and click-through rates and find out what works best for your target audience is to test different options.
AB testing in email marketing simply means making two (or more) versions of the same email and then measuring which version works the best.
Examples what to AB test:
-Subject Lines
-Length
-Wording
-Visuals
-Tone
-CTAs
PRO TIP: 39% of companies don’t test their emails and therefore fail to achieve best possible results from their email campaigns.
55% of emails are now opened on a mobile device, meaning people are now reading their emails more on mobile than desktop.
To make sure your emails are suitable for all devices, keep them between 600 and 800 pixels in width, make sure the subject line is concise and bring your CTAs as far up the copy as possible.
If your CTA is a button, make sure there’s plenty of space around it so people can easily click it on mobile without accidentally clicking something else.
PRO TIP: Pre-header (the first line of copy in your email as a support to your sublict line) if often overlooked. Make sure you optimize it to increase the open rate.
Once campaigns are up and running it’s time to learn how to measure email marketing success. Here are the most important email marketing metrics to look at:
On average, email generates $38 for every dollar spent, generating a tremendous 3,800% return on investment.
To calculate ROI from your email marketing, use this formula:
(Return – investment) / spent x 100 = ROI%
There you have it. Now you can create email marketing that inspires, while adhering to email best practices and accurately measure campaign success.
Even though regulations like CAN-SPAM and GDPR have raised the bar in terms of email quality, this is a benefit and not hindrance to your email marketing.
Now that you’ve got the tools to create great authentic email communications that provide value to your subscribers, you can rest assured that they’ll engage with your content and not condemn it to the spam folder.
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