Four Bulletproof Tips for Email Marketing Success
Four Bulletproof Tips for Email Marketing Success
With all the new social media platforms and exciting digital content, these days email marketing may a little old fashioned. But email marketing can make a big impact on your audience and our bottom line! According to a study by Campaign Monitor For every $1 spent on email marketing $44 is made in return.
Email marketing can appear easy (an average office worker receives 121 emails a day and sends around 40 business emails daily) but getting results can be tricky. However, thereâs good news for you. Even if youâre new to email marketing, there a few simple tips that increase the success of your campaigns by leaps and bounds. Letâs take a look:
- Tip 1 - Get Your Email Opened
A journey of a thousand calls to action begins with just one click! Remember, your message doesnât do any good if it never gets seen. Thatâs why itâs important to spice up the inbox. Make sure your subject lines are compelling and put some power in the âFromâ line. Would this email get more attention if it came from the brand, the CEO, or even the sales rep? These factors are all a reader has to quickly determine if they want to read your message, so make it count.
Struggling to write the perfect subject line? Use Send Check It to get insights and make improvements before it goes out:
https://sendcheckit.com/email-subject-line-tester - Tip 2 - Test for Success
If you have the ability to test your messages, do it. One of the best ways to immediately improve the efficacy of your campaign is to employ A/B testing. A/B testing is simple - you send a percentage of your audience one of two different subject lines as once. After a predetermined amount of time (~4 hours), the subject line that received the highest open rate within the test group will be sent to the remaining audience. With this simple test, you can immediately improve your results and gather important data for future use.
Want to test using Emojis in your subject line? Here is a great tool to find the right one: https://getemoji.com/ - Tip 3 - Include a Call to Action! Seriously
If you want to see your email engagement increase, you have to use strong calls to action. A call to action will both encourage and measure the engagement youâre seeking. Many people starting out in email marketing fail to think about the readerâs journey, and will, therefore, fail to connect the immediate message with next steps. Ensure that youâre giving readers a reason to take the next step, and what that step actually is. Isnât the whole point of an email to trigger an action? For marketing to be truly effective, you need to meet your audience where they are. Give them the information that is important to them, and spell out exactly what you want them to do. - Tip 4 - Tell Your Audience What They Care About
To really reach your email audience, you have to consider what is important to them...what they care about. They already have their own lives - why should they care about what you have to say? What makes your message important, and therefore able to stand out? Often businesses will simply shout at their audience, tell them why THEIR company is so cool/hip/helpful/awesome. In reality, theyâre not touching on what their readers really care about...themselves. The audience is so focused on themselves that they simply donât care. It is your responsibility to dig through the noise and hit their emotions. If you arenât careful, your message will get lost in a crowded inbox.
We hope that these tips are useful for your next email marketing effort. Remember, every campaign is an opportunity to learn something new about your potential customers. Seize your opportunity!
If you have questions about email marketing best practices, marketing in general, or just need a friendly ear, contact us today at info@revenue.wp10.staging-site.io. Weâre here to make sure you get more revenue from every email.
How to Do Email Marketing Effectively When Youâre a Small Marketing Department
How to Do Email Marketing Effectively When You're a Small Marketing Department
If you want to learn how to do email marketing effectively, then understand there is no one thing that will ensure success. Itâs a balance of strategy, techniques and execution. Here is an overview specifically designed for 1- to 3-person marketing departments.
Email is such an ubiquitous part of our lives that itâs often overlooked by marketers. There are bigger, shinier strategies and tactics that always seem to command the lionâs share of attention.
But email marketing should be an integral part of your approach â the numbers say itâs the most important. Â Letâs shed some light on why email is so critical, and the steps a small marketing department can take to make your approach effective.
For this post, I received some great insights from folks who really know their email marketing (listed in order of appearance):
Jessica Best, Director of Data-Driven Marketing, Barkley
Gini Dietrich, Founder and author of Spin Sucks
Megan Robinson, VP Marketing of @revenue
How effective is email marketing?
Throughout this post, weâre going to use the word âeffective.â Â Thatâs because âeffectiveâ is defined as âsuccessful at producing a desired or intended result.â Â And thatâs what this stuff called marketing is all about â results, right?
Consider some of the industry statistics that reveal how widespread email usage is, and how effective email marketing can be:
- According to Statista, a total of 96% of agencies were going to either increase (48%) or maintain (48%) their spending on email in 2017.
- The number of email users worldwide is expected to rise to 2.9 billion users by 2019, according to Statisa.  (In comparison, there are 2 billion Facebook users as of Q3 2017.)
What do the numbers tell me? Â When 96% of agencies increase or maintain their spending on email marketing, you know itâs working. Â And when a medium is 2.9 times bigger than Facebook, that tells you that it is still the biggest game in town.
Effective strategies, tips and techniques for email marketing
In creating a post about how to do email marketing effectively, you canât possibly include everything. What weâve attempted to do in this post is focus on the critical elements a small marketing department should focus on; you can build on this to refine your approach.
1. Donât buy a list â EVER
Letâs cross off the first thing that comes to many marketersâ minds: Â Should I buy a list of email addresses and email them?
According to Jessica Best, the answer is quite simple: NO. Besides this being ridiculously intrusive for the end user, you also run a big risk of being labeled a spammer by email service providers, which means you could be blacklisted and your emails will go NOWHERE.
(Read more from Jessica in What Email Marketers (Still) Donât Know They Donât Know.)
If you really want to build a list, provide content and information that is of value to the customer. Â Share with them how youâll solve their problems. People want answers, not SPAM.
2. Donât just say âsubscribeâ or âget updatesâ
How many websites have you seen that ask for your email for âupdates,â but donât tell you what youâll get in return?
Be sure you give them a solid reason to sign up, especially telling them the frequency of the emails. People like to get their Sunday morning paper on Sunday, after all. (Iâm referring to newspapers â do people get newspapers anymore?)
3. If you automate, use âvalue forwardâ content to aid in the buying decision and stay in front of prospects
If someone signed up for an email, itâs likely that they are in the early stages of the buying process. Â You can use automation to set up a string of emails that will go out right after someone signs up for a download.
However, these emails need to be âvalue forward,â as Jessica Best puts it. Sure you can sell product, but think about your customer and their buying process. Â What would add value to their decision? Â Knowing more about you? Â Seeing customer reviews, or comparisons to your competition?
Any types of follow-ups should lead them through their Customer Journey, ultimately to a purchase. But you have to present something of value each step of the way.
You also canât wait to follow up, as Gini Dietrich tells us:
A good majority of organizations have an email sign-up on their site without a single email that follows. Sure, you may send a monthly email, but what if thatâs 29 days from now? Will the person remember who you are 29 days from now? Itâs doubtful. Create a 7- or 10-day email campaign for your new subscribers. The first one should be delivered immediately after they subscribe.
4. Segment your list and personalize your messages
Different offers on your website can mean different things. Â Create different email lists based on the reason why people signed up. Â Do they just want to read your new blog posts? Â Are they interested in buying your product or service?
If you have different segments, you can tailor your emails to those segments. Â For a small marketing department, this is the first step toward speaking directly to what your target needs.
Segmentation is different than personalization, as noted in this great post by Jason Grunberg, who explains the difference between personalization and segmentation.
True personalization, beyond just inserting a contactâs name, involves delivering email content based on a clientâs past actions, as explained by Active Campaignâs Brian Gadu in this post. Ultimately, this improves your deliverability and your standing in the eyes of email providers.
Grunberg and Gadu both indicate that personalized emails (one version for one person) are going to overtake grouped segmented emails.
For a small marketing department, this granularity should be the ultimate goal, but it wonât happen overnight. Start by segmenting your list, then work toward personalization.
(Check out more examples in Jessicaâs post on 6 Steps to Putting Data to Work in Email Marketing.)
5. Let unsubscribe rates dictate how much you should send
A common question among marketers: How much email is too much? Â Weâre all inundated with email, and you want to be sure your email gets opened and that youâre not annoying.
Whatever you do, donât make your decision based on what YOU think is too much. Â Let your prospects make the decision.
You can do this by focusing on your unsubscribe rate. Â You want your unsubscribe rates to be below 1% of your list. If your rates creep north of that number, itâs time to reevaluate your content and the rate at which youâre emailing.
6. Use your blog content to make an eNewsletter
Creating a monthly eNewsletter can produce numerous benefits.  As Megan Robinson of @revenue details in this post (with stats to back up her point), those benefits include:
- Keeps your business top of mind
- Engages your audience
- Deepens your relationship with customers
But sending out regular emails â at the very least, once a month â can seem tedious if youâre trying to create new content all the time.
One method thatâs effective is to turn off the auto notification from your blog, and instead route sign-ups to a special list on your email service. Â Then, once a month, compile your blog posts into a newsletter and send it to prospects.
Itâs a great way to share content for prospects just entering the sales funnel, or add in some new product promos to keep them posted on new sales.
7. Deliver your downloadable offer via email
Letâs say youâre providing a piece of content for a visitor to download, like a PDF guide. Should you make that available on a thank you page, after the person signs up for the offer?
Jessica recommends sending it out via your follow-up email. Â The recipient is very likely to open and engage with your email, and that helps Google recognize that the recipient wants your content. Theyâll more likely âgreen lightâ your future emails, so always deliver your offers by email!
8. Build your list using different techniques
There are a million ways to build your list, but here are a few that have proven effective for us:
Feature a downloadable offer with a sign-up form as well:Â Many will argue that all your content should be ungated, but Jessica believes that you still should have lead forms in front of a valuable piece. Â âAs long as itâs valuable, it doesnât cost that person a whole lot to give up their email in exchange for the content,â she said.
Co-Op/Ad Swap:Â Partner with a relevant/complementary business or product. Create an email for a partner or complementary business. They will mail your message to their email list, then you respond in-kind.
These are just foundational suggestions.  To really drive email sign-ups, check out this amazing post from Robbie Richards.
9. Feature an email sign-up in your websiteâs footer
We get a surprising amount of sign-ups with our email subscriber box in the footer, and itâs pretty logical when you think about it. A person reads the page, likes the content, and when they scroll to the bottom, BLAM, youâve got the sign-up form.
Because itâs in the footer, you also have an automatic guarantee itâs on every page of your site.
10. Include an opt-in checkbox on your contact form
Besides the sign-up forms on your site, you can also add an opt-in checkbox to your contact forms. You may think these people want info. right away, but this gives you a method to follow up with them and keep them on the list. It also puts them in control of whether or not they want to receive more information.
(Opt-in form courtesy of Pinpointe.com.)
11. Control when notifications are sent out about a new blog post
When your developer sets up your blog subscription form, donât use a plug-in from the content management system. Keep all of your subscribers in your email marketing platform so you can control when and how they see your latest.
Auto-notification plug-ins just grab the headline of your post and make it the headline of the article. But your article headline might not make for a good email headline, and you may also want to include a teaser message to your readers to get them to check it out.
Andy Crestodina does a great job with this. Notice his email has a headline written specifically for email. His blog post title, which likely includes very specific keywords and structure, probably would not be as effective.
12. Avoid getting labeled a SPAMMER
Itâs very easy for someone to label you a SPAMMER, and as we touched on earlier, thatâs someplace you definitely donât want to go.
So how do you do it? Â First of all, play nice. Use common sense tactics not to SPAM. If someone gives you a business card at a lunch, thatâs not an automatic OK to add them to your eNewsletter list. Â Send them the link to subscribe, and let them take it from there.
Some other tactics include:
Always include an unsubscribe link and a physical mailing address with your emails. Most email services will build this into your template, in compliance with CAN-SPAM law.
Be sure youâre sending from a professional SMTP server. Any email marketing platform like Active Campaign, MailChimp, Constant Contact will be compliant.
Easy on the images:Â Include enough text that a spam filter can âreadâ what your email is about. Too many images can get a can of SPAM thrown at you.
Avoid the SPAMMY words:  Using these words in moderation wonât get you labeled a spammer, but too many can land you in trouble.  Hereâs a great list from Karen Rubin of HubSpot.
13. Ensure itâs mobile-friendly
Litmusâ Email Analytics tracks open emails from over 1.4 billion sent emails. They reported that emails opened on mobile devices was 56% of all emails sent.  Make sure your emails, and the service youâre sending them from, are mobile-friendly!
Check out Meganâs article on Googleâs Mobile First Initiative:
14. Create a great email â include excellent content
Oh yeah! Â That stuff. Â What you want to, you know, say to people. I guess that matters too, right?
Back in the days of direct mail, there was a 40-40-20 rule. Your success was determined by: 40% by the list; 40% by the offer; and 20% by the creative. Hereâs a great post by Eunice Brownlee that refines that formula for email marketing today, but essentially the idea remains the same.
So what makes for an effective email?
Focus on the subject line:  If you want people to get into your email, you need to open that front door. So create an excellent subject line. Check out insights from Charlie Meyerson on how to do it right!
Keep it short and focused:Â You want a clear intent with your email, and you want someone to take an action as a result of it. Keep your content skimmable; 1-3 lines of copy, and avoid the bulky paragraphs.
These shorter segments can then link out to longer content.
âOne of the biggest mistakes people make with email is sending all of the content in the email. Donât do that! It doesnât encourage engagement, nor can you track effectiveness,â says Gini Dietrich.
âAnd always remember: Your email content is about THEM, not you. No one cares about your new hires, your new contracts, or your awards. What they do care about is how you can help them.â
15. Make Call-To-Action prominent
You want to take them somewhere, give them a big, bold CTA. Â And use a contrasting color, so it really stands out.
16. Metrics: How do you measure email marketing success
Here are the big ones we really keep an eye on:
Click-through rates:Â Really, at the end of the day, itâs all about sales, right? Â So youâd ultimately want to see how many people are clicking through to your site. Â Open rates are great and could potentially generate some brand equity, but you want people to get to your site.
If you can track the email traffic all the way to a conversion in the form of a lead or purchase, thatâs the ultimate goal!
Unsubscribe rates:Â Â You definitely donât want that number to incline. Itâs a good indication youâre either sending out too frequently, or your content quality is off. Â According to Jessica Best, the average unsubscribe rate is .5%, and just make sure you donât creep north of 1%.
Track through UTM tagging:Â Â This isnât a metric, but a methodology to track your email visits from Google analytics. If you donât use UTM tagging on your links, then GA will count the visit as âDirectâ and not an email.
17. Test, test and test some more
Hate to date myself (someoneâs got to), but when I was writing direct mail copy for a big insurance company, we would roll out $10,000 tests on a changed headline. Â Thatâs still done today, but with email, you can make instant changes and improve your open rate.
Megan Robinson digs deeper into the subject for us:
Most email service providers have subject line testing already built in and can be one of the best ways to immediately improve your email. A/B Testing is when you send a percentage of your audience 2 different subject lines. After a predetermined time (~4 hours) the subject line that received the highest open rate within the test group will be sent automatically to the remaining audience.
Subject line testing allows for instant optimization, but can also teach a lot about your audience. Try testing with a specific hypothesis in mind. Does your audience like it when you use emojis? Are they more offer- or relationship-focused?â
Email marketing is a journey
Like everything in this digital marketing game, your success rate will be a function of time. No one expects you to hit it right out of the park, right from the start.
Use these foundations as your launchpad, then tap into the experts in this article to learn more and improve your efforts. Â Effective emails are all about results â follow these tips, techniques and strategies and youâll be on your way.
For the original blog, click here.
Permission-based Marketing: Where yes means yes, and no means no
Permission-based Marketing: Where Yes Means Yes, and No Means No
Marketing can be powerful, impactful and even helpful; but it can also be annoying and unwanted. These days, marketers are trying to decipher through some blurred lines on whether their message is wanted, appropriate, and even legal.
This is where permission-based marketing can be so powerful.
âPermission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them. It recognizes the new power of the best consumers to ignore marketing. It realizes that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention.â
As you can imagine, we believe permission-based marketing is the best kind of marketing because it targets the right audience, with the right message. To help you find your voice, below are several situations that are all âYesâ (full permission), and a couple of situations you donât want to get caught in.
Yes means yes: Situations where your marketing can make a HUGE impact!
Your email list:
If someone is on your email list, it means that they have expressed specific interest in your business. A good email list if full of highly engaged contacts that are expecting you to send them something. **hint, EXPECTING** thatâs right, when they signup, they are flat-out asking for it.
Social Media:
Your followers, likes, and community is another place where your audience is interested, engaged and looking for information. Social media platforms give you the voice and audience to kick your marketing into action.
No means no: Critical misses that burn marketers and brands.
Purchasing an audience: If you have a list or an audience that you purchased, you are walking some fine lines. These contacts have not expressed interest, so often your message will appear as unwanted and even intrusive. Because of this, your campaign performance will suffer and you wonât be getting the results you are capable of.
Promotion overload: Remember, you must treat your audience with respect and provide relevant information. If you are always talking about yourself and not providing value, this is a great way to get ignored and lose your audience.
Find your safe word: Just in case you are afraid of crossing a line, there are a couple universal safe words that you should know: âunsubscribeâ, âopt-outâ âunfollowâ and âblockâ. Always respect your audienceâs decision.
Rule of thumb- get permission where you can, and ensure that content is always relevant and interesting to your audience.
If you are looking to build your audience or need help finding the right words, we can help.