Email Marketing 101: How to Harness the Power of Email Marketing

April 2nd, 2019
Author: cassandra
Posted in: Email Marketing

Should your company be utilizing email marketing? Absolutely! Email marketing is still the #1 most effective one-to-one communication channel available for marketers.

Email marketing continues to deliver a tremendous Return on Investment (ROI) because the best email marketing campaigns turn prospective customers into lifelong buyers committed to your brand, recommending your product or services to everyone they know.

Where do people check their email?

People spend more time reading their emails on their mobile devices compared to desktop and tablet. But when and where they check email is more interesting:

According to the 2018 Adobe Consumer Email Survey, participants admitted to checking personal/non-work related emails in the following situations.

The breakdown on where and when people check their personal email:

60% Watching TV/Movie
50% Lying in bed
40% Bathroom
35% Talking on the Phone
28% Walking
27% During a Meal with Others
21% Commuting
17% Face-to-Face Conversation
16% Working Out
14% Driving
9% Formal Ceremony

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar?

Email Marketing: Getting Started

To implement effective email marketing from the ground up, you will need email leads, or email addresses, to send your newsletter to. Instead of buying an “email list”, look for email marketing tools, such as an opt-in email widget that lets potential customers “opt-in” or sign-up using their email, then you can start adding these opt-in email lists to your database.

Once you select an opt-in widget, you need to create an enticement such as a special offer or incentive to compel people to opt-in to your email list. This offer needs to be something “of value” to the subscriber in exchange for their email address. This incentive is known as a “lead magnet.”

Popular Lead Magnets:

Coupons
Free Sample or Trial Offer
Free Webinar
Free Consultation
White Page or Case Study
Free e-Book

Be sure that your lead magnet provides instant gratification, is relevant to your audience’s needs, and it consists of useful information that helps your audience improve their lives in some way.

Website Opt-In Form

Your next step is to place the opt-in form on your website.

Possible options include:

In Your Header or Footer
A Welcome Gate (full screen call to action that appears before a user can see any content)
Floating Bar (an attractive header bar that stays visible as visitors scroll through your site)
On Your Sidebar
On Tour About Page
Within Your Blog Post
On a Sign-Up Page
On an Exit Pop-Up Widget (message pops up at the exact moment the user is about to exit your website)
A Pop-Up Widget Triggered by a Duration On a Site

Now that you have an engaging lead magnet placed on your website, you are on your way to building an effective email list.

Partner with a Great Email Marketing Automation Company

Research marketing automation companies so you can create a scheduled campaign with relevant content to keep subscribers interested. Companies such as Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, and Emma are just a few options that have the technology to assist you in your email marketing development.

They also offer email marketing lists segmentation. This allows you to send individual emails only to those subscribers who show interest in the content rather than just sending a mass email with the same content to everyone.

Promotions and newsletters are fine to send as email blasts but there are times you want to only target your email list by interest or buying cycles, etc. The best email campaigns separate their email leads into smaller groups, according to specific criteria (i.e. has an interested in completing their degree online) allowing you to send more personalized and relevant emails. This email marketing strategy results in higher conversion rates.

Extend a Warm Welcome

Next, you will want to design a welcome email as soon as they opt-in. This email campaign will keep your business top-of-mind. New subscribers are going to expect high quality content and useful tools during your relationship, so be prepared to make a spectacular first impression. Make sure you:

Thank them for joining in a friendly, personalized tone
Explain your business objective and take the position of authority
Tell them what they can expect from you and what you want them to do next
Restate the benefits of joining
Engage them: ask them to follow you on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Add a special offer, such as: a coupon, some helpful tips, an educational tutorial/webinar or a 20% discount for any online purchase

Whatever you decide, just remember to put your best foot forward. You want your audience to be excited to hear from you instead of being annoyed and gunning for the unsubscribe link.

Email Marketing Strategy

There are 3 types of emails:

Transactional Emails

Goal is customer service, brand awareness, lead generation, and retention; includes: order confirmations, purchase receipts, shipping notifications, support tickets, password reminders.

Relational Emails

Goal is nurturing customer engagement; includes: new subscriber email, newsletter, blogs, social updates, webinar confirmation, surveys, reviews, contest announcements.

Promotional Emails

Goal is to sell and upsell; includes: sales announcements, new product release, event announcements, webinar announcements, trial offers, upgrade offers, podcasts and more.

Whether you are sending a transactional, relational or promotional email, you want to make sure you create a GREAT subject line that stands out, creates excitement and the desire to open the email instantly.

Assembling Your Email Marketing Campaign

Subject Lines

Basic guidelines on writing a subject line:

Size of the Subject Line does not matter
Words matter, your goal is to create interest and intrigue
Use “Latest”, “Brand New”, “Exciting”, “Free”, “BOGO”
Ask a question
Use “can’t”, “won’t”
Avoid “will”, “who”
If using exclamation marks go with 3, !!!
Use ellipses…, they work well
add numbers, something about numbers draws people in
Use a fun, joking or conversational tone
Add emojis because most everyone loves emojis

Most importantly, remember to test your subject lines. You’re going to need to do some trial and error before finding the perfect method of writing subject lines for your business.

Email Message Content

Customer Personas

In order to connect with your subscribers you need to construct a buyer persona before your start writing the message content.

Contact and interview your subscribers in order to find out their likes and dislikes. Get to know your audience: what makes them tick? Find out their problems, fears, desires, needs and goals. This will help you write content that speaks to them and addresses their problems.

Creating personas can be a daunting task. The email marketing professionals at DMI can help!

Compelling Content

Another good email marketing strategy is to speak in the style and tone your subscribers can relate to… as if they are your friend or a family member.

The introduction of your newsletter is important so use short, snappy, “inquiring minds want to know” sentences.

Example: Make Money Recycling: 10 Tips Going from 0 to $1,000 per Month

This short inquisitive opener immediately brings the reader to the next paragraph to find out how recycling can earn someone that much money in so little time.

Throughout the body, make sure you write incredible content and don’t to forget try a little humor at times. If your audience likes your content, there is a strong chance they will open your emails in the future.

Visually Breakup the Content

The best email campaigns include entertaining visuals. In order to keep your content fresh, try adding: photos, videos, funny GIFs, eBooks, infographics, audio, interactive quizzes, live twitter feed or real-time conversational data. There are so many options you can explore.

Be sure to use different typesetting options to divide the content so it is easier to read. Some options include:

Bullets
Subheadings
Italics
Images
Blockquotes
Numbered Lists

Call to Action

Add a Call-to-Action: For today only, you can use code: SAVEBIG to receive 25% discount on orders $50 or more.

What a great way to turn a prospect into a customer!

It’s Closing Time!

via GIPHY

Create a snazzy close that ties it up by summarizing the introduction and why it benefits the subscriber. Avoid ending the newsletter abruptly without tying up the loose ends.

Add a P.S.

Remind the subscriber they have a call to action:

P.S. Your 25% discount is valid TODAY only, so click here to activate.

Don’t forget to:

Optimize your email campaign for Mobile: you want your newsletter to look great no matter what device your audience is using
Effective email campaigns are sent out according to subscriber’s time zone so the email has a better opportunity to be opened and read.
Personalize by adding a salutation with the subscriber’s name: Dear Jimmy
Create an Autoresponder (a sequence of email blasts that are automatically sent to a specific segment of your subscriber’s list based on an action they made; such as: joining your email list, cart abandonment, downloading webinar or buying a product) This keeps your subscribers engaged and encourages additional sales.
Monitor the results and make changes to improve your email campaign (don’t forget to test it!)

Your Email marketing campaign needs to be a slice of your business marketing strategy because it delivers tremendous ROI. Email marketing is still the best platform to make offers and send content in order to acquire new customers.

Ready to get started?

Putting together a successful email marketing campaign is more than just setting up a Mail Chimp account. If you’re eager to grow your business but aren’t quite sure how to get started with email marketing, contact the DMI team today to get started.

We’ll sit down with you, go over your business goals and develop a strategy to best suit your business needs based on your marketing budget.

Give us a call at 816-537-7950 or email Info@DigitalMarketingInc.net to get started today!