Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach and engage your customers. Recent statistics show that email open rates have surpassed 50% for the first time in history, with an average of 53%.
As marketers, we can’t afford not to take advantage of this opportunity. Email is a great way to communicate with your existing customer base about new products or services while also offering them incentives or discounts as well as conducting market research.
In this blog post, I’ll introduce you to 10 email marketing tactics that will help grow your business!
Let’s get into it.
Set Your Email Marketing Goals
Before you begin utilizing email marketing for your business, it is important to ensure that you set goals that will help you measure the effectiveness of your marketing.
First, identify which metrics and measurements are most important to grow business success for your email campaigns – such as customer acquisition cost or revenue generated from an offer received in a campaign’s inbox.
Once these primary objectives have been identified, it becomes easier to evaluate how successful each individual tactic is at achieving its goal by assessing whether customers acquired through this method were profitable (i.e. if they purchased something).
By setting quantifiable parameters like those outlined above, business owners can better understand what tactics work best with their specific company needs. This allows you to then pour more resources into the methods that have been proven highly effective without spending time on strategies not yielding desired results while also identifying one-time successes so you don’t waste valuable time.
Segment Your Email Subscribers
One of the most important aspects of effective email marketing is segmentation. Being able to segment your email subscribers will let you create targeted campaigns that speak to the specific needs of your audience.
Once you’ve segmented your audience, it’s important to make sure each campaign is tailored for its corresponding group and sends out relevant content in a timely manner. Something as simple as changing up messaging based on time or date can have a huge impact.
If email marketing isn’t working with one persona but another piece of content sees exceptional success, there may be an issue within current targeting methods that need adjusting before moving forward.
This same principle applies when using emails from other sources like blogs. Paying attention not just to what’s happening now (i e blog posts), will give insight into future products and marketing efforts, while also providing valuable information about past successes and failures so they’re never repeated again!
Write A Good Subject Line
When writing emails, one of the most important steps is to ensure you write a good subject line. This is important because it can determine whether your email is opened at all and if the message inside will be read in full.
The subject line should contain some sort of call-to-action or benefit to entice readers into opening an email that they might otherwise ignore.
It’s not enough to simply send out a basic “Hello”.
Some keywords to use in your subject lines might be:
- “FREE Shipping on all Orders!”
- “Don’t miss out! X% off our newest products”
- “Are you still shopping for the holidays?!”
- “We’re celebrating 25 years and have something special just for you!”
- “The best deals of the season are right here in store!”
At the same time, it is important to steer clear of spammy words like “sale” or “free.”
Try not to include any words that might sound like spam, such as: “invitation,” “request a quote,” or even the word “email.”
If you’re looking for ways to make your subject lines more compelling and enticing while still passing through email filters, try including some of the following:
- Emoji’s
- Quotes from famous people
- An offer that is exclusive to email subscribers (i e free shipping, 20% off)
- Words of encouragement or gratitude for being a customer/subscriber. These can be personalized by including the person’s name in the email
- A question that will make the reader curious, such as “What’s on your mind?” or “How can we help you today?”
Split Test Your Campaigns
Your email marketing campaign is all about testing, which is why it’s crucial to always have a split test strategy in place.
Split testing allows you to take your email campaign and send out two different versions of the same message simultaneously, both with slightly different content. The version that outperforms its counterpart will be the one you should use moving forward.
With this process, businesses can glean more data about what audiences respond to most and how their email campaigns can be optimized.
Also remember that split tests are not just for email but also other aspects of digital marketing, including web copy with A/B testing, landing pages, or lead magnets. It is basically anything that is being pushed out into the world as content.
Split testing is a proven method to grow your business, so as long as you keep on testing content and refining what doesn’t work your audience will be more receptive than ever.
Optimize Your Send Time
Timing is another one of those critical factors that make up a successful email campaign.
One of the most important things to do is plan your send time based on which times you know are typically busy for people who have subscribed to your list, whether it’s morning, evening or lunchtime.
You also want to keep an eye out for other days where traffic may be higher than usual and adjust accordingly.
For example, if it’s a holiday season and you know there will be more people at work than usual, a good time to send out your email is in the afternoon or evening when people are not expecting it. This might also be true for other special occasions that typically have higher traffic like Black Friday or Cyber Monday (which can be tricky because of the high volume).
It is also important to note that if you are sending out a marketing email, it’s best not to send one in the middle of the day.
This will be too much for your subscriber who may already have an inbox full of other emails from businesses they subscribe to or might be expecting something urgent at that time.
Instead, you want to send your email in the morning or evening when their inbox will be less full and they can focus on what you’re sending them.
If there is a day when marketing emails are not being sent out, Saturdays for some people as an example, you might also consider saving that email for then.
Customize Your Emails Based On Customer Behavior
When creating email marketing campaigns, customizing emails based on customer behavior can lead to increased engagement and conversions.
This means that you will need to have a deep understanding of your audience. What do they like, what don’t they like. So that when creating campaigns for them, you can fine-tune it based on their preferences. You can even include different content in the email marketing campaign if someone has shown an interest in specific topics or products.
If someone has unsubscribed from your email list, it doesn’t mean that they are completely done with you. You just might need to adjust the content so they see what is most relevant for them and how they can be a part of this experience too.
Even if someone who’s subscribed hasn’t been opening or clicking on any of your emails, you can still create a campaign for them. Just make sure to include information they might be interested in or find useful.
Customizing email campaigns and tailoring content based on customer preferences is really just another way of showing customers that you’re listening to what they have to say.
This will not only help retain current customers but also attract new ones.
Make Your Email Marketing Strategy Personal
Nowadays, we have so much information on our subscribers that it can be easy to customize emails based on what they’re interested in, but it’s also important that you show them how much you know about their personal lives.
For instance, let’s say a subscriber has a birthday, it may be effective to have a special offer for them in their inbox on that day.
Integrating your email marketing strategy into the subscriber’s daily life will make it more personal and genuine and might even result in better performance and future campaigns.
Another way to do this is by sending out an email as if you’re having a conversation with the subscriber, addressing any issues or concerns that they might have. This will create a sense of familiarity and trust between you and your subscriber, making them more likely to engage with the content.
Another example might be, if someone has subscribed to an email list about healthy recipes, you can send out emails from time to time about other healthy cooking resources and also include some relevant and helpful tips.
Start Sending Fewer Emails
This may not sound like an email marketing tactic at all. However, it can be something that will help you grow your business.
Often, marketers spend too much time on their email marketing campaigns and send out way more emails than they need to. This can lead to people unsubscribing because of spam (or just getting tired of the content). Sending fewer emails is a strategy for cutting down on noise in an inbox and will also help you avoid annoying your subscribers.
It’s best to send emails only when they’re really needed and not just because you can.
This is especially important if someone has unsubscribed from your list in the past but then asks for information or updates; this person may be interested again (especially if it was something that they were interested in before).
There are many ways to get your message across when you’re sending emails, but it’s important that they don’t feel like spam or become an annoyance. Sending fewer emails is one way to help with this and will also reduce the risk of unsubscribing because of not wanting any more!
Share Your Thought Leadership Content In Email
Oftentimes, we send out emails for the main reason of selling something to someone. This can be very damaging not only to your brand’s image but also to your subscriber list.
Just like with any other marketing tactic, people will eventually get tired of not getting anything that they can’t use or appreciate in return for their time and information. That’s why it’s a good idea to show them how you’re doing things differently than the rest.
Sharing your thought leadership content in email and linking to it will help you show off your expertise. This is especially important for businesses that are just starting out or don’t have a lot of recognition yet, as they can utilize this content to validate their existence (or market themselves).
Furthermore, sharing thought leadership content on social media will also be very beneficial because not only will it get your message out into the world, but also help you gain recognition.
It’s important to be different in order to grow and stand out from other brands; that way people will remember you for being unique!
However, it is also possible to use this strategy too much or push the marketing content on someone who doesn’t want it. This will only make you look spammy and they may unsubscribe from the list because of it.
This is why it’s important to find the right balance so that your subscribers are interested in what you have to say but also respect them by not invading their inbox with too much information or messages.
Send Targeted, Segmented Email Sequences
More targeted messaging equals more engagement. People don’t want to get a message that doesn’t apply or interest them in any way, shape, or form.
Segmenting your email list will give you the opportunity of sending out messages based on what your subscribers are interested in and who they are as individuals. This can be done through different types of content (or by combining the two) to make it more personalized.
For instance, if someone is interested in your product but never bought anything from you before, send them a series of emails about how they can use what you have available. This will help bring them back and create future sales.
However, sometimes segmentation gets too complicated and becomes more of a hassle than it’s worth. In this case, you can use marketing automation to do the work for you in exchange for your time and skills.
The bottom line is that segmenting your customer base will help increase their engagement with what you’re sending them while also getting more sales from those who are interested!
Use Contests or Polls for Increasing Engagement
I bet that you don’t know anyone who doesn’t like receiving something free. When formulating your next email marketing campaign, think about using contests or polls for increasing engagement.
Contests are a great way to make your audience feel like they have the chance of winning something cool and make them want to get more involved with your brand. You can also offer something in return for the person who brings you the most email signups.
Polls are also great for engaging your audience because they’ll be curious about what it’s about and will want to see the results.
You can offer them something in return for taking the poll and getting involved with your brand (such as a coupon or discount), but it’s not required. In any case, they will find out what the results are and may even share their own opinions with others.
Have A Clear and Concise Action You Want The Reader To Take
In addition to an email marketing strategy that is targeted, personal and based on customer behavior, every email needs to have a clear and concise call-to-action.
Adding a number of different links to your email will make it seem like you’re asking them to do too many things at once, which can be confusing for the reader and not result in any action being taken.
Before sending out any email, ask yourself what you want your reader to do. Is it a purchase, filling out a form, or just general information?
The bottom line is that in order for an email marketing campaign to be successful, the message needs to be clear and easy to read while also being relevant and useful.
Furthermore, if someone wants more information about what you’re sending them, they can always click on the link to find out more.
Final Thoughts
Email marketing is a powerful way to engage with your customer base. You’ll want an email campaign that’s targeted and personal while also sending clear messages about what you’re asking for. Creating an email marketing strategy that is based on customer behavior, targeted and personal will give you an advantage over the competition that’s just sending out cold messages.
More focused messaging equals more engagement. It’s also important to remember that segmenting your email list will allow you to send messages based on what they’re interested in which will increase their engagement.
Make sure that your email has a clear and concise call to action and is easy to read while also being relevant.
In order for an email marketing campaign to be successful, the message needs to be clear and easy to read while also being relevant.
If this sounds overwhelming or like too much work on top of all other aspects of running your business, let us know – we can help. Contact our team today for more information on how we can integrate these principles into your digital strategy to increase conversions without breaking the bank.
Which one of these 10 tactics have you applied in order to grow your list?
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