Email marketing has to be right up there with the most powerful tools available in today's digital marketing environment. With companies fighting to connect with their audiences in more meaningful ways, the task of building a robust email list and delivering personalized, engaging content has never been more important. Below is an article outlining some of the newer strategies and old tactics that are tried and true to help you drive email marketing growth, from sign-up form optimization to segmentation, automation, and insights by the numbers. Whether you're a veteran marketer or a newcomer, these actionable tips will help to convert your email campaigns into a dynamic engine for driving customer engagement and revenue.
Email Marketing in Today's World
But, being about 20 years later, things have since changed! Many people nowadays "Email marketing is dead," or, "Nobody pays attention to emails anymore" because they get too many messages. But this isn't true. Statista says 306 billion emails are sent and received daily. If people were really ignoring them, those numbers wouldn't be so high. The success of services like Mailchimp, which sold for more than 0 billion, proves that email marketing still works great.
The question remains: How do you make your emails stand out? How can you earn money from them? Here are some important email marketing strategies to consider:
- Build a targeted email list: Attract subscribers who truly care about your brand.
- Craft compelling subject lines: Make your subject line interesting to increase click rates.
- Personalize your content: Adjust your emails based on what customers like to improve engagement and loyalty.
- Segment your audience: Split your email list into groups to send more relevant content.
- Provide value: Make sure your emails include useful information or offers that appeal to your audience.
- Utilize storytelling: Share stories that connect with readers emotionally and encourage action.
- Optimize for mobile: Ensure your emails look good on phones since many people check their emails this way.
- Test and analyze: Regularly check how well your campaigns are performing and make adjustments as needed.
- Be consistent: Set a regular schedule for sending emails so your audience knows when to expect updates.
Effective Email Marketing Strategies
Clean up your email list is crucial for maintaining high open rates above 30%. When you consistently send emails to non-responsive recipients, email providers like Gmail and Hotmail tend to direct these messages to spam folders, even without explicit spam marking. By maintaining a clean list and sending emails only to engaged subscribers, you can ensure better delivery rates and prevent your messages from being filtered out. Poor list maintenance can lead to delivery issues even for interested subscribers, as low engagement signals to platforms that your content may be irrelevant.
Casual Subject Lines
Using informal subject lines can boost email open rates by approximately 12%. Rather than formal approaches like "Steve, here is how you boost your SEO traffic by 132%. Please check out this email," opt for casual ones such as "Steve, you gotta check this out." This creates curiosity and encourages recipients to open the email. Campaign Monitor experts emphasize personalizing subject lines based on audience interests, with brands like BuzzFeed, Rip Curl, and even UNICEF successfully implementing this strategy.
Social Media Integration
Your email list can be a powerful tool for growing social media followers. This strategy aligns with the marketing rule of seven, which suggests that people need multiple brand interactions to become loyal supporters. Instead of limiting emails to content updates or promotions, encourage subscribers to connect on social platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. This cross-promotion approach helps build brand loyalty, increases overall engagement, and creates additional opportunities for direct marketing communication.
Follow Up When People Add Items to Their Cart But Don't Buy
One of the most important ways to reduce cart abandonment is sending follow-up emails when people add things to their cart but don't complete the purchase. By sending just one simple email, you can bring abandonment rates down by as much as 18%. For example, you could write something like: "Hey John, I saw you grab this toilet paper. It's running low—only two left! Check it out." This tactic may not be as handy with staple items like toilet paper, but with items like t-shirts, scooters, or bikes, it can be pretty effective. Check out how brands like AirBnB and Pizza Hut use personalized reminders to help recover abandoned carts. Even entertainment companies like Showtime and high-end places like Soho House know how important targeted follow-ups are in keeping customers engaged.
Keep Your Emails Short and Clear
We discovered that emails containing less than 200 words tend to get more clicks, from 7% to 38% more. That is a huge difference. Forget about those long emails and stick to messages that are concise in nature to keep your readers engaged.
Send Your Emails in the Morning
The most important is when sending event invites or setting email marketing goals, great timing along with quality content is most needed. We found that sending your morning email campaigns to subscribers around 6 a.m. in their time zone is more likely to result in them actually being opened. When people first wake up to check their emails, yours is at the top instead of at the bottom of the pile of emails. If your email is at the bottom, it may go unnoticed as they scroll through others at the top. To get your emails more in view, send them early in their time zone. We find that normally, 6 a.m. works best. For example, if you target people in India, send at 6 a.m. Indian time. In the United States, it could be 6 a.m. PST or EST-just pick one. Better timing of emails and targeting the correct time zones can serve your goals of email marketing better.
Add Value Even While Selling
The value-added selling in emails is bound to fetch you better customers. Take the example of Legion Athletics. One such example is Legion, a fitness supplement brand making more than 10% of its revenue from emails. They do this by teaching customers through email marketing. They don't just sell protein powder or supplements through emailing. They send tips on how to use the products in the most efficient way possible. They even share advice regarding working out routines and post ways to get fit and healthy while using their products. See the win-win here? Not only can people buy the products, but they get valuable information. They enhance your experience overall by teaching you how to use the products correctly and as bonuses, other tips on health.
Resend To Unopens
Resending emails to people who didn't open them will typically increase your open rate by around 8%. If you send out 100,000 emails and only 25,000 or 30,000 people open them, you can expect another 8,000 or so to open the emails if you resend to everybody who didn't open them and change the subject line. The secret is to optimize the subject line for resends. If you keep the same subject line, it won't work nearly as well.
Add Countdown Timers to Your Emails
Countdown timers can really bring in that sense of urgency when used in an email marketing campaign. This has caused a bump up in sales by about 19% based on recent experiences. You should only use this method when you're promoting something that has a limited time offer. For example, if your promotion lasts forever, there's no need for a countdown timer. But if the offer is only available for 24 hours, adding a countdown timer is crucial because it can greatly improve sales.
Choose Online Capital Group
If you need help with your email marketing, especially in the areas of creating effective campaigns and engaging newsletters, give us a call today! (904) 600-3600 We are you one in all solution for professional online presence management, including email marketing strategies and growth.
