One of the earliest types of digital marketing is email marketing, and there’s a good reason for that: it works! Businesses may communicate with customers through email, increase brand recognition, promote brand loyalty, and nurture leads into paying clients.
Email has been even more crucial for customers as a way to follow brands since the coronavirus pandemic. According to DMA’s Consumer Email Tracker 2021 research, for the first time, received messages’ relevancy (55 percent) surpassed discounts and offers as the top factor motivating consumers to open brand emails (53 percent).
Even while e – marketing may appear to be a straightforward strategy, there are both an art and a science to using it effectively. In this article, we’ll examine the specifics of email marketing and provide you with fantastic examples to serve as models for your own campaigns.
Email marketing: What is it?
Email marketing is described as a type of digital marketing that uses emails to advertise goods and services to new and current clients. Email marketing is a crucial channel that both B2C and B2B businesses use to increase brand recognition, client loyalty, and conversion rates.
What makes email marketing so crucial?
One of the most lucrative direct marketing methods is email marketing, with Statista estimating that global email revenue would reach $17.9 billion by 2027. That is a sizable number of businesses using email effectively!
Let’s examine three of email marketing’s key components for your company.
1) Data gathering
Data collecting is one of the main reasons firms use email. Getting email campaigns is a terrific approach to consentingly acquire private information from individuals who are interested in your company while third-party cookies are phased out. Businesses must abide by data privacy laws like the GDPR or CCPA because customers want to secure their personal information. First-party data is gathered through email in a way that increases brand recognition and loyalty.
2) Online advertising
By providing pertinent information, email can also assist you in attracting prospects and leads. What are some ways that email marketing can support your overall inbound marketing plan? Prospects that have already expressed interest in your business, product, or service can be communicated with via email. By choosing to register to a magazine, they accomplish this.
Because of the nature of someone using email for inbound marketing, your leads are warmer because they are more interested in and eager on doing business with you. As inbound email lists often contain fewer members, it also means that the Return on Investment is higher and that costs may be lower.
3) Individualization
Email allows for the segmentation and personalization of information and messaging because you are aware of your audience. This implies that you can organise lists in various ways by those who:
- Manifest your interest in a specific good or service.
- Possess certain tastes, such as a love of cats!
- Share a common base of operations.
- Are a particular gender and age.
The more you are knowledgeable of your clients or prospects, the easier it will be to write a prospecting email that gets responses. It’s not about spamming your lists; rather, use caution when deciding on the regularity and make sure to A/B test your material and subject lines to see what is most effective.
How to get email marketing lists?
With so many benefits to email, it’s no wonder that companies are looking to start or build their lists. There are several ways to do this.
- Use calls to action (CTAs) to compel visitors to subscribe to email updates on your website or landing pages.
- Use social media – If you make use of any social media platforms, inform your followers that you have an email list for exclusive deals or special offers.
- Offer free downloads – People enjoy getting free things, so consider providing an ebook or whitepaper that can be downloaded for free.
- Use pop-ups or forms: Pop-ups and forms are frequently found on websites and ask visitors to provide their email addresses in order to learn more.
- Run a contest: Contests are a fantastic method to get individuals to provide personal information. Just be sure the prize is alluring enough!
- Promote a special deal – A discount or a buy one, get one free deal can entice individuals to subscribe to your email list.
- Offer a blog membership – If you run a blog, think about creating a subscriber list so readers may obtain the most recent posts. If you think a blog may be a good fit for your company, learn how to create one.
- Encourage customers to participate by offering them a discount for referring others, such as 20% off your next purchase.
- Ask for feedback – Include an email opt-in request on a feedback or testimonial form.
- Hosting a webinar or podcast offers significant value, and those that join up will supply information.
- Make a newsletter; this is a wonderful approach to inform people about new developments, special offers, or contests.
- Simply ask! – You might be amazed by how many individuals are interested in your brand if you simply ask for an email address and spread the news sometimes.
How to do email marketing: Step-by-step guide
How do you create and carry out an email marketing campaign now that you are aware of the importance of email and how to establish and grow your email lists?
Make a list.
The size and calibre of the subscriber list are the primary success factors when creating an email campaign. Consider making lists that are divided up by type. You can do it according to audience, preference, or category, but try to avoid putting all of your contacts in one pot and hope for the best.
Consider the consumers or prospects you wish to work with and why. then use Excel or your email marketing programme to compile an email list. Each list should be clearly labelled so you can quickly find it again and measure performance.
Select a tool for email marketing.
There are many different email marketing solutions available. As a result, you must do your homework and select the ideal one for your company.
Some programmes are free to use initially but charge based on the quantity of contacts in your database after that. This is why maintaining control over your lists is crucial because you’ll be paying for each one; be ready to regularly examine your lists. Several resources to consider are:
- MailChimp
- HubSpot
- Marketo
- GetResponse
Create a routine for email
An automated workflow is a set of emails sent in a certain sequence to nurture leads or direct customers to take specific actions. To put one up, follow these simple steps:
- Establish a goal for your strategy, such as getting more prospects to sign up for a free trial.
- Establish enrollment criteria to determine who will enter the workflow based on the settings you select. For instance, it might be everybody who downloaded a particular ebook.
- Choose your email assets. This could be a CTA that directs readers to a blog or a customised landing page that invites them to sign up for a free trial.
- Create your emails by considering each phase of the trip and the touchpoints after you have determined your goal and assembled the necessary resources.
- Add a time delay by separating the first and second emails by a day.
Create a live process and monitor it! – Check in every day to make sure your processes are effective and that the correct people are being added to them. Any modifications should be made as soon as possible.
Make a schedule
Similar to an editorial or social media calendar is an email calendar. To target prospects and consumers, consistent frequency and audience planning is necessary. Set goals for each campaign and decide how frequently you want to communicate with certain segments or groups. You can determine who and when you are targeting by tracking the date of your email marketing efforts.
When transmitting, you should also keep the dates and times in mind. Depending on your target, some will be more effective than others, such as during a commute or first thing in the morning. See what works for your lists by putting these to the test.