Email marketing is a powerful marketing tool, that’s why it has been consistently listed as the top lead source by marketers. Email marketing delivers a whopping $40 return on investment to every $1 spent when compared to other marketing channels [Source Marketing Profs]. Email marketing allows you to reach your prospects and customers where they are. Your target audience, may not attend every networking event, may not watch TV or listen to radio, but they definitely do check their email every day, in fact several times per day. When you consider the actions your customers are taking on a daily basis, it’s hard to ignore email marketing as an effective way to reach them.
When it comes to creating email marketing campaigns that deliver results, there are 3 core metrics you need to pay attention to in order to succeed.
- Open Rates – the % of people that open your emails.
- Click Through Rates – the % of people that click through to your offer in your email
- Conversion Rate – the % of people that took the desired action you wanted them to take
Here are 5 email marketing tips to ensure that you get the results you desire from your email marketing campaign.
Start with your existing customers and prospect list.
Concerned about not having an email list. Start with your existing customers and prospect list. Start by gathering a list of everyone that you have come into contact with or done business with and send them an invite to opt-in for your emails. Email marketing provides a great opportunity for you to build a stronger relationship with your existing customer base, to upsell additional products/services and to increase referrals by staying top of mind. Staying consistent in front of your prospects with valuable content that resonates with their challenges and needs is a great way for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you which will turn prospects into customers. It’s also a great way for customers to think of you first when they need additional product or services or a referral for a friend.
Personalize who the email is from
Who an email is from is one of the biggest factor that affects your open rate. Studies have shown that emails that are sent from an individual person rather than a company name tend to have a higher open rate. People do business with people not face less companies. Utilizing an individual name in your email sender title will personalize the interaction with the recipient. For example an email Jill from ABC Company, sounds a lot more welcoming and friendly than an email from ABC Company. You can also use an individual’s full name, ensure that the name is recognizable by the recipient. In addition, ditch the no-reply email address. It just tells recipient that you are not interested in hearing from them.
Master your subject line for higher open rates.
Your subject line is critical to your email marketing success. It is the one of the keys to getting recipients to open your email after who the email is from. A great formula for creating subject lines that gets recipients to open your email is Interest=Benefit +Curiosity, which was originally constructed by Copywriter Gary Bencivenga. Therefore, your email subject line should include a benefit desired by the recipient, but a sense of curiosity that motivates them to want to open the email. Take this email for example 7 Email Marketing Tips That Leads to More Sales. Benefit = Use email to get more sales. Curiosity= just what are those tips? Utilizing captivating subject lines that invokes a desire by touching on the either a positive emotion (a desired result your recipient is seeking) or a negative emotion (a problem that your recipient need to solve) will resonate with your recipients. In addition, keep subject lines 30-50 characters long to avoid your subject line being cut off by recipients email service.
Make your email attractive.
How something looks has the power to shape our opinion on its value. We ensure that we dress in a professionally acceptable way for a business meeting and invest in having an office that makes a great impression. You should place the same weight on the important of making a great impression with your email. It has the same impact as not presenting yourself in a professional way. Make your email attractive and consistent with your visual branding, use lots of white space, include eye-catching graphics to help get your message across in a visual way. Your email should look like it is easy to read, because it is presented in an appealing and eye-catching way.
Always include a call to action
To see a return on investment for your email marketing efforts. Your main focus with your emails should be to get your recipients to take action. Whether that is to request a consultation, buy a product or purchase your services. This becomes a lot easier if your emails has demonstrated that you know the challenges your recipients face and you have the solutions and have successfully helped others overcome those challenges. If you continue to hit all these points in your emails, it will be that much easier to get your subscribers to take action, you just have to ask for it. Make your call to action clear and concise and make it stand out from the rest of your copy. In addition, include multiple links using different call to actions throughout your email and/copy.
Are you using email marketing to get more sales? If so what are some of your massive success and massive fails?