If you were to check your personal or work email right now, you would most likely find that your inbox has at least one unopened message from a brand promoting a new product or notifying you of a sale happening right now that you simply don’t want to miss. Sound familiar? That’s because it is. Every day, people are flooded with email messages from businesses that are trying to get them to buy a product, click a link, or interact with some other type of business-generated content. Because people make the choice to open or delete an email so quickly, it’s important for your brand to create a smart email marketing strategy that prevents your emails from getting lost in the shuffle. Here’s how:
Boost your brand awareness and sales conversions
While there are some skeptics out there who believe that emails are ineffective marketing tools, in actuality, an expertly crafted email is one of the most powerful tools in your business’s marketing arsenal. Here’s why: Several studies have shown that 91 percent of consumers check their emails everyday and 66 percent of consumers have made a purchase online from an email marketing message.
If these mind-blowing statistics don’t make you want to call your marketing team right now, think of it this way: Nine out of 10 consumers check their email daily, and out of these nine people, seven prefer to be contacted by your business via email and at least six will take advantage of what your email promotes. This means that every day you send an email, you’re a step closer to more site traffic and increased sales.
Use your website and social media profiles to grow your email list
There are a variety of clever tactics your business can implement to grow your email list. First, you must evaluate your business’s website to see if the design is conducive to an email marketing campaign. Look for call-to-action buttons on your website that prompt visitors to sign up for your email list. If you don’t have any, ask your web design team to create compelling call-to-action buttons to promote email sign-ups for special offers and sales on your ‘Products’ page. Also, if you have a blog, create a form at the top of your blog page that asks people to subscribe to your newsletter. This grows your email list while keeping your customers up-to-date with your brand’s news.
Additionally, don’t forget to use the power of social media to get more email subscribers. You can run a Facebook contest or giveaway, in which you require entrants to submit their email addresses to sign up. In addition, add social sharing or “Email to a Friend” buttons at the bottom of your email messages, as this has been shown to increase click-through-rates by more than 150 percent. Not only are you placing your email content in front of more people but you are also increasing the likelihood of these people subscribing to your email list, as the email is being forwarded from a trusted source.
Target and test all your emails
Your brand is nothing without your customers, so before you can move forward with your email marketing campaign, you need to think about your customer demographics and psychographics, including their gender, race, age, location, attitudes, and aspirations. Believe it or not, all of these factors affect customers’ buying decisions, which means that each email you send needs to be tailored to specific target groups in order to maximize your email marketing campaign.
To do this, you have to create custom email content designed specifically for that audience. For example, let’s say someone just bought your product. You can send them an automated email thanking them with a coupon for their next purchase. This not only encourages customer retention, but also engenders brand loyalty because it’s clear that your business values its customers.
You also need to ensure that the emails you send are excellently written. As with any marketing strategy you implement, content is absolutely key to a successful campaign. Therefore, you need to ensure that you send excellent emails, which means a compelling subject line and personalized body content. In addition, ensure that you optimize for mobile, as studies show that 66 percent of emails are opened on a smart phone or tablet. Lastly, don’t forget to test, test, test! Look at your analytics and see which subject lines, body, and send times work best, and revise your strategy accordingly.
Remember that people are on-the-go pretty much all the time. However, you can still reach your audience if your emails are relevant, compelling, and targeted. By designing creative and generous email marketing campaigns, your business will be better equipped to engage your subscribers and convert your leads into sales.