Top email marketing tips
Email marketing still remains number 1 in the marketing strategy checklist of all top marketeers. Here are some of the tips and techniques you can use in your email marketing campaigns.
Even in this social networking age, it still pays in the long run to incorporate email marketing as one of the top strategies to boost your business.
Contrary to common belief, people are constantly checking their emails – whether it is on the desktop or on their mobile phones.
Regardless of the profession or industry they are in, people check their email addresses on a daily basis.
Thinking why even the most popular digital trends, haven’t been able to displace email marketing completely ?
The very simple rational is that Email marketing is by far the best channel to directly reach out to your target customer (prospect) or an existing customer with a value proposition.
And even if the he doesn’t open the email to read what you are offering, you can be rest assured that if your subject line was compelling enough, it would have captured his attention.
Another reason why email marketing is still an effective digital marketing trend, is because all other digital platforms are way too cluttered.
Think of the innumerable social posts and ads brands make to reach out to their target market – it is almost impossible to be able to have a one on one conversation with your prospect.
Emails on mobile devices
It is now impossible to ignore the power of mobile devices and how your email would appear on them. Starting with the rising technology – mobiles, here are a few important statistics that marketers need to keep in mind:
• Nearly 55% of emails are read on mobile devices.
• 78% of Gmail users access their accounts via mobile devices.
• About 27% of mobile users reopen a sent email.
• The number of Smartphone subscribers is growing at a 25%+ rate.
• Mobile users who reopen an email are 65% more likely to click through.
All the above statistics are very relevant when computing statistics of your email success. How your email looks on on mobile devices are an important part of crafting emails.
Engagement on emails
Considering the above statistics and the mobile usage, the engagement rate on emails is a lot higher than on other marketing campaigns. Here are a few statistics on email engagement:
• 72% of people prefer receiving promotional content via email instead of social media.
• Email subscribers are 3 times more likely to share your content in their circles compared to other sources.
• Including a call-to-action in your email than a text link can increase conversion rates by almost 28%.
• A message is 5 times more likely to be seen and read in an email than via Facebook.
• Sending four emails in a month can significantly increase the open rate as compared to one.
• Email marketing drives more conversions than any other marketing channel including social media and search.
• Email is 40 times more effective in acquiring new customers than social giants like Facebook or Twitter.
• About 81% of online shoppers who receive follow emails suggesting similar products, are more like to make a purchase.
Why Personalisation is important in emails
The hyper informed generation of today no longer accepts a broadcasted sales pitch. The value proposition from a business needs to be delivered at the right time and has to be 100% contextual. An email without the opening line with a personalised message can also be treated as SPAM by the email filters.
Here are a few statistics marketers need to keep in mind for personalised emails:
• 74% marketers claim that targeted messaging and personalisation of emails improves customer engagement rates.
• Personalised email messages get an average of 14% click throughs and 10% conversions.
• Personalised emails deliver 6 times higher transactional rates.
• 50% of companies think an increase in personalisation can increase the interaction within an email.
• Segmented, targeted and personalised emails generate 58% of total business revenue.
Email marketing techniques
Here are some more short techniques that you can implement in email marketing and grow your enterprise.
Welcome email
Such an email is a must-have in your arsenal of email marketing tools. A friendly Welcome! message breaks the ice and puts the foundation of a long-lasting customer-brand relationship.
Recommended for you
In other words, cherry pick products related to the specific recipient’s interests and craft a beautiful email template to make the offer alluring.
Pick of the day
Basically, this email marketing campaign idea is to focus on a single product at a time, going through its features, usage, so on. But be careful not to become too spammy!
Announce new products
You can send such email marketing campaigns weekly or monthly. The essence of this message should be to introduce the new arrivals, collections, etc. to you clients. Visuals are almost obligatory for such newsletters.
Must-have products.
For the ski season, for the summer holiday, for camping… Pick the must-have products for any occasion or season and offer them to your clients.
Back-in-stock products
It would be an email marketing sin not to announce bringing back a highly desired product. Okay, we might have exaggerated a little bit but seriously, these announcements sell!
Highlights of the week/month
To say it differently, digest the information that might be of utmost interest to your recipients and craft a newsletter. This includes picking the major news that happened in your company, in your industry, etc.
Trends in the industry
No matter if it is about web design trends, fashion trends, make-up trends, photography trends, etc. Every industry has trends that come and go, and it’s your job to make sure your customers stay up-to-date.
Limited edition products
Limited quantity products always look more alluring. They create a sense of exclusivity and urgency to buy. Therefore, creating an email campaign for such products is a top marketing rule.
Seasonal offer
The change of seasons is a perfectly good occasion to send your customers season-related offers. Either introducing new products in the beginning of the season, or big sales at the end, such email campaigns generate great results.
Off-season offer
If your business is seasonal, why not keep your customer-brand relationship strong even during the off-season period? You could offer special discounts, or other exclusive offers relatable to your business.
One-day offer
Well, certainly creating a huge sense of urgency, these campaigns can be a huge success especially when combined with a big discount.
Weekend offer
People love weekends. People love discounts. Combine these two and you have a killer email marketing campaign generating results.
Final sale
This powerful word means now or never and most people fear missing something. As a marketing expert, you are obliged to take advantage of this subconscious thinking and create “Final sale” marketing sales occasionally. N.B. Each should be unique!
Free shipping
Anything free is an alluring incentive for people to take action. Free shipping campaigns are proven to be highly effective, especially when combined with other incentive such as limited time.
Free product or giveaway
A great way to raise your brand awareness and familiarize your audience with your products. You can offer a freebie each week if your business allows it.
Last-minute ideas
These could be suggestions for holiday gifts, where to go during the weekend, what to wear on an upcoming event, or any other problem your company can solve in short term.
Coming soon
Whatever you are working on – innovative products, new collection, organizing a contest, and so on. Anything can be announced a certain time before it’s officially released. This creates tension and curiosity.
Sneak peek
Let your audience have a peek at something they eagerly await. A little teaser can boost their excitement and therefore, lead to a more successful campaign.
Making of / Behind-the-scenes
People love seeing how something was made or achieved. Show them! If you can include bloopers or fun moments, even better. You will really appeal to your audience and make your brand appear more human-like.
New features / Updates
Whether it’s about an upgrade, or a whole new service… Whether it regards your website, or your app… People want to be up-to-date with what’s new with your brand.
Company news
Expanding your business? Opening stores in new cities? New shipping destinations? Any major company news can be subject to an email newsletter.
Social media highlights
Most commented posts, most retweeted tweets, most repinned pins… You could make a weekly newsletter summarizing your most popular content across your social media channels.
New social media channel
Announce that your brand has started a new social media channel and invite your audience to join and support you.
Company birthday
Whether a birthday, or another event, announce that you are celebrating! Give away some gifts to put your audience in the spirit. Let them know that you want to share this special event with them.
Invitation to contest
Organizing a contest? People love participating in contests. Don’t forget to invite your precious subscribers for a chance to win the prize you’ve provided.
Last chance
Such a reminder email message is a powerful tool to convert your recipients, as people usually don’t like missing out on something. Last chance to sign up, last chance to enter contest, etc. The ideas are endless.
Made-up holiday
Start a tradition. There are loads of email marketing campaign ideas that can come to mind such as Happy Monday, Discount Tuesday, Throwback Thursday, Flashback Friday, etc. This way will remind about your brand on a weekly basis.
Best of
…the week, the month, the year. These could be your company products, most popular blog topics, books, movies, anything that relates to your industry or your business in particular.
Ask for feedback
Let your clients know their opinion matters. Are they experiencing any trouble with your products? What is their opinion? Would they like to have something improved or other features added?
Survey
Surveys are a great way to learn more about who your clients are. However, they would usually take several minutes from your recipient’s time, so offer them a prize in return.
Create a pre-launch email list
This is a classic growth hacking technique. You’ve probably heard the popular saying, “The money is in the list,” right?
That’s referring to an email subscriber list, and it’s one of the most important things you need to build for your startup.
Unlike social media channels like Facebook or YouTube, you own your email subscribers.
Have you ever thought that if Facebook ever shut down, how would you contact any of the people who liked your Facebook Page ?
Conclusion
All the above statistics have probably convinced you already how important email marketing is going to be this year. Keep Email Marketing as one of your top strategies for growth. Keeping an email list of your customers is one of the most important data that you can leverage on in the long run.
