Did you know that email marketing can generate a return on investment of 32.28 British pounds for every pound invested? A Data and Marketing Association report says so. Email marketing is one of the oldest and most popular digital marketing services. It involves sending commercial messages to existing and target customers using email.
With more than four billion active email users around the world, email marketing promises a wide reach. A large number of people receive hundreds of promotional emails every week. Many marketers and brands prefer digital marketing tools to get in touch with their customers. Over the years, they have become indifferent to such emails due to several reasons, including:
- Irrelevant mails
- Repetitive content
- Dull messages
9 Smart Strategies to Improve Your Email Marketing Campaign
1. Build an Email List
Before starting with your email marketing campaign, build an email list of existing customers and new leads. This is the first step. There are many ways to build an email list. You can generate leads through market surveys, landing pages, pop-up forms, or third-party email lists. After building an email list, segment it into applicable categories to make it more targeted. Consider segmenting your list based on several parameters such as age, education, occupation, motivations, purchase triggers, tastes and preferences, and more.
2. Personalize your Emails
An Experian study found that personalized emails generate six times more transaction rates. As per another research, personalization can deliver $20 in return on investment for each $1 invested. Now the question arises of how to personalize the emails. Must you write a unique email to every lead on the email list? No. Personalizing emails means that you use your lead’s name, purchase history, and other key information to craft email content that is relevant to them.
3. Include Multimedia Content
Including multimedia content such as videos and GIFs is a sure-shot way to pique interest and enhance user engagement. It will boost your emails’ visual appeal and convey the information in a short time and in an interactive manner. Consider using multimedia content strategically to attract the receivers’ attention and draw their attention to the key elements in the email body.
4. Optimize Email for Mobile Devices
Many people use their mobile devices to read emails. When emails are not designed and optimized for mobile devices, the users delete them, or worse, unsubscribe them. Consider implementing a responsive email design to optimize the user experience irrespective of the device they use. You can partner with one of the leading email marketing services providers to provide you with this solution. Apart from that, keep the subject line short and summarize the snippet text. Make sure that the call to action button is big, bold, and easy to click on.
5. Leverage Images
The images that you use in your email marketing campaign are extremely important. Consider using various types of images, including photographs of products, illustrations, infographics, and banners, just to name a few. If possible, show social proofs using images such as testimonials, recommendations, best sellers, ratings, and reviews.
6. Create Abandoned Cart Emails
Monitor the people who abandoned their carts without completing their shopping and build a separate email list. Design special content for them, highlight the product benefits and offer them incentives to complete the purchase. If possible, give them special offers such as additional discounts, a complimentary consultation, free shipping, and some freebies. Choose a reliable email marketing services provider that can help you create riveting content for cart abandoners.
7. Use the white space effectively and mind the word count
While sending email marketing campaigns, mind the word count. HubSpot’s research indicates that an email copy with 25 to 50 words generates a response rate of 50 percent. Finish your email body within 50 to 125 words. Many experts suggest a subject line of fewer than nine words is perfect. Write short, clear, and crisp subject lines. Keep the layout simple and clutter-free.
8. A/B test your email campaigns
A/B testing is a technique that enables you to test the effectiveness of your email marketing methodically. Many marketers use this method to test their email campaigns. Using A/B testing, also known as split testing, you can test subject lines, the sender’s address, plain text, HTML mails, longer-form content, and short-form content. While conducting the tests, here are a few things you must keep in your mind:
- Test your address by sending the emails from an individual’s name, a person with the company’s name, or your company’s chief executive.
- If you are sending a plain text version of your email, test the plain text-only campaign. Make sure the plain text is personalized, and the email looks like it is exclusively written for the receiver. In case you are sending an HTML mail, test the HTML campaign.
- Test the longer form emails and see if they need some trimming. If you have written short-form content, check if the mail is communicating the message just fine.
9. Automate email campaigns whenever possible
Automated email, also known as behavior-driven or trigger-based email, is an email that is automatically sent in response to a user’s specific actions and behavior. As per a Forrester study, automated email marketing campaigns can drive four times more revenue and 18 times more profits. If possible, use auto-responders in your customer service software to duplicate the automation aspect. Here are a few automated emails you can send:
- Activation mail: Create an activation campaign to send your new users a welcome note and login information.
- Reminder emails: Send automated emails to those customers whose subscriptions or plans are coming to an end and send new products and features to encourage them to renew their services.
- Surprise emails: Send surprise emails to your existing and new customers that offer them a coupon code, a gift card, a trial pack, or other surprise packages.
All Things Considered
Email marketing provides immense opportunities to reach out to more people. Over half of the people in the world are email users. It is one of the most popular digital marketing tools, and many digital marketers are using it. But the key is to leverage it effectively so that the right person receives the right mail and becomes a loyal customer. Using the nine simple strategies, you can create an effective email marketing campaign and boost your business.