It beats out social media and search engine optimization (SEO) tactics, providing the highest ROI at $42 for each dollar spent. Why?
Because billions of people use email every day – it’s their primary means of communication. Just think about how frequently you check your email. The opportunity for email marketing is massive. Here are seven beginner tips for effectively reaching your target audience via email.
1. Build an Email List
The first step in email marketing is to build your email list. The purpose of making an email list is to collect names and contact information to reach your target audience.
- Try presenting a coupon or sales offer in exchange for the customer’s email address. This is by far the easiest way to receive a customer’s email address.
- Add a hello bar to your website that provides a personal greeting and a place for the customer to submit their email.
- Consider adding an actionable popup to your website. A customer can sign up for a free PDF or product “cheat sheet” in exchange for their email address.
With time and effort, these opportunities will help you develop your email list.
2. Employ Interactive Emails
To make your marketing campaign a success, you’ll need to reach your target audience more effectively and connect with those who want to see your content. The best way to do this is to engage your customers through interactive emails. When presented with something like a picture slideshow, form or accordion, 60% of recipients engaged with the email. Another 50% expressed that they wanted to, showing that this type of message is preferable.
Interactive email technology allows you to deliver dynamic content to your audience and nurture relationships with customers. Customizability proves to be one of the main strengths of this type of marketing. You can utilize forms for event registrations or account management creation and use the accordion or picture slideshow feature for store inventory or event recap. Most email service providers (ESPs) should have modules or templates that allow you to integrate interactive elements into your email.
3. Know Your Customers
No matter your business goals, writing quality content is the key to engaging your customers effectively. To do so, you first need to understand your audience and how they relate to your brand. Getting a sense of how your customers think will help you create targeted email content.
4. Use a Catchy Subject Line
Grab your customers’ attention with a flashy email subject. Always keep your subjects honest – don’t ever promise something you can’t deliver, as this is sure to prompt people to unsubscribe from your email list. Try personalizing the subject line with your customers’ names. Some ESPs support this service directly, so look for it in the settings. Also, consider using keywords for SEO purposes.
5. Make It Easy to Read
When you write the copy itself, use active voice to keep your email clear and concise. Utilize short sentences and paragraphs to make them easily scannable. Try incorporating bullet points to further break up the text for your readers. You want to ensure your copy is well-written, as it represents your brand – take the time to proofread for errors before sending it out to your customers.
6. Provide a Call to Action
If you want to send email text longer than 100 words, create a call to action (CTA) button in your email and link the rest of the text on your website. The CTA button will direct traffic to your website. Hopefully, after reading the rest of the copy, customers will stick around to explore your site, learn more about your brand, and maybe even purchase your product.
7. Utilize Email Segmentation
Utilizing email segmentation is the next step in an effective email marketing strategy. It takes personalization to the next level. Segmentation is the process of dividing your email list into smaller categories. Consider dividing your email list into groups based on the following criteria:
- Customer demographics: Age, location, employment information. This information is beneficial to have for sales purposes.
- Customer sales: Those who made a purchase and those who haven’t purchased. You can market to each group exclusively.
- Customer engagement: Segment your list based on those who engage with the email. For those active in your list, you should send a different email to those who are inactive. Consider pruning the inactive customers from your list after a certain amount of time.
Most ESPs have link segmentation tools built into the software. Strategize how to segment your email list, then check your ESP settings to set up link segmentation.
Connect With Customers Using Email Marketing
Even if you’re a beginner, engaging with your target audience will become simple if you employ a few tips from this list. Develop your email list, select an ESP, start working on your email copy, and connect with your customers through email marketing today!
BY TECHIE MAMMA