When it comes to digital campaigns, email marketing is one of the few activities that constantly yields results. Although often not in the foreground, this method of online promotion is extremely cost-effective and always up to date.
As it is an extremely affordable marketing tool, email still occupies an important place in every digital campaign. There are many reasons for that – one of them is certainly the large number of potential clients that can be contacted. Virtually everyone who uses the internet has an email address, which is a huge marketing potential.
In addition, the industrial CTR (click through rate) is about 3% of the number of emails sent, while the CTR of one tweet is 0.5%. This means that someone is six times more likely to click on your offer via email than via Twitter. When we consider that in the average campaign, e-mails are sent to tens of thousands of addresses, it is clear that 3% is an extremely high number.
Given this information, it is clear that such promotional activities pay off. Exceptionally for marketers. However, when we take into account a number of specifics, it is necessary to successfully master the complete process. It means from collecting contacts to sending an email to the desired audience.
For a start, we are most interested in what email marketing is and why it ranks so well with professional marketers.
What is email marketing?
It is an area of digital marketing that focuses on email campaigns. In order to communicate with visitors / consumers, companies use email marketing methods. In this way, the content of the site is promoted, and in the case of the e-shop, discounts and news on business expansion are announced. The content of the email can be varied but the goal is unique. You want to animate the recipient to complete the desired action (purchase, visit the site, filling out the questionnaire). The way you do this can be the key to the success of your email campaign.
According to one research, email is still one of the most effective methods of promotion. It still ranks at the very top when it comes to digital communication channels. Research has shown that marketers around the world believe that email is more effective than PPC and Display advertising. Of course, this online activity is only part of an overall digital marketing strategy.
If you are thinking about an email campaign, you need to know how to approach the audience. You need to know how to draw their attention to yourself. Also to be interesting enough to “make” the reader to perform the action for which you initially sent the email. As we mentioned, there are various types of activation, and it only depends on your skills and knowledge whether you will succeed in your plan.
However, in order to send an email at the beginning, you need addresses to which you will send your message. It is clear that without contacts your campaign is doomed. That’s why it’s important to know how to provide relevant contacts that will really interest you in what you offer.
How to get email contacts?
In order to start a successful campaign at all, you need to build your contact list. There are many ways to get in touch effectively. So some methods involve going out into the field and communicating directly with potential customers. What is important to know is that for each address you must have the approval of the owner. It is so to avoid embarrassing situations where someone accuses you of spamming them with unwanted content.
Depending on the area of business you are in, some data collection methods will be more effective than others. We are recommending you to combine all the methods available to you to reach really useful contacts.
Gathering contacts through the site
Since in many cases you will want to direct people to your site, the search for contacts should start from there. It is extremely important that you interest visitors to leave their contact. Because in that case they are people who are definitely interested in what you are doing. They are on your site. Putting a newsletter subscription option in a visible place is certainly a good option. But, there are much more interesting methods.
Try to offer visitors a certain benefit so that they decide to sign up. It can be some additional, exclusive content, free e-book, cooking recipes, prizes… The point is to offer something and based on that you are looking for something in return. This way, you will have many more newsletter subscribers than a simple “Sign up” message.
Opt-in page
It is a process where you will invite everyone who comes to this page to leave their email address. When you create an opt-in landing page, you direct potential customers to a page whose sole purpose is to persuade them to leave their contact. An opt-in page is the page you use as a place to reach when you click on a banner on or off your site.
Due to its role, the opt-in landing page must look attractive and, as a rule, there are no links other than the one that leads to leaving data. Aesthetics in this case is almost as important as the text on the page.
This is because with the quality “premium” look, we are telling the visitor that this is not a scam, but a successful business. In this way, a certain trust is gained at first sight, which needs to be further built through affirmative text, video or infographics. If you make the page right, you will get a conversion, i.e. contact.
The social network
Email marketing can connect with social networks in a great way. One of the benefits is the ability to target audience searches through ads that would be placed. On the other hand, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and others are great places to gather contacts. If you are present on these networks, it is very likely that you already have a fan / follower base.
In that case, you should present the benefits that await them through various activations if they leave their contacts. There are several tactics, and one of the most effective is the organization of the prize game. If the reward is attractive, the response of users will be extremely high. But in this case you should carefully choose what is given away so as not to get a large number of useless contacts.
For example, if you have an e-shop that deals with video games and accessories, giving away a Playstation console will get a great response. However, it can happen that a large number of contacts are older people, who are not the target group, but children forced them to apply. Of course, the sweepstakes is just one way – there are a number of strategies you will try until you find the best one.
On the other hand, Facebook has a call-to-action option, which allows you to direct those interested directly to the opt-in page. You will notice that we mentioned Facebook the most. This is because this network still has the most users, especially in our region. However, for specific groups it is sometimes better to turn to Instagram or Twitter. It all depends on whose contacts you want and where that target group is moving.
Direct meetings with potential customers
Although “everything is on the Internet”, you will often get the best contacts offline. If you are dealing with cars, the best place to make contacts is definitely a car fair, car services, motorcycle rallies, old-timer exhibitions, etc… If you have a point of sale in addition to the site, think of a way to get email from customers.
In other words, if you move where your potential customers are, it will be easier for you to present all the advantages of leaving contact in a direct conversation. Also, when meeting face to face, people lower their guards so they are more willing to listen to what benefits await them.
Which email form is the best?
Depending on the goal you want to achieve, the forms of emails also differ. There are several types, and this time we draw your attention to the most important ones.
Standard promotional email – if you want to present a certain promotional message (discount, new product on offer, opening a new store. As you are not the only one who sends similar information to the inbox, your email needs to be different from the others. Be original and give something away, stand out with great email design.
Transaction mail – after the customer completes the transaction, he will receive a notification in the inbox thanking him for the purchase. Since someone just bought something, there are huge chances that they will open this mail as well. It is a great opportunity to draw his attention to similar products, offer a discount for the next purchase and thank them for choosing you.
Welcome email – as soon as someone subscribes to your mailing list, they will receive a thank you message. In this e-mail, it would be good to use the opportunity to briefly present your brand. Maybe explain what they will receive in the future and give them something (discount or e-book). Don’t forget to thank them, that’s the main reason why you sent them an e-mail!
Newsletter – one of the most popular forms of communication with clients or visitors is the periodical newsletter. This is useful information that may interest the subscriber on the list, and is usually sent once a week. In order not to get bored quickly, write about interesting things that will interest people. Focus on the things that are useful, be fun and informative and you will be able to count on a large number of emails.
Email strategies that deliver results
Email marketing can bring great results, but it can also fail completely. It all depends on the approach to the target group and your commitment to constantly monitor the results and make timely changes. It is a continuous process, where there is no formula that 100% guarantees the result you want.
Personalization and segmentation
The message will always be better accepted if you address the recipient in person. Some researches have come to the conclusion that the number of e-mail openings increases many times if you address the recipient in the subject by name. And while this is a very effective tactic, it is not desirable to overdo the use of the name because it will sound unnatural and offensive. Limit yourself to two mentions, at the beginning and at the end of the message.
In addition to the name, you can further personalize the email by segmenting the mailing list based on the information you received from subscribers when signing up. The division can be based on age, occupation, gender, profession… When you make a segmentation, it is easier to create a mail that will be interesting to a particular group. It automatically increases the chances of a successful conversion.
Drip campaigns
It is a set of prepared emails which the user is sending automatically for preforming a certain activity. Campaigns can be set to activate when someone, among other things, subscribes to a mailing list or downloads a file from the site.
The trigger for sending can also be that someone did not respond to your previous five messages. Or if users have not logged in to your service for a long time. The main role of drip campaigns is to remind and encourage “sleeping” users to reuse your services.
Interactive campaign
Unlike most one-way campaigns, interactive emails need to interact with the recipient. By inserting infographics, tasks and tests, you will get the reader’s attention. It is not a bad idea to send an e-mail from time to time that does not even have any ambition to “pull out” something. Just simply to entertain and thus convince the recipient of the e-mail that we have something to offer.
Sometimes it can be information that will tickle the user’s imagination to start thinking about something. For example a topic like “Calculate whether it pays more to buy a new or used car”. After a few days you can send an offer of your cars with a time-limited discount.
What is spam and how to avoid mail being blocked?
Dozens of messages arrive in the inbox of each of us every day, but most are blocked. This is due to spam filters, which make sure that we are not bombarded by fraudulent offers and viruses. In order for your campaign to be successful, you need to go through the filtering and reach the user’s email inbox.
To reduce the chance of being blocked, you need to send emails from a server that is not recognized as a source of unwanted content. It is also important that you send emails only to people who have subscribed to your mailing list. As well as avoid words that are used in malicious emails. It is also important not to overdo it with photos, as well as not to be too big.
Reputable programs for sending marketing emails will provide you with additional security. Currently, MailChimp is the most popular email marketing platform. Although it is necessary to activate the monthly subscription for more serious use, this way you buy credibility. If the message was sent from an inadequate program and from a suspicious server, be sure that you will not even reach the inbox.
It is also extremely important to clearly set the unsubscribe option in each email. Many countries are required by law to clearly state this option, but even if this is not the case, you are nto offer this option. Otherwise, it is very likely that your email campaign will be marked as spam either automatically or by the user himself.
Email marketing terms you need to know
Autoresponder – a service that automatically sends email
Subscriber – a subscriber who has subscribed to the mailing list
HTML Email – a specially designed mail that looks like a web page
Plain Email – plain mail that contains only text, without decorations, images and links
Open rate – the percentage of people on the list who opened an email
CTR (Click Through Rate) – the percentage of people who clicked on the link
CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) – use of collected information about the user for more effective communication with him