Building an Effective Email Strategy

Email marketing can be very effective for businesses. I often hear ‘Email is dead’ with focus shifting towards social media, but stats show that simply isn’t the case:

• Email marketing provides a great return on investment. For every $1 spent, $42 is made back. (Litmus)
• 89% of marketers use email as the primary channel to generate leads. (SnovIO Labs)

It's clear investing time and money into email marketing is worthwhile. So lets look at what makes an email marketing campaign successful and give tips so you can improve key metrics like open rate, click rate, and conversion rate.

Build your Email List

First, you need a list of email addresses to send to. These should be potential customers who are likely to be interested in your product or service.

This is a little more tricky than it used to be so make it quick and easy for people to sign up. Just ask for their name and email address.

Have sign up forms on your website, social media, and anywhere you have an online presence. Offer incentives like samples, discounts, or Value added offerings to encourage sign ups.

Set expectations on sign up about how often you will email and what the emails will contain. Communication is key here, don’t be that business that grabs an email ad for a specific reason then sends an email a day for the next year.

Decide Your Goal for your Emails

Be clear on what you want each email campaign to achieve. Do you want sales, survey responses, or something else? Make your goal focused and clear.

Test different email elements like subject lines, images, and messages. See what works best to get your goal. Short snappy subject lines often increase open rates. Surprising or unexpected subjects also work.

Use striking relevant images where possible - 64% of people prefer emails with pictures. Always include a strong call to action so readers know what you want them to do.

Monitor and Improve

Use analytics tools to understand when most people open or click your emails. Then send at those times for better results. The majority of email platforms offer great analytics to review your email performance. I would recommend reviewing monthly as you would your social media performance.

See which email content drives most clicks and conversions. Follow up with relevant content for each reader based on what they previously engaged with.

The key is constantly testing and improving each element of your emails. This will increase opens, clicks, and sales over time.

Segment Your List

Break your subscriber list into different groups based on criteria like:

• Customer Profiles
• How engaged they are
• Past Purchases

Write Quality Content

Well-written content makes your emails stand out:

·         Use clear, valuable subject lines with strong calls to action

·         Add preview text that inspires clicks

·         Break up content with subheadings

·         Write conversationally, read emails aloud to check flow

By balancing great design and content with strong calls to action, you'll see your email success grow. Before you send each email ask yourself, is this of value to my customers?