It is a well-known fact that email marketing is the cheapest way of advertising, contributing to a stunning ROI increase of up to 4400%. If done right, that is.
Due to its ease of use and availability, email marketing is used indiscriminately by the majority of brands, including your competitors.
Fortunately, there is so much more to attracting customers than just sending emails at random. Successful email marketing campaigns are backed up by serious research and strategies, and are devised in such a way as to keep customers engaged in the long run.
Elements of Efficient Email Marketing Campaigns
Generally speaking, there are five key factors determining the success of an email marketing campaign:
- Deliverability
- Personalization
- Segmentation
- Targeting
- Mobile Optimization
To ensure that your messages are delivered to recipients’ inboxes rather than to their spam folders, choose a trusty email service provider.
Always address people by their name (you’ll get this info from the subscription form) and make an effort not to send generic messages to everyone.
As for segmentation and targeting, it’s not rocket science to conclude that defining a target audience (or more than one, depending on your offer) is the key to building a reliable customer base. Insights that will help you segment your campaigns include location, gender and age, but there are also additional ones for fine-tuning.
Finally, the great majority of emails are being accessed on mobile devices, meaning that both your emails and your website need to be responsive. On top of proper display, that also means that image-heavy messages are a no-go.
Concocting a Winning Message
To ensure that the recipient is interested in the offer, send only the messages you know them to be looking forward to at that time. By extension, in order for the recipient to know they are actually interested in the offer, it is important that the message has a clear subject line.
Subject lines are the single most important factor when it comes to the success of your email campaigns. I.e., even if your offer is great and you know the recipient to be interested in it, if the subject line is inconclusive or generic, your customers won’t even bother to open the message.
Therefore, it is essential to announce the offer in the subject line and follow up with appropriate text body, delivering on the promise and a call to action. If any of these factors is missing, no matter the quality of your offer, the recipient won’t perform the desired action (described in the call to action).
Finally, make certain to always include an unsubscribe button at the end of the message. Many marketers make the mistake of seeing this strategy is counterproductive, but the truth is, no matter how great your offer, audiences change over time. To prevent all of your messages ending up in the spam folder, allow the recipient to unsubscribe if no longer interested in your brand.
Messages People Love to Receive
It is also a well-established fact that some types of messages are more welcome than others. This is of particular importance, as it is only to be expected that your subscribers will also be interested in similar offers, which, simply put, means that their inboxes will be quite crowded.
Among the most popular emails are welcome messages, order status and reorder messages, and shopping-cart reminders. In addition, sending shopping-cart abandonment emails is a great way to increase your ROI effortlessly. Namely, the majority of unsuccessful purchases I due to a technical issue. Don’t be afraid to ask the customer what went wrong – you’ll be surprised at how easily a problem can be solved.
- Welcome Emails
Everyone loves to feel special, full stop. The golden rule of marketing, no matter its shape, has always been and it will always remain – communication.
Make an effort to get to know your customers. Make them welcome from day one and follow up on a regular basis. Ask them for feedback, send them special offers and promotions and thank you messages after every purchase. This strategy will ensure loyalty and loyalty should always be rewarded.
That’s why many brands have special offers for their loyal customers, ranging from discounts to VIP products, depending on the demand.
As for keeping in touch, it is only natural to promote your brand via social media channels, as well as via email. In that way, more people will get to see (and share) your offer, and you will also be able to engage with customers directly.
Namely, people love posting questions on social media. Read your customers’ comments and provide them with answers in a timely manner. Nothing will make your brand feel more reliable than communication.
- Order Status Emails and Shopping Cart Reminders
Order status emails are universally welcome, as everyone is eagerly waiting for the order to arrive. Because of that, brands that don’t send this type of emails are less likely to be successful, so make certain to pay proper attention to this aspect of your campaigns.
Order tracking is also a welcome treat. And while not directly linked to email campaigns, suffice it to say that you may (and should) opt to send order status updates along the way.
A myriad of similar types of emails are also welcome. These include receipts, order confirmation, shipment confirmation, shipment tracking and delivery confirmation.
Certainly, merely these guidelines will not make your brand successful overnight, but they will help you set your email marketing goals properly and make your campaigns special for the customers in the long run. Remember to ask for feedback because the opinion of your customers is always important and with that you will make sure to know all their needs. Keep in touch with people and send special offers to loyal customers – and you’re all set! By now you should be aware about the importance and the value of email in marketing and your success in your business.
