Do you want to master email marketing If so, you’re in the right place!
Email is one of the oldest yet most effective ways to connect with paying customers and prospects alike. There are a whole host of advantages that you simply can’t get with other marketing platforms.
For starters, you never have to worry about losing your leads during an algorithm shift, which can happen with SEO and social media marketing. There’s also the fact that email offers a fantastic return on investment because leaders can reuse campaigns for months or even years!
After the initial setup, a little automation can ensure that new subscribers get your email campaign, which has the potential to drive engagement and sales.
But building an effective email marketing strategy takes time and effort. I hope to make this process easier by sharing a few ways we use to optimize our campaigns and grow engaged lead lists across multiple brands.
Are you ready?
Great! Let’s begin.
Use Lead Magnets to Grow Your List
It’s impossible to have a robust email marketing strategy if you have an empty lead list. Getting users to subscribe is the hardest part of the process, but it’s a necessary step for success.
Lead magnets are an excellent way to fill your list with people who are genuinely interested in your product or service. A lead magnet is a special offer or piece of content available to subscribers who sign up for your list.
The most common way to ask users to sign up for a content magnet is with a pop-up or opt-in form. The goal is to convince users that your offer is worth their time.
For example, you may have a pop-up that reads, “Sign up now and get access to our expertly-crafted checklist!” The type of content will vary depending on factors like your industry and resources.
Small business leaders use eBooks, product discounts, content upgrades, and online courses to convince readers that they should hit the subscribe button. The key to making this strategy work for your business is to publish lead magnets that resonate with your audience’s unique goals and pain points.
Set Expectations with a Welcome Email
Once new subscribers join your list, I suggest immediately sending a welcome email. Welcome emails set the stage for your readers and let them know what happens next. This step is crucial for keeping engagement high because most people expect to receive an email once they click the submit button on your signup form.
If you don’t reach out as soon as someone joins, you risk them forgetting that they signed up or buying a competitor product. Either way, this isn’t good for your small business or conversion rate.
I use my welcome email to set clear expectations for our subscribers. I let them know who we are, what we do, and how I hope to help them find success. I also use this chance to ask them to choose their preferences. I then use this information to personalize future campaigns (more on that soon).
Optimize for Smartphone Users
A majority of subscribers are likely reading your emails on their smartphones. According to multiple surveys, around 62% of people read and respond to emails from mobile devices. You may see an abnormally low engagement rate if your messages are not formatted and designed for mobile users.
Once subscribers discover that they can’t properly interact with your emails, there’s a slim chance they will open new messages from your business.
The good news is it’s relatively easy to optimize your emails for smartphone users. I suggest creating concise titles and copy so subscribers can quickly see why you’re reaching out to them.
In terms of formatting, including plenty of space between your sentences can help your email flow on both desktop and mobile. I also want to stress the importance of not relying on images to convey your message. Some users may see a broken image when they open your email. If the bulk of your message is connected to that image, the subscriber will have a hard time understanding what you want them to do next.
I also recommend testing each campaign by sending it to your device and a few other people with noticeably different phones and email providers. For example, if you have an iPhone and use Gmail, you’d want to find someone with an Android device that uses Outlook.
Choose the Right Time to Send Your Message
You may have heard the quote by John Scully, “Timing is everything in life.” It turns out that timing really does apply to everything in life, including email marketing.
Sending your email at the right time can make or break your marketing strategy. Luckily, plenty of research shows when people are most likely to engage with your messages.
We found that Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best days to send emails. Additionally, subscribers are more likely to respond to messages sent at 10 AM and 8 PM. Feel free to do your own experiments so you can discover when users are most receptive to your emails.
It’s worth considering the time zone for your target audience. If your business is in the UK, and 90% of your audience is in the United States, the timing of your emails should match their time zones, not yours.
Skyrocket Engagement with Personalization
Personalization is a must for growing and maintaining your email list. A whopping 80% of online shoppers expect brands to send them content and promotions that match their unique goals and pain points.
The best way to start this process is to segment your audience. Basically, segmenting is when you separate your customers and prospects into groups based on their needs. For example, an online clothing retailer would have different customer segments based on whether a user buys formal or casual clothes.
It wouldn’t make sense to send email offers for dress shoes and ties to send someone who strictly buys graphic tees and cargo shorts. Similarly, if someone only buys dress shirts, you probably wouldn’t want to send them promotions for band t-shirts.
Delivering personalized content will help you skyrocket engagement and get more value from your campaigns.
Another notable advantage is personalized emails can help you build trust with new subscribers since they contain meaningful content and offers.
Keep an Eye on Your Analytics
Finally, I suggest keeping a careful eye on your email analytics. Much like Google Analytics on your website, email-based analytics can help you figure out what works for your subscribers and where you can improve.
Here are a few of the most critical numbers worth tracking and how they affect your success:
- Open rate – Percentage of people who decided to read your email
- Conversion rate – Total number of conversions via call-to-action
- Email deliverability rate – Percentage of people who successfully received your marketing emails
- Return on Investment (ROI) – How much money you made back on your campaign versus how much you spent.
- Unsubscribe rate – number of people who decide to click the unsubscribe button
When you combine these factors, you can easily see whether your campaign is doing well. I tend to check out email analytics weekly unless we launch a new campaign. During that time, I watch the numbers daily to see if we need to make any last-minute tweaks.
Back to You
As you can see, many different moving parts make up a solid email marketing strategy. The six tips presented today can help you improve your campaign and boost engagement and conversions.
——
Syed Balkhi is an award-winning entrepreneur and online marketing expert. He is the co-founder of OptinMonster, WPBeginner, MonsterInsights, and WPForms.