Perfect Your Email Marketing with These 3 Steps

Housing isn’t the only bubble that was supposed to pop. A few years ago, some marketers were crying doom on email as a digital marketing channel.

However, email marketing was far from finished, and has gone from strength to strength. Considering how profitable email marketing can be, it could be an invaluable part of your business’s digital marketing strategy.

A marketing agency can help you in the process by providing expertise and guidance in creating and executing a successful email marketing campaign.

Whether your target audience is B2B or B2C, you can’t afford to lose on email. Learn our three overarching tips that ensure your emails resonate with the decision-makers who matter most.

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Crying Doom on Email 

There used to be a widespread belief that email had reached the end of the road when it came to converting customers.

At this time, consumers were increasingly turning their attention to instant messaging services and social media platforms.

The zeitgeist was that these new and exciting avenues were the ideal place to reach and convert customers. In fact, the 2013 McKinsey’s iConsumer survey reported how email usage had dropped 20% during the previous five years.

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Email’s Staying Power

However, email was here to stay. Consumers enjoy the convenience of keeping track of their inbox from their smartphones, and brands established new techniques to personalise and track their email campaigns.

It’s no surprise that these adaptations proved to be highly profitable. For example, email marketing generates an estimated $38 for every $1 spent, while 59% of consumers say marketing emails influence their purchasing decisions.

With returns like these, you won’t be shocked to learn that digital marketers have turned their attention back to the incredible potential of email in a big way.

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1. Less is More

Depending on your target market, there’s a good chance that taking a less-is-more approach to your email campaigns will deliver better results.

Although your product might offer an array of advantages over the competition, getting bogged down in industry jargon and technical details isn’t likely going to make your content leap off the page. 

Instead, pick out a few key features that set your product apart. Highlight why you’re the best choice.

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Email Is a Journey

It’s also important to realise that email marketing is something of a journey. Rather than one mind-blowing piece of copy, it’ll take a series of emails to eventually convince someone to purchase.

Have a series of short, ongoing messages, rather than a few long reads. And don’t waste your customers’ time. Companies that get straight to the point experience the best results. 

This advice is backed up by the data, with one study finding that the ideal word count for a sales email is between 50 and 125 words. 

Meanwhile, another comprehensive study found that around 20 lines of text generated the best click-through rate. Keep this in mind when you start drafting your email campaigns.

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Be Consistent, Not Spammy

The goal of email marketing is to build a strong relationship with your customers. Sending semi-regular messages ensures you remain top-of-mind.

However, don’t overdo it. Most businesses won’t gain an advantage by bombarding inboxes every day of the week. This is why you should establish a regular publication date for sending out newsletters. 

Whether this means weekly, fortnightly or monthly depends on your company’s needs. As a rule of thumb, don’t make contact all the time unless you have exciting news or a promotion that customers need to know about.

This way, you can establish trust with your customers. You want to avoid people unsubscribing or sending you to the dreaded spam folder.

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2. Email Personalisation Matters

Email marketing is highly effective because the people who receive your emails have already displayed interest in your business. After all, they chose to sign up in the first place.

So it makes sense that emails with personalised subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened.

With your next email, inputting a few key details about your customer could make the difference between making a sale or being unsubscribed. For example, adding the subscriber’s first name to the subject line often makes a big difference. 

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Dynamic Content

To try a more complex approach, you can also personalise your emails using demographic and geographic data on your customers.

For example, a clothing website could personalise their email with different products depending on whether the subscriber is male or female.

This dynamic content could also be applied to where someone lives, ensuring your email responds to seasonal differences seen throughout your customer base. 

Welcome Them In

Always send a welcome email to all new subscribers. Your welcome message could have a discount code, a reminder to use their inactive account, or a helpful summary of their recent purchases.

Use Purchase History

You can also send out emails based on an individual customer’s purchase history. This can be an incredible way to boost sales, as you know what things they’re interested in and can highlight a related product via your emails.

If someone has recently purchased a pair of running shoes, there’s a higher probability they’ll consider buying exercise clothing, a fitness watch or earphones.

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3. Always Track and Proofread Your Email Marketing Campaigns

As with most types of digital marketing, tracking the success of your emails ensures you can fine-tune your approach. You have to know what’s successful now to generate more success in the future.

Most email marketing services offer tools to track key metrics. There are incredible insights to be drawn by considering your open rates, clicked links and customer geographic locations. As you get to know the behaviour of your subscribers, you can increasingly refine and tailor content to the patterns indicated by their behaviour.

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Email Open Rates

First and foremost, checking on your ‘open rates’ is key to understanding how much your customers are responding to your email marketing.

The average campaign achieves an open rate of 24%. If you’re falling significantly below that, you need to rethink your subject lines to capture more attention. 

As the goal of most email marketing campaigns is to get customers to make a purchase, your campaign’s click-to-open rate (CTOR) is essential. This useful stat compares the number of click-throughs received to the number of emails opened.

The typical CTOR varies between 10-15%. This provides a clear way to assess the overall performance of your email’s design and message.

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Tailor Your Email Marketing Campaign and the Journey

Email marketing can be tailored to how your audience is responding to your emails. You’re already sending out personalised emails. The next step is to tailor the emails according to how your audience is moving down the sales funnel.

Which emails were opened and read, and which were ignored? Look for patterns in the topics that different audience segments are choosing to read. Adapt your email marketing according to what your customers are interested in. 

The more you tailor to your audience, the closer you move them towards making a purchase. With an email marketing service that automatically delivers these messages, you can optimise your campaign and increase conversions.

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Email Proofreading

Last but not least, don’t forget to proofread your emails before clicking send! There’s nothing worse than crafting a highly personalised subject line and copy, only to discover you’ve made an embarrassing mistake.

This might send a negative signal to your customers if it’s something especially unprofessional. Always take the time to thoroughly proofread your content.

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Chat to the email marketing professionals

Email marketing remains one of the most powerful marketing channels available. You don’t have time to waste on digital marketers who lack the experience to succeed.

First Page Australia has a talented team, with experience from leading highly profitable email campaigns for hundreds of businesses around the world.

Get in touch to find out how we’ll reach and convert your ideal target market. Also, don’t forget to have a look at our Free SEO Competitor Audit page.