Email Marketing Secrets
Many would be surprised to learn the first email marketing blast was sent in 1978(!) and unlike other marketing channels has remained steadfast in its ability to create a high ROI. Today email marketing returns an average of $44 for every $1 spent.
But what may have worked in the 1978, or even twelve months ago for that matter, may actually be hindering your ROI in 2020. Here are 6 of my Email Marketing Secrets to set you up for success and avoid the dreaded spam folder:
The Best Design
The best email design is actually… no design! While this may sound counterintuitive there are actually two reasons why you should limit your design heavy HTML emails:
It comes across as one big sales pitch. We have become desensitised to this level of marketing, after all we are exposed to anything from 4,000 to 10,000 advertisements PER DAY! Effective marketing needs to cut through this noise. Using plain text emails allows you to casually slip into your customers inbox as a friend or helpful companion guiding them in the direction you want.
Email is all about communication, so it stands to reason that plain text emails are more likely to be read as they look genuine. Providers like Gmail are using smarter algorithms to categorise messages into groups such as Promotional, Social and Primary, with other providers quickly catching up. Ditching links and images increases your chance of bypassing this, going straight to where you want, your customers inbox. For optimal results use less than one image and one link per email.
Tell Stories
Storytelling isn’t exactly a new concept but is often overlooked when it comes to email marketing. A great story can create connection, evoke emotion and inspire action. It will also be remembered long after your sales pitch.
Next time you are sending a campaign instead of just giving advice or selling, use a story to create a more relatable, personal and interesting message. Show people what transformation your product or service can make in their lives. Stories create connections not only to you as a brand but also amongst your community of customers. In short, stories do the selling for you!
Video
If you aren’t already, start incorporating videos into your emails. Bonus Tip: Put ‘Video’ in your subject line for increased engagement.
Video is the medium of now and is only set to get bigger. IG Stories and TicTok are paving the way for easily digestible content. Video allows you to tell a lot more in a shorter space of time, giving consumers the opportunity to connect with your message easier. It doesn’t have to be high production, use your smartphone to record, upload to YouTube and use the thumbnail image in your email campaign to link to your video.
Segmentation
I cannot stress the importance of this point. Segmentation is KEY!!
Segmentation is essential in creating a targeted and tailored communication strategy that consumers have begun to expect. Using a ‘blanket approach’ is a sure fire way of getting unsubscribes and landing you in the spam folder.
The most basic form of segmentation is separating your existing customer base from your potential clients as they will require different information and messaging. An effective marketing strategy will go deeper than this though and include geographical location, past purchases and interests amongst many, many others.
How do you segment your list?
There are numerous ways to tackle this depending on your product but one option is using a variety of lead magnets, or hooks, to encourage different types of consumers to opt-in. Based on these categorised lists, create a different email sequence for each customer journey, including helpful content specifically designed to their interests or needs.
In short, hyper-relevant behaviour based content is a must.
Rinse and Repeat
If you have been creating and sending campaigns for a while you will know what works. Find your proven content and repurpose it.
This doesn’t have to be limited to past emails, you could have valuable content in another format such as a blog post or YouTube video. If you know it gained good traction in the past then you know it is of interest to your customer base. Rework it into a new email campaign. If it ain’t broke…
Scrub
Scrubbing your list simply means to clean up your data. Lists have a finite lifespan so it really is quality over quantity. While a large list is good, a quality list is far more important. Having a large list runs the risk of a low open rate and high unsubscribes, getting you flagged as spam or worse, blacklisted. This means you will be put in EVERYONE’S spam folder.
Another benefit of having a leaner list is lower cost as many EDM software providers charge on output volume.
How do you put your list on a diet?
Run an re-engagement campaign. Segment out the people who have not opened any of your emails for the past 90 days and run a campaign of helpful, but not promotional, information to them. Use a set of 4 emails dripped out over a two week period. If after two weeks no one opens, kick them off your list! Getting rid of people who don't want to hear from you means you are more likely to get the front of those who are important ie. those who want to hear from you and are interested in what you have to say /sell.
In summary, keep your list and email design clean and targeted, incorporate video where possible and don't be afraid to reuse high engagement content. If you implemented just two of these strategies you'd be well on the road for email marketing success!
Let me know in the comments which strategies worked best for you or shoot me an email for more secrets. 😉
