Email marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing tactics for business owners. According to DMA report, Email marketing has an ROI of $38.
Not only that, it is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or twitter.
Getting people to open your email, read and click on your links in your email is an art you have to learn. Below are what you can do to get better at email marketing.
Have an Email editorial calendar
How many of you have the time to send email newsletters on a very regular basis?
How many of you know what to write every time you want to send emails to your subscribers?
I bet a lot of you fall into the first or second group.
Just like you create a content editorial calendar, you can also create an email editorial calendar to simplify your email marketing task. Sending emails at a regular period to your subscribers is not always easy. It takes time and energy, and if you are a busy business owner, you may not be consistent with it.
However, if you create an editorial calendar, it enables you to plan ahead and create emails your subscribers will love to read and engage with.
Sample email marketing calendar
Organizing your email campaign in a calendar will help you to generate more opens, clicks and qualified leads. You can download a sample email marketing calendar on HubSpot and modify it to suit your needs.
When creating your email editorial calendar, you need to determine the type of email content you want to send to your subscribers for the next one or two months. Check for seasonal peaks and valleys where you really need to get in touch with your subscribers.
For example, an e-commerce website can send gift idea emails for mother’s day. If you have a product launch coming up, schedule your launch campaigns and follow ups.
You also need to keep in mind holidays and events, so you can include it in your email calendar.
The next thing to do is to plan your email content creation around the topics you have in mind. Add these topics to your calendar and schedule the publishing date.
Create a foundation of lifecycle emails
Lifecycle emails are emails you send to your subscribers to nurture them from the beginning to when they become customers. For example, when someone comes to your website, you start by sending a welcome email and you proceed from there to cultivating a relationship with them. Over time, you will build trust and they will naturally want to do business with you.
For instance, if you run a software company that helps users to manage their tasks and someone come to sign up for a free trial, you will have a series of lifecycle emails prepared to send to enable them to upgrade to a paid option after the free trial expires. Below is an example from getvero to remind a subscriber to upgrade their account.
You can store these sets of emails and reuse them over and over again, instead of creating new emails.
The series of emails here will include a welcoming email. If the person has not installed or set up their account or software, you can send a mail reminding them to do so. Follow them up to ensure they enjoy the product. Do not wait till the product trial expires before you get in touch.
Create a sniper level of focus in your emails
A common mistake noticed in emails is seeing the body of the email jam packed with different kinds of links and stories. These links can confuse your readers, to the extent that they do not know what to click. It is distracting!
If you want to generate a specific action from your subscribers, ensure that your email is laser targeted.
Always gun for one call to action per email. That way, your subscribers will have fewer options that can distract them. They will just go straight to click the call to action.
Below is a good example from Buffer. It is a very simple email with a targetted focus to get subscribers to read the full post on their websites.
Ensure that you use a call to action that can get you the desired click.
For instance, for a software company example used above, instead of using “Get started” or “sign in“, you can say something like “Start learning how to manage your task now“. This call to action motivates them to click on the button. You provided a reason for them to click instead of being vague.
Use catchy subject lines
The subject line of your email determines whether it will be opened or read. The power of a well-crafted subject line cannot be underestimated. It is said that 47% of subscribers open email based on the subject line and 69% subscribers report email as spam based solely on the subject line.
That is why you see digital marketers devote substantial time to creating clickable headlines. Therefore, if you want people to open and read your email, you have to create headlines that will entice them to do so. If your subject line is interesting, it doesn’t matter what you wrote in the mail, people will click it.
A good example is when you want to get in touch with a subscriber that is not frequent on your website. Instead of writing a subject line like “Our records shows you haven’t logged in in 30 days” You can simply write something like “You there?”.
Ensure that the content of the email itself can take your subscribers back to your website at the end of the day.
Use the 1-2-3 method
The 1-2-3 method involves telling your first time subscriber, the next 3 things to do. This method works because it is easy and simple for the subscriber to take the actions. That is why it is 1-2-3, not 4 -5 actions that will be too much for your subscribers to take.
For example, if you run a software company and people sign up for a free trial, you need to build on the momentum by telling them what to do next. Don’t assume that they know what step to take. Tell them what to do!
Below is a good example of how Airbnb uses the 1-2-3 method in their welcome email.
Above are five ways you can get better at email marketing. Master the art and you will soon reap the benefits. Are there other things you can do to get better at email marketing?
