23 august 2023, 08:58
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Email is the world’s most popular online communication medium. Over 4 billion active email users worldwide exchange over 300 billion emails daily. This massive user base makes email an effective marketing medium for every business.
Email marketing can be lucrative for companies, as it allows them to send personalized and targeted messages that customers will likely respond to. This type of marketing provides a tremendous return on every dollar spent – as much as $43.60, according to the Data & Marketing Association.
We’ll explain why email marketing is a sure bet for your company and outline the strategies to do it effectively.
Why email marketing is a good bet
Reaching customers via email is much easier than other channels like social media or display advertising. Most people have emails and frequently check them, especially working professionals with significant disposable income.
Email follows people everywhere they go. They can check it on their PCs at work or smartphones at home. Many active email users receive notifications each time someone sends them an email and will likely check their smartphones immediately after they hear the notification sound.
Email marketing gives the highest probability of capturing a customer’s or potential customer’s attention.
Here are the steps for successful email marketing.
Gather a mailing list
You must gather a list of legitimate email addresses to send emails to. Consent is vital in email marketing. You must obtain explicit permission from the owner of an email address before sending them marketing materials and messages. Otherwise, your domain will be flagged as a spam source, and you may face legal repercussions.
You can place signup forms on your website or online app to gather addresses for your subscriber list. You can also request email addresses at live events and let customers know they’re subscribing to receive your messages.
Set clear business goals
You must set clear objectives to achieve from your campaigns and track your progress toward them. Some businesses want to bring more traffic for their websites, while others are targeting higher sales for their products. Some people run newsletters where boosting subscriptions and engagement is the primary goal.
You must dive into email marketing with a clear picture of what you want to gain from it.
Send notifications to subscribers
After gathering a mailing list, it’s time to send them messages to spur engagement. You should send your subscribers notifications about new products, features, discounts, coupons, etc. Sending frequent notifications keeps customers engaged, and they’re more likely to respond to your messages.
For example, if you run an online clothing store, you can send emails to customers each time you list new products on your website. Some customers who receive the notification may buy the new product right away.
Similarly, you can send notifications each time an item goes on sale. You might reach a cost-conscious customer looking to snag a good deal.
However, avoid sending too many messages to subscribers, lest they report you for spam. The ideal frequency for businesses-to-customer mailings is two to three weekly emails.
Does it actually matter?
Yes, email marketing matters a lot. The sooner you learn about it, the better for your business. It does take significant time and effort, but investing in email marketing gives an excellent return on investment. It’s one of the best ways to reach out to leads and convert them into customers. It’s also a great way to reach out to existing customers and make them buy more products.
Pay close attention to the following critical considerations for email marketing.
Personalization is paramount
Personalization involves using customers’ data to create unique messages. For example, you can begin an email with “Dear [User’s first name].” You can also send emails in response to a customer’s action on your website, e.g., a welcome message to every new subscriber.
Personalization makes the recipient feel esteemed and, consequently, more likely to respond to your suggestions.
Email has higher conversion rates
Email has higher conversion rates than other forms of marketing, so you should invest more resources into it. According to HubSpot’s 2022 State of Marketing survey, global marketers largely chose email as the number one channel to drive conversion results.
You should never neglect your email marketing in favor of other channels. Email should come first.
Mobile-Friendliness is vital
Most emails are now read on mobile devices rather than desktops and laptops. Your emails must be well-optimized for mobile displays, or you risk alienating most of your customers.
Your text should be clearly readable on mobile displays. Your images and infographics should automatically adjust to mobile screens for easy viewing. Be sure to test your campaigns on different mobile devices before you send them.
Send relevant content
Your email content should be relevant to the recipients. Ensure you pass across information that customers would be genuinely interested in. Don’t veer into random topics that are not connected to your business line. For example, a clothing store should stick to fashion and never start advertising electronics.
Relevant content increases the likelihood of recipients following your suggested action.
Test your campaigns before deployment
You should test your marketing campaigns on a small group of email addresses before deploying them en masse. The test group could be your friends, families, work colleagues, or anyone in your social circles.
You can ask the test group for feedback. Is the text visible on different displays? Are the images clear? Does the message load fast enough? You can easily spot mistakes this way before deploying your campaign to unforgiving customers.
Evaluating your marketing efforts can help grow your business
You can’t just deploy email campaigns and call it a day. You must evaluate the performance of your campaigns and ensure they’re giving the desired results. If not, change your strategies to see if they perform better.
Essential metrics to look out for include:
- Open rate:The percentage of recipients that open your message.
- Click-through rate:The percentage of recipients who follow the links present in your email.
- Bounce rate:The percentage of subscribers who didn’t receive your message for whatever reason.
- Unsubscribes:The number of people who opted to remove themselves from your mailing list.
- Spam complaints:The percentage of recipients who report your email as spam. A value of less than 0.1% is safe. Anything above this figure can hurt your sender reputation.
- Share rate:The percentage of recipients that share your post via social media or forward it to other addresses.
Most reliable email service providers (ESPs), like UniOne, let you monitor all metrics for your emails from a single dashboard.
Conclusion
We can’t overemphasize the importance of email marketing. Email is the number one medium to reach global customers, and any business that ignores it is doing themselves a disservice.
Email marketing is less expensive than other types of marketing but generates a higher return on investment. With billions of active email users worldwide, about half of the global population, email is the only medium where you can comfortably reach most customers. Many people don’t have social media accounts, but almost every active internet user has an email.
We have explained email marketing, its factors, and the critical considerations for every business diving into it. Above all, remember to choose a good email service provider (ESP) to send your messages. UniOne is a reliable ESP having a solid reputation with email clients; it enables you to send both transactional and marketing emails quickly and securely.
