There are many markers to assess email marketing, but not all conversion rates and ROIs hold true when it comes to reality.
Any owner of an email box may prove firsthand that there are campaigns that hit the target immediately, and there are those you do not even bother to open.
Thus, those determined to brave the waters of email marketing should know the three things a great email campaigns should do:
– Grab attention
– Keep attention
– Generate leads and sales
Nailing down this three-ingredient formula you will be halfway to meeting your marketing goals.
1. Start with Trust
Back in 1999, Seth Godin introduced the idea of permission marketing, which has shaped the concept of promotion as we know it today. Permission marketing suggests that advertising campaigns should be sent only to those who gave their consent to receive such materials. Bulk email campaigns belong to this kind of marketing and have nothing to do with spam.
– Subscription Forms and Categories
To keep your audience growing, place appropriate and eye-catching subscription forms on all available platforms, such as your site, blog and social media. With many ingenious ways to do it, the key principle you should always stick to is to clearly state the benefit your subscription can bring. For example, offer to provide potential subscribers with free content or the latest news intel.
If you plan to send content based on user interests, invite your subscribers to choose subscription categories.
– Subscription Confirmation
There are many tools to deal with spammers, including spam traps. These act like normal accounts, but in fact they are fraud email addresses which can shut down the IP that spreads unsolicited emails. As a result, messages from a blocked domain will be filtered as spam for at least a few months.
Competitors can easily enter a spam trap address into your subscription form, and it will go straight to your list of contacts. However, such option as a double opt-in ensures that each new address gets an email with a link to confirm the subscription. This procedure is easily automated. Double opt-in keeps your contact list clean and minimizes risks of non-valid email addresses.
2. Promote Yourself
Theater begins with the cloakroom, and email marketing starts with a welcome email. There you can tell about the brand and its services or products, specify the frequency of campaigns, and learn about the subscribers preferences in case you have not done it during registration.
– Template Creation
Fortunately, you no longer need to have a Ph.D in HTML to create responsive emails as most popular bulk email marketing services offer drag-and-drop builder tools. All you need to do is to pick the right template, add necessary blocks, fill in the appropriate content, and you get a uniquely designed letter in just a few clicks.
As a rule, emails incorporate all the elements of the brand identity, from corporate colors to a logo, menu or footer.
– Email Campaign Scheduling
Welcome emails or promo series are sent automatically after registration is confirmed. To set up automatic mailings, sync your CRM or CMS to the mass email service provider.
Right after any action on your site (registration, sale, etc.), this service gets a signal and responds in the way you have set on your marketing platform. For example, it may send a welcome email. The above-mentioned drag-and-drop allows making these scenarios as easily as creating templates.
If the information you want to share is too abundant for one email, schedule a series of emails. Generally, a welcome email series consists of three to five emails that are sent every other day. However, make sure you keep the balance right. Too many emails in the incoming messages may result in unsubscription. Less can be more when it comes to communication with your readers.
3. Collect Data
Once you have nailed down the basic skills for running an effective email campaign, learn to analyze the results. Taking advantage of the examined data will elevate your status to a marketing guru.
– Analytics
There are several categories to be analyzed after every campaign:
– Open rate, OR
– Click-through rate, CTR
– Unsubscribe rate, UR
According to a common misconception, the low open rate is a result of a poor subject line that allegedly determines subscriber’s interest. However, any professional marketer would prove that interest is determined by the sender in the first place. The key is the customer engagement with the brand. If OR of several campaigns is less than 10%, consider changing the strategy.
The click-through rate reflects how good you are at meeting your audience interests. If CTR is less than 4%, it is time to change the criteria for contact segmentation. Most likely, the offer provided in emails simply does not meet your recipients’ needs.
The UR should not exceed 1-2%. The higher percentage suggests that your emails are too spammy or the contact list needs revision. It’s very helpful if your email marketing service collects feedback on/about the reasons why recipients unsubscribe. It will enable you to understand the reasons of interest loss.
– Segmentation
The list of your subscribers is rather heterogeneous. It includes loyal clients, occasional customers and active readers who have not bought anything yet. To keep your offer relevant, build an email marketing strategy for each segment.
There are many other criteria for segmentation such as gender, age, geographical location, browsing history, and an average order value. Your task is to choose the ones that are of strategic importance for your particular business.
The more data you have, the more accurately you can apply the advanced segmentation. If a customer receives information that meets their needs, the conversion rate is sure to grow.
Final Thoughts
According to Seth Godin, permission marketing should be:
– Wanted: clients know that they will receive information from the brand.
– Personalized: messages are based on the client data.
– Relevant: marketing offers are generated considering customer needs.
If your email campaign meets these criteria, your marketing is surely on the way to success.
