Email marketing might not be the newest or trendiest way of keeping in touch with your new and existing customers, but it’s certainly one of the most tried and tested.
Despite a knock to its reputation thanks to ever-increasing amounts of spam and corner cutting, email marketing is still one of the most reliable methods of building a strong relationship with your readers and generating interest in your brand.
If you’re just starting out with an email marketing strategy for your company, you’ll want to ensure that you don’t simply get lumped in with all the spammy, boring email marketers out there today.
Creating emails that truly engage with your readers and are welcome in their inboxes should be your ultimate goal if you want to achieve success.
Placing your readers first in every circumstance will help you avoid sending just another email that gets filtered in to the spam folder. Read on for our handy guide for email marketing success.
Tip #1. Ask for Permission:
There’s nothing worse than receiving unsolicited marketing emails for a product or service that you’ve never even expressed an interest in. One of the biggest mistakes that you can make as an email marketer is failing to ask for the recipient’s permission before you hit the send button.
This can not only land you in hot water when it comes to new U.K. laws, but it’s also a sure-fire way to damage your brand’s reputation and lose potential customers before you’ve even had a chance to win them over.
So, avoid practices such as buying email lists or taking emails from users who’ve bought from your site if they haven’t given their express permission for you to send marketing content to them.
The best way to ensure everything is above board is to offer site visitors and customers the option to sign up to a newsletter or opt in to marketing emails. This way, you know that anybody you’re sending mail to actually wants to receive it.
Tip #2. Get the Timing Right:
Timing is key when it comes to success in many marketing strategies. Think about the advertisements that you see on the television, and how they’re optimally timed to ensure that they reach the right audience. The same goes for your email marketing efforts.
There’s not much point in sending an email that your recipient won’t be able to open because they are too busy at the time, running the risk of them completely forgetting all about it later on.
Because of this, it’s important to conduct market research to find out more about your readers and their time preferences.
For example, nine-to-five workers might like to receive emails on their lunch break or at the weekend, whilst students may be more comfortable getting mail late at night or during the afternoon. Follow the link to learn more about the best time to send an email.
Applications such as Mailify Sunrise 6.2 include in their offer functionalities such as “predictive sending”. This function allows you to send your campaign at the best time for each of its recipients.
The software calculates the ideal mailing time based on contact list data and analysis of each recipient’s behavior, including when they most often open or click their emails, in order to send the campaign around the world at the most effective time. Fascinate, don’t you?
Tip #3. Keep Them Easy to Read:
Receiving an email that seems really interesting but is also hard to read can be seriously frustrating for anybody. As an email marketer, it’s important to ensure that you stay responsible for ensuring that every email you send is entirely user-friendly.
Bear in mind that many of your recipients may be viewing their emails on the go, therefore, it’s never been so vital to ensure that all text, images, and links are fully optimised for mobile. Failing to do so could lead to email text not fitting well on the screen or images overlapping the text, making it impossible to read.
In addition to mobile optimisation, bear in mind that the little things certainly count. For example, use an easy to read font and break your text down into smaller, manageable chunks for an enjoyable read.
Tip #4. Provide Value:
Today, there are far too many marketing emails that are nothing more than blocks of text going on about how great a product is and why the recipient should buy it.
Bear in mind that your readers could be opening hundreds of emails like this on a daily basis, so standing out in the crowd should always be one of your top priorities.
Aim to send emails that provide real value to the reader. For example, you could provide tips and advice on using your product.
If you sell a variety of different product or service options, advice on choosing the right one for their needs can go a long way in facilitating a sale.
Tip #5. Encourage Engagement:
Last but not least, encouraging reader engagement will keep your brand at the forefront of reader’s minds. Some ways in which you can do this is to encourage replies and feedback, or link to your brand’s blog, where readers can engage with other like-minded users in comments sections.
This not only helps to improve the brand-customer relationship, but it can also be hugely useful when it comes to learning more about what your audience wants.
If this guide came in handy for you, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
