And Why Email Marketing Best Practices Matter
Four out of five marketers and organizations say they’d rather give up social media than email marketing, which shows how powerful it is. Email marketing lets you stay at the forefront of your customers’ minds while communicating directly with them. If you’re still not convinced about the benefits of email marketing, learn more from our friends at emailpreviewservices.com.
Perhaps you’re ready to harness the power of email marketing best practices, but you’re not sure where to start. If that sounds like you, don’t worry. You’ve got company. This article outlines eight things to know about email marketing best practices.
1. Know Your Audience
Before creating a solid email marketing strategy, get to know your target audience. The key to securing leads is understanding your ideal customer’s buying habits, pain points and product wish lists. Popular brands use email marketing best practices to nurture healthy relationships and to add value to their conversation with their customers.
Find out about your audience by posting surveys on social media, which allows your audience to reply anonymously. Offer an incentive such as free shipping or a 10 percent discount on their next purchase. Surveys provide an overall idea of what your customers want so you can curate and send valuable content into your list’s email inboxes. Make sure you’re not only sending promotions, as it could deter customers.
2. Build an Email List
One of the top email marketing best practices is o constantly building your email list. There are many ways to do this, but providing an incentive is almost always effective. For example, you can:
- Introduce gamification to your site. This is a game-style element that encourages customers to sign up. This could be a quiz, test or even a spin-to-win widget. The key is to offer a prize to the winner, whether a freebie or discount, but only once they’ve entered their email and verified it.
- Get promotional pop-ups to appear while the customer is browsing your site. Make sure that the pop-up’s content is relevant to your visitors. For example, if they’re browsing shoes, then activate a pop-up that offers “30 percent off footwear for our email subscribers” to tempt them.
Regardless of how many signup opportunities are on your site, always send out welcome emails. This reassures the recipient that the signup works while letting you make a winning first impression. For instance, send an informative email or update them about what’s new with your brand.
3. A/B Testing Is Your Friend
A/B testing is the lifeblood of email marketing best practices. It allows you to track how each element is performing. Only test one at a time and on a large group of customers so you have extensive data to work with. For instance, you could test frequency, subject lines, and time of the day. But only test for one thing at a time.
When you use A/B testing, you must do it regularly. Get in the habit of tracking your email engagements. That way, you can make any necessary adjustments in a timely manner.
4. Write a Compelling Subject Line
First impressions are crucial in digital marketing, whether it’s your website’s usability or social media prowess. With emails, your subject line is the first contact customers have with your email, so make it count.
As a general rule, keep the subject line concise. You can make it witty or funny, if that works for your brand. Personalize it so it catches the recipient’s attention. You can also use questions as the subject line or write a controversial statement to pique interest.
5. Personalize Your Emails
On average, office employees receive around 121 emails every day. That means your brand must cut through the noise. A cost-effective way to do this is by personalizing emails. Address each recipient by name. Use customers’ behaviors to justify the email. For instance, thank them for downloading your latest e-book or send a “we miss you” message if they haven’t used your services in a while.
If a customer has recently made a purchase, suggest relevant products that work well with the new item. If the customer bought a hat, for example, then suggest sunglasses from your latest collection or matching shorts. There are many ways to personalize your emails.
6. Consider Your Timing
As with most areas in life, timing is paramount. Email marketing best practices say not to bombard customers with daily emails. That’s a turnoff for many. Instead, figure out when the click rate is at its highest.
Run tests to determine when customers are most engaged. Avoid sending emails at the top of every hour. Eventually, you’ll see a pattern to help you learn when the optimal time is to send emails.
7. Segment Your Subscriber List
Although it takes time, segmenting your email subscribers results in higher engagement. You could lump customers who have made a recent purchase together. Group those who live in the same country. Separate customers from prospects. Decide how best to segment your audience.
Email marketing best practices want you to use those segments. Don’t send the same email to your entire list. You risk sending irrelevant content to the wrong audience, putting your hard work to waste. You have segments for a reason, and that reason is to send targeted emails to the right people.
8. Keep the Email Design Consistent
Whether you hire a graphic designer or create a template yourself, the email design must align with your brand identity. You want the recipient to know that it was you who sent the email. As soon as they open the message, they should recognize your brand. Make sure you use the right colors and prominently display your company’s logo.
Also, reduce your copy to three paragraphs and break it up with images. Readers don’t want to see large blocks of text. It’s intimidating. Keep the email light, lively and upbeat. Further, stay up-to-date with the latest email marketing best practices regarding whether to use automation to streamline your process.
This was a guest blog post written by Ester Adams.