Best email marketing and automation ideas to succeed in business. This quick time-saving review will alter your marketing ideas and targets
Your email marketing difference comes from consistency
Consistency has proven to gain greater customer trust in the principle feature before the purchase happens.
| Know | Getting your brand out there |
| Like | Gaining respect and recognition |
| Trust | Being the one to buy from |
Without these three fundamentals in place your chance of success is minimal. That is why repetition wins the war every day.
This is the same principle with your Social Media, readers want action and a reason to act on impulse and buy from you.
The rule of seven explained
This is an ancient rule of marketing in that a consumer needs to see something from you at least seven times before they will make a buying decision.
The TV companies emphasize this by repeating adverts ad nauseum. They want the seven touches done in a hurry and may only have your attention on the TV.
The large grocery chains will email you, SMS you, direct mail you, and send newsletters and a market-day pricing catalog. My mailbox is generally full of them.
They do all this for a simple reason, IT WORKS. Therefore you should join the crowd.
Types of email marketing
Here is your starting list to think about
- Singe email with a purpose
- Introduction email
- Thank you email
- Birthday email
- Broadcast emails
- Newsletters
- Autoresponders
Therefore which ones are you going to use
Email marketing benefits
The benefits of email marketing are really important.
| You stand out from the crowd | If they don't read yours they will read someone else's |
| Being seen as a leader in your industry | Consumers love success |
| Building your brand | Brand recognition is important |
| Gaining know Like and Trust | Consistency will build trust |
| Adding to the seven-touch theory | Cross-market with Social Media |
| Simple greetings | Birthdays and holidays |
| Providing valuable information | How to do things, fix things |
| Entertain | It is not all about selling |
The above are all important parts of your marketing program that can be combined into a package with other media.
The best mail companies are not always the cheapest
There is a terrible thing called spam, which is sending mail that has not been authorized in some way by the recipient. The fines are indeed large so don't be the one to get caught.
Email carriers vary in their attitude to spam complaints even though a minor percentage of complaints is accepted and even expected. There are many reasons for this so your target is to minimize it as much as possible.
Marketing mostly insists on a return on cost. If you spend a dollar and make two dollars you are doing well, well enough to lift the spend and make more.
Having tried many carriers over my years in marketing I have settled on Constant Contact. They have the full suite of products and training plus they have never given me an ounce of trouble.
The main benefit is you pay by subscriber not by email so you can send as many as you possibly want and not break the bank.
The returns on your email marketing will more than pay for the small monthly fee thus providing a positive return, a marketer's dream.
Results don't always happen overnight they may take months or even years of constant mail.
So value your returns over time and not on a quick send.
Best email marketing and automation ideas make it all simple
Making your marketing simple
It is understood that the marketing demands are taking more and more time to produce.
Just posting a Facebook post every day is enough without adding email to it or other media channels.
Of course, you can pay someone to do all the work however they must complete the work in the least possible time and cost.
Newsletters generate sales, branding, and touch.
First of all, Newsletters are not a sales tool, they are an information channel that entertains and retains consumer interest.
You may send this out every week, fortnight, or month but no longer than that.
My simple method is to do them in bulk. I write out a dozen titles, grab a few pictures, write a few words and pre-program them to go out at my selected times. One a month or less.
This way you consolidate your time into one block and move on to other pressing matters.
Best email marketing and automation ideas with a responder
The Auto Responder program.
If this is new to you it is a series of emails that go out over time.
How to do your email marketing with an auto Responder
| An introduction email | Who you are and what you do |
| A product email | What it is what it does |
| Who has gained benefit from it | The interest level |
| Why deal with you | Price, support, and performance |
| A hard sell | Ask for the order |
| The thank you | Usually, move them to another list |
This series may extend over many more emails and in fact, I like at least 10 in a series.
They go out every couple of days or until they buy or leave.
The emails are generally centered around a specific product that someone has shown interest in. Therefore you set up this automated series to take them on a Journey.
Importantly you use the same emails for any customer that wants that product, so it could be a handful or indeed thousands of people.
If they fail to buy you have several options.
Your options
- Get on the phone and follow up.
- Move them to another list
- Put them into the general newsletter list
- Get rid of the contact altogether, a clean list is a good one
Having more than one list happens to all of us. You may have all females on a list or all teens whatever you are trying to promote to the correct niche. I combine them all into a general list that is my email template.
Segmenting a list.
An email we did to a large list resulted in a 25% open rate but a low click rate.
We copied all the clients that had opened the original email and put them in a separate list. Then we mailed the new list with a follow-up email and received a 60% open rate and a good click rate.
I targeted the market of interested people to maximize my return
Being strong with your list
Your list is an important asset that requires attention to maintain in the best possible way.
However don't be afraid to cut out those that never open a mail, they are not clients and never will be so get rid of them at the first opportunity.
Gathering new names from subscription forms, Social Media, direct requests, referrals, etc is a priority to continue the best engagements.
Don't sweat those that choose to unsubscribe. This keeps your list clean and gets rid of deadwood.
Your email marketing strategy
A good strategy is a written plan that sets out to achieve a certain objective.
Future planning your newsletter subject line and dates to send will ensure it is done on time.
I have said the Newsletter is not a sales document however always includes a sales button. You never know when they are ready to buy.
Constantly transfer your subscribers to your list to get growth and strength.
Load birthday wishes when you have the available data. We all love to be acknowledged and this is one way to do it.
Send welcome letters to new subscribers and consider putting them into an automated list that will build your profile and gather sales. Constant Contact has a lot of training on this so take advantage of it where and when you can.
When your customers show an interest in a certain product put them into an automated list that will deliver fresh information over several weeks. You want to wear them down with information that will lead to a buying situation
Working with your reports
This is a critical part of your marketing. You must understand your results and these are laid out for you in a simple search.
- How many emails were sent
- the number opened
- The click ratio
- Opt-outs must be low
- Spam reports zero or close to it
I have written a lot more on this in a recent blog talking about email reports
Conclusion and wrap up
Email marketing is still reaping great rewards for those that do it properly. It is working better now than ever before with the move to home offices.
Online shopping has grown and much of that is driven by proactive marketing in the form of emails.
The cost is small however the returns can be massive if done properly.
Whatever else you consider please include emails in your marketing budget. They can form a large part of the seven touches that will deliver consistent results to the sales ledger.
Best email marketing and automation ideas to succeed by Peter Hanley
