How effective is an email marketing campaign? The common question is often answered in the wrong way. It still remains the most effective and cheap method to market available.
Email is still the cheapest, most effective form of
marketing on the internet.
I guess this is a pretty bold statement with all the internet activity going on in a busy world.
I am biased because I use email every day for marketing however let's look at some facts.
First of all, there were about 300 billion emails sent every day in 2019
More training on this at Wealthy affiliate university with free entry.
Our Findings courtesy of Clutch
- Email newsletters are the email marketing norm for most large businesses. In fact, in the USA it is reported that 80% of businesses use email
- The most popular days to distribute newsletters are Monday and Friday between 9 and 11 AM.
- Most marketers (70%) say personalization is a key part of their company's email marketing efforts – more so than segmentation, mobile optimization, and A/B testing.
- 87% say it's important to personalize emails.
- 90% say it's important to optimize emails for mobile devices,
The most important part of your email.
Every morning I skim my received mail for the sender names. Those I don't know or who I am on a continuous loop get the x button. Not read or even considered.
I sometimes glance at the subject and occasionally get tempted but mostly to the bin.
Therefore building a “known” relationship is imperative in all email marketing.
If you can't be read you will never get to be liked and trusted.
This is one reason for segmenting your list but more on that later.
How many types of email are there?
- Transactional emails. Your everyday send and receive.
- Newsletters
- Lead nurturing
- Mobile phones are now a major part of the email loop
- Autoresponders
- Invoicing
- Work-based
- Retail
That is a brief summary and there are a lot more in the minor categories.
Newsletters play a major role in business
It is reported that nearly 83% of American businesses have a newsletter that is dispatched on a regular basis.
Content writing for Newsletters is mostly informational and educational and rarely direct marketing because they want to entertain readers and not blast them with offers.
They are often read and rarely deleted because they are going to a Know and like a customer list
This offers an opportunity for employment for casual writers that can create content and produce it for businesses.
How often should they be sent will be debated forever and the correct answer is more or less. The minimum is once a month and the maximum one a week with exceptions.
Many industry and retail outlets will select a seasonal campaign and spread to one per quarter.
No matter the period, what counts most is the content.
A local Fishing and Dive shop as an example may post weekly fish spots and reef conditions
and have readers eagerly awaiting the arrival of the post.
I have a signwriter customer that specialises in Car wraps. This is where the whole vehicle becomes a mobile signboard. I love the monthly post, not because I am in the market but I am interested in marketing. The client loves it for free advertising and it spreads the word around our town.
The largest department store in our country sends an email with the latest offers and usually an exclusive reader promotion to come to the store or buy online.
They work and if you are not promoting a Newsletter, get with the action.
Lead Nurturing emails still convert to sales
You will already understand that random spamming of email addresses is a no-no.
A law of the land that comes down hard on those that flaunt the idea and fire away unsolicited mail. Don't do it.
However, there are so many ways to get legal addresses that this should not bother the reputable business.
Everyone you do business with is an email client. You just have to ask.
Subscribe panels on your Website can work.
VIP or Discount clubs work
Instore promotions and raffles
Networking and shows.
Monetising your staff to collect addresses
The contacts will know who you are and then it is up to you.
Autoresponders
Most businesses will understand these and use them to save on time and staffing,
An autoresponder is a service that will send emails to your selected contacts over a given time.
Say you get a new client interested in widgets, they ask and show interest but don't buy the product.
In the following days, they get an email from you about the product, and then another and another and till they say yes or no.
The email train is set up on day one and you can add new people as you wish.
There is however a format in which they are sent to increase the acceptance rate.
You can start with an introduction and welcome message and a little script on what is to follow.
Then information on the product, other users, best offers and ask for a sale. That is a cut down version to make a point.
At some point in time, you can move them to a Newsletter or a different product to keep them transactional.
Mobile phones and email
In just a few short years past this would not have been a heading, It is now a major consideration when constructing your mail.
Most mobile phone users now include an email address for on the go entertainment.
When writing emails you must consider your readers and structure the verse to fit the solution.
Big and wide pictures don't work, links close together, no spacing font too small or hard to read are all things to be considered. The length of the mail is also a consideration and you need to be brief and to the point.
Branding your online work
A consistent approach to all emails will result in a better open rate. Use your Logo in a consistent manner so that you are easily recognised.
Chose colours carefully and don't crowd the work and overwhelm the readers.
Use an easy to read font in a size that fits the page and provides easy reading.
Consumers are a fickle lot and generally have a very short attention span so use subheads to pull them through the page and keep the attention.
Always have a subtle call to action button for those that are hot to trot. A phone number and address as well as a contact.
Will email customers unsubscribe?
The answer is, we hope so. Sending mail to those that have no interest is just counterproductive to what we want to achieve.
By sending emails we are looking for results and if that result is a no then we simply move on.
Not everyone will be a buyer and by eliminating them and changing the way we approach them increases our return.
Don't be offended by an unsubscribe. It is done for many reasons so we just move on to bigger fish.
Spam complaints
This will happen at some point for a host of reasons. I had one recently that complained that he had not subscribed to my list and I was spamming him. I checked the story and he had been receiving and opening emails for three months and just had a bad day and I was the result.
It does happen and as long as the rate is very low your carrier won't be too concerned.
Upon checking your email results
This is a very important part of the production and can help you understand and manage your audience.
- The total number of emails sent
- How many open the email
- Then those that click on the mail for further action
- There will be many that simply don't open the mail
- Blocked or wrong emails
- Unsubscribes
- Spam
Each of these will give you an idea of how to proceed.
Every industry has its own call matrix and you should rate yourself against the
competitors in your industry.
You will base your actions on results but remember that we don't open a mail for many reasons. We could be busy, the header does not grab our attention, we are not interested today but tomorrow I might be etc.
Judge your results with a clinical mind and avoid emotional attachment. Yes, we all get bruised when we get adverse actions but this is a business arrangement and not a personal attack on you.
My conclusion about email marketing
Email marketing remains a dominant and effective marketing operation. It is easy to rationalise, monetise and justify the operation based on time and expenditure over results achieved.
It is quick and takes no real technical ability to be efficient in the operation.
I send emails daily and they still remain a major marketing focus in my business. I use newsletters, autoresponders and single mails on a regular basis.
In short, they work and will for a long time into the future.
More training on email marketing
As a member and graduate of Wealthy Affiliate Training University, I am able to provide you with free access to further information that will go deeper into the subject and complete the knowledge cycle.
I really recommend that if you are interested in emailing your business you use this resource
This training in WA will be free without any hard selling
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