Email marketing is one of the most powerful tools in a small business owner’s arsenal. Email campaigns are often included as part of an overall digital strategy to generate awareness, increase leads and sales opportunities, and nurture prospects for future conversion.
However, many business owners aren’t taking full advantage of email marketing strategies by following best practices such as the ones we’re about to share with you!
Are they mostly people who have never heard of your company before, or do they already know about your business and buy from you regularly? The answer to this question will determine what type of email content you should use.
If the majority of your recipients are new prospects, it’s important that you include introductory information in all of your emails so they can catch up on who you are and why they might want to buy from you. If the recipients are existing or current customers, you’ll want to emphasize the benefits of your products and services, new items, or specials you’re running.
To best way to get your customers to open your emails is to make sure your subject line is compelling. A good rule of thumb to follow when creating your email subject line is to make it as unique, specific, and relevant to the reader as possible.
It’s also important to only include one call-to-action in the subject line.
Examples:
“Are you looking for a new hairdryer?” or “Find out how our products can help your business!”
Don’t overuse exclamation points and question marks because these are seen as spammy traits by email recipients. Emojis in subject lines are another thing that can make your subject line stand out to the reader.
Sending your email at the right time can also have an impact on the open rate. The best days to send an email are Tuesdays and Thursdays, early to late morning around 8 am to 10 am, or between 8 pm-midnight. You should avoid sending emails on Mondays and Fridays.
To know when your email will work best for your business and customers, you should test it. Send it at different times and see what the open rates are like, how many people click on it, and how many unsubscribe from your list.
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Segmented emails are a great way to give your audience true value. With segmented emails, you can send the right message to a small subset of your audience. This approach is especially effective for larger businesses that have many different types of customers- big and small, local and national – but who are all interested in something specific about what you offer.
Segmented emails can be split up into categories such as:
– Product updates and offers for a specific type of product like clothing, accessories, etc.
– Updates about new services or industry trends.
– Promotions and discounts on different products that are relevant to your audience who have already shown interest in those types of products.
Even geographical location can be a segmentation factor. This is especially relevant for businesses that have different pricing structures in different places or industries with seasonal variations like local retail stores and restaurants.
Adding personalized features such as greeting your customers by name, recommending products based on their purchasing history and other demographic data, and mentioning birthdays or other significant events like anniversaries can improve the customer’s experience with email marketing.
– One of our favorite ways to personalize an email is by using a “greeting” line at the top of each message. There are countless approaches you could take here that will work for your business. For example, you could greet each customer by their first name if they’ve signed up with an email address or a “Welcome!” greeting to every subscriber who’s opening their emails for the very first time.
– Another way to personalize is through recommendations and offers based on what customers have previously purchased from you.
– You can also send a personalized message to customers who have completed specific tasks, like requesting information or signing up for your newsletter. These messages will be more focused on the customer’s needs, and they are less likely to get overlooked in their inbox–because you’re talking directly about what is important to them!
One of the most important aspects of email marketing is the CTA, which should encourage prospects to take a certain action upon reading your email.
Many small businesses don’t understand how to initiate an effective and long-term customer email campaign. One of the most important parts is developing clear CTAs – call to action – that will benefit both you and your potential customers.
For example, a CTA to sign up for your email list might say, “Sign Up Today and Get 20% off Your Next Purchase.” Or, if you are looking to increase the traffic into your store, it might be something like: “Visit Us This Weekend for Exclusive Deals!”
CTAs should always have an easy-to-understand offer that benefits customers in some way when they take action from the CTA.
A good CTA is worth its weight in gold!
A good way is by using a specific conversion rate – what percentage of people who click on an offer, sign up for something, or buy from your site do so as a result. You could also use more qualitative metrics like subscriber count and open rates. Whatever measurement will be most valuable to you!
We want readers to stay subscribed because we know they’ll read our content and learn about other products that might interest them in the future. Email campaigns are great for creating relationships with customers that can last years if done correctly, and it’s important to set yourself up for continued success.
The most important thing to remember when sending out an email campaign is that it needs to be personalized and targeted.
A successful marketing strategy will consider customer demographics, their interests, what they may need at the time of your emails, as well as use psychological triggers like scarcity or social validation. By leveraging these powerful techniques in conjunction with other digital strategies such as content marketing and social media marketing, you can create highly effective campaigns for any size business.
If you want help getting started on a more customized approach tailored to your company’s specific goals and objectives – get a free consultation from us today!
We’ll work with you one-on-one so that we can develop an individualized plan based on our expertise in email marketing best practices.
Sociallybuzz launched in 2009, is a Social Media, Advertising, and Reputation Management Company. We exist to help businesses grow using social media, data, and advertising.
Recognized as one of the Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America, Sociallybuzz was named the Top Marketing Agency to help Franchises strive by Entrepreneur Magazine.
For more information, visit http://www.sociallybuzz.com.
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