email marketing
Email marketing rocks
Year after year, email marketing has been delivering wonderful results. If there is something that has not failed on a marketer’s hopes, it is email marketing. Research shows that every email marketing campaign dollar spent brings 38 dollars in revenue. Absolutely reliable and fool-proof, email marketing can get you desired results when planned with craft.
Email is your best bet!
Marketing is trending to personalization and there is no better tool than email marketing to prove it. Personalized emails are the best tool for any digital marketing strategy to succeed and get expected results. Schedule your email marketing campaigns and never stop.
Long live email marketing!
Over the years, a lot many digital marketing ideas have come and gone with excellent, moderate, average or no success at all. Email marketing has survived all these and ensured its primary standing irrespective of the ingenious and ever developing marketing tools that crowd the space.
Nothing new, but marketers are always on a shoe-string budget. To do more with less, to get more leads with greater personalization, email marketing that gets 38X results is something marketers cannot do without. Ensure that it is an integral part of your marketing arsenal.
With over 5 billion email accounts across the globe, percentages are but imaginary.
Why email marketing is a must?
Exemplary reach
Everyone on the internet needs an email address, and almost every website they visit asks for one. Why? Doesn’t that tell us that email has the widest reach and works well?
Reach more audience
* Email marketing can reach almost anyone
Facebook has over a billion users and twitter about quarter of a billion. Surely the reach of social media is undebatable. However, with over 5 billion email addresses on the planet, which channel do you think has a greater reach? And, you cannot interact on social media without an email address, so it is a subset of email marketing. Almost every website you visit today wants your email address, which means email marketing is the mother of all marketing channels.
* Ensured delivery
If we, as marketers, are asked to choose between gaining Facebook fan and get more subscriber on our email list, I would prefer the latter. Because, we know, over 90% of our list see my messages while only 2% of my Facebook fans get to see my posts. So, it is 45X more probable that everyone gets my message. As a marketer, which would you choose?
* We prefer email over social media
As social media connects with people you know, most people do not want to see advertising there. No wonder SMM advertising is quite unsuccessful. People prefer email to check and understand promotional material about products and services. Data shows only 17% want to see ads on social media. Clearly, email marketing has an advantage.
* Better ROI
Reiterating again, every $ you spend on an email marketing campaign generates about $38 in revenue. Which other online advertising channel gives you a 38X return? When you use personalised email, segment your lists, send relevant messages after looking into relevant insights, there is no failing. And, many marketers swear, email marketing is dead? Is it?
Traffic and conversions
A tweet has a 0.5% click rate and an email has about 3%, so a message sent through email gets you 6 times more traffic. Need you think more?
Leveraging email marketing for traffic
* Use the Opt-In
It is important that people consent to receive your emails. Use a single opt-in or a double opt-in, a subscriber should voluntarily offer to get those emails. You can use opt-in forms for best effect. Build your email list consistently and carefully. Use the list judiciously and ensure that you don’t jam those inboxes.
* Nailing the email subject
The subject line is the most crucial part of any email marketing campaign. It will make or break your open rates. About 70% of recipients will mark your email as spam, if the subject line borders on the unthinkable. A subject line affects open rates, click-through rates, conversions, and even unsubscribe rates. Keep it short and appealing, most of your your emails will be opened on mobile phones.
* Email Formatting
The chances of your email being read completely depends on its formatting. Your email should be mobile-friendly, do not hide information in images, make sure the width of the email is correct, make the design responsive and creating scannable emails works best. Breaking it up with sub-headings will be a great idea.
* Best Email Content
Your email content should be spot-on. Once the recipient opens the email, it should motivate him or her to read it completely and motivate to click the links. Images are great to add, but too not add too many. Ask for feedback and include social sharing buttons.
* Personalise emails
Send relevant information by segmenting your list. Relevance drives action and conversions while saving on resources. Remember, everyone likes their name and would love to see it. Not just the name, add relevant information and personalise as much as possible to give them a great experience by providing real, actionable value.
Messaging or mess?
When crafted carefully, email marketing gets 90% deliverability while Facebook only allows 2% of your audience to see posts. Does that ring a bell? Which do you think is effective?
Is email marketing important today?
* Ah… Email!
Email as a communication tool celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021, when Ray Tomlinson sent one to himself in 1971. Over the last five decades, it has grown into a mammoth marketing tool, more than communication. And it is still the most widely used channel today. To showcase its popularity, 80% of North Americans check email at least once a day, and about 20% check their personal emails multiple times a day. And, to say email is dead, is like writing your own marketing epitaph.
* Possibilities
Right from customer acquisition to customer service, email marketing plays a big role. With the world turning to e-commerce, the importance of has only increased manifold. And, irrespective of inboxes seeing more emails, the conversations have only gone up.
* Branding and awareness
Email marketing ensures that emails reach a person directly, making it one-to-one online communication at its best. Mind you, no one lets everyone in. Inbox is a curated private space where only a select few can enter, be it favourite brands or magazines. This underlines the importance of personalisation. The more personalised the email is, the more popular your brand will be in the owner’s mind.
* Customer psyche and loyalty
During an email marketing campaign, be it newsletters, retention, lead-nurturing, conversions or onboarding, you stay right on top of the customer’s mind, which means you are adding to customer loyalty for your brand. You can further build relationships and build communities using email. Hail… email marketing!
Communication channel
Over 72% of visitors prefer getting updates over email comapred to about 17% over social media. Which do you feel is a more effective channel?
Email marketing as a communication channel
* Why email marketing is important?
Over 90% of internet users check emails everyday. Email marketing is a digital communication channel and the best part is, it is highly measurable. We think it is the best channel for prospect and customer communication. Getting the word out is critical to marketing and thus, it is the most valuable tool in your digital marketing toolbox.
* 40X more effective
Email marketing is 40X more effective than any other digital communication channel because it has the greatest reach. It is customisable, highly measurable, personal, and is permission-based. When implemented with care, it can communicate in the most intimate manner with both prospects and customers.
* Captive audience
Since email marketing is permission-based, customers or prospects who have opted-in to receive emails will read them. What better means to tell and validate your brand story? With time, email marketing can create brands and usher in more customers.
* Customer is king
With the customers highly connected in the digital era, the only thing that sets your business apart from the competition is ‘trust’, that your branding can build. A customer has access to all data to make an informed decision. Email marketing can achieve that ‘trust’ for you.
* Email content
Over 70% of internet users check their personal emails at least 10 times a day. If your email comes with great, informative and compelling content, it builds ‘trust’ and prompts action. If the content is ‘hard-sell’ or focussed only on products and services, you may as well forget the customer. He is already flooded with such emails and would simply hit the delete button. You should be careful with email content, if in doubt, do not send.
Elements to keep in mind
Run email campaigns
Email marketing does not work at a single impression level like SEM. Always create campaigns that flow like stories and segment as per responses.
Email marketing campaign tips
* Personalisation
In the modern email landscape, personalisation is critical to run a successful email marketing campaign. Personalisation is not only about using names. It is also about sending relevant and punctual emails by segmenting your lists and expecting the receiver’s needs.
* Promotions
Promotions and growing your business are the foundational requirements of any marketing function, including email marketing. However, promotion is not the core objective. To fulfil the requirements, leverage email marketing to create and nurture healthy relationships with customers and prospects for life-time value.
* Automation
Automation is a must for an email marketing campaign to succeed. Automation improves conversion rates, helps scale easily and improves efficiency. All these add to the revenue of your business. Automation will also help save time you can use for your core competencies.
* Segmentation
Segmentation is classifying customers or prospects and creating groups. This will enable bespoke customer journeys, improving efficiency and creating personalised content that will motivate customers to take action. Relevance ensures that customers do not unsubscribe.
*A/B Testing
In order to keep your campaigns fresh and evolve continuously, use A/B testing. Every email marketing pro does it and learns with every experience. Test, test and fine tune the important elements in your email for best results.
No spam please!
Build your email lists with care and ensure that you do not send spammy emails. Use best practices and ensure that your email passes through spam filters.
SPAM is in bad taste
* What is SPAM?
Though this is unclear to most recipients and email marketers, the CAN SPAM Act by FTC throws light on this. Not that many of us are aware of this, however, it is critical to understand this as a business we do not want email recipients [aka customers] to unsubscribe your emails.
* Receiver’s permission
Sending unsolicited email is not a good practice, even if you are sending to a set of known people. They should collect permission to send emails through a subscription policy or an opt-in campaign. Spamming is about sending emails to people who have not given you the permission to send.
* Subject line deception
The subject line of the email being sent should accurately describe the contents or the purpose of the email being sent. Never send emails with subject lines like “Quick money making techniques” etc.. We interpret Spam as fishy emails, usually sent using fictions emails addresses.
* Unsubscribe option
Every email sent should have an unsubscribe button, or a hyperlinked option. The email should also state opting out, clearly. Of course, many email marketing frauds have all these, but you never get unsubscribed. Guess we have to live with it, unless we firewall those addresses.
* Database upgrades
Always make sure that your subscriber database is updated with the latest data and permissions. When a subscriber opts out, it is mandatory to process the request within 10 days from request. It is also mandatory to have a valid physical, contactable address on every email sent, according to the FTC.
When to send emails?
There is no set time and if there is, it will depend on the target segment that you are addressing. Use mad level A/B testing to figure out better.
Timing your emails
* The email marketing ‘guru’ version
According to the email marketing gurus out there, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 14:00 Hours is the best time to send your emails to get best open rates. They base this on a lot of experience and data, do not ignore it. While many other ‘gurus’ say the best time to send is 08:00 to 09:00 Hours on a Thursday.
* Device dependency
Now receivers open emails on a plethora of devices. The above times are for desktops and laptops. Mobile users are busy at these times and are more active in the evenings. So, how many subscribers on your list use mobiles to check email. Segment, segment and segment.
* Domain dependency
Email send out times also depend on the domain. If your subscribers are in the entertainment industry, you will need to send on Fridays. And, if the email is for an event, you will need to send it 3 to 5 days prior to ensure more attendance.
* What A/B testing says?
A/B testing madly on a segment can give the right time to send emails to that segment. This can ensure open rates and guide you on times that you should send those emails.
* What we say?
The best way to ensure best open rates is to ensure that the content is spot-on, the subject line is a good teaser, not sending too many emails and ensuring that the email is mobile friendly. If I were a subscriber and see the teasing subject line, I may open it immediately or even remember to open it later when I am free. So, remember, timing is not everything.
Personalise your campaigns
Personalised emails have 26% more chance of getting clicked and responded to. It could be tricky but I would make that effort. 26% is worth it.
Personalise, personalise, personalise
* Why personalise emails?
Simply because it is the most effective email marketing strategy. Data shows that over 40% of marketers find data segmentation to personalise is another effective email marketing strategy. In short, every marketer who practiced personalisation found a mad increase in open rates.
* Personalise using segmentation
For any business, customers come with different interests, tastes, and preferences. One size doesn’t fit all, therefore segmentation becomes necessary to keep all of them happy. Segment using demographic data and interests and see your success rates go through the roof.
* Personalise with dynamic content
Dynamic content is content that changes according to the interests, preferences and behaviour of the user. Using dynamic content can save a lot of time because you don’t need to tweak each email. This kind of emails make the customers feel special and open and click rates improve drastically.
* Personalise using special offers
Make your offers relevant to the segment you are sending emails to. This makes your email marketing campaign interesting and the click rates improve along with conversions. Sending the same offer to an enormous group is like spraying and praying, which is proven not to work.
* Use product recommendations to personalise
Over 80% of customers expect your business to understand their needs and preferences. Depending on their past purchases, you can send product recommendations through email marketing. It will make the offers more interesting and help your business garner more sales.
Email Marketing?
We at efficaci have filtered out many email markeitng priciples that work everytime. With over 10 years of email marketing experience, ew supercharge your emails for better CTRs..
Talk to us today to strategize and execute your email marketing goals to the ‘T’.