Email marketing is one of the first things business owners think about when creating a website. It’s not hard to imagine why they feel this way. Marketers use email every single day to reach out to their audience to build trust, educate, and convert. Some would argue that it’s much more difficult to navigate customers through a sales funnel without email communication.
We want to take a look at some key aspects to consider if you’re looking for a way to grow your business using this marketing style. Our tips range between making sure your messages get delivered, to collecting feedback and segmenting leads.
Let’s dive in!
Check Deliverability Options
The first thing you should check is your backend email settings. None of the other steps matter if your emails are not reaching their targeted audiences. You’re going to want to make sure you’re using a reliable protocol that ensures email deliverability.
Platforms like WordPress default their users to send emails with PHP. The problem with this protocol is it can cause a conflict in the communication between the email sender (you) and the server. Before emails make it to their destination, they pass through a server to ensure that the IP addresses match up and that the IP isn’t blacklisted. A conflict on the server could cause your email to end up in the recipient’s spam folder, or worse, it might not get delivered at all.
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a more efficient way to send out emails to your leads and customers. SMTP helps transmit your email to the server without causing a conflict. Fewer conflicts mean you’ll be able to reach more consumers, which translates to a more effective email marketing campaign.
Segment Lead Lists
Once you see an increased subscriber count, start thinking about segmenting your lead lists. Segmenting leads allows you to target customers based on their personal preferences and personalities. This technique will allow you to market products personalized for the consumer.
For example, if you operate an eCommerce storefront that sells clothing, you can ask subscribers to choose the items they are more interested in hearing about. In this case, you’ll find that you can create a segmented list for tops, pants, skirts, shoes, accessories, and much more. Depending on what the user selects, they could appear on multiple campaigns at once.
Personalizing your marketing campaigns helps ensure that customers see content that’s relevant to their interests and lives. Building a secure connection with your audience through lead nurturing is an essential step in the marketing process. Think about the products and services you sell and create additional customer personas based on those interests.
Provide Value
Far too many marketers don’t provide their leads with value within their email marketing campaign. There are countless opportunities to reward and engage your audience for being subscribers. If you have a blog with tons of great content, why not consider sending your leads a list of the Editor’s Pick for the week? If you’re segmenting your leads, you can create various content lists for the audience you want to target.
You could also send out monthly coupons to your subscribers. Not only will they feel good knowing that they are being rewarded for signing up, but it will encourage them to use their coupon — which translates to a sale. This situation is ideal for conducting a contest. Giveaways are known for improving engagement and increasing sales. A monthly raffle will keep your audience interested in what you’re offering and help you build a presence on social media.
Ask for Feedback
Finally, if you want to master email marketing and your business strategy, ask your audience. The people who follow you on social media, buy your products, and subscribe to your email list have a bond with your brand. If you ask them about their experience through email, you can improve your campaigns and your UX design on-site.
Make sure to ask specific questions to gather accurate information. You may want to ask questions like:
- How can we improve our product?
- What information would you like to see in our email newsletters?
- Are there any topics you’d like to see us cover in our blog in the future?
These questions give you an idea of what customers expect from your brand. You can use this data to create new products and marketing campaigns and improve the quality of your website.
Conclusion
Email marketing is a complex strategy that takes time to master. These four tips will help you start your campaign on a strong foundation. As your business grows, you’ll begin to get a feel for the type of content your subscribers want to see.
The most important thing to remember when trying to master email marketing is there is no one right. There are plenty of great techniques available, but you have to learn and adjust over time. Now you have the groundwork you need to get out there and create a killer email marketing campaign.