11 Tips to improve email marketing campaigns – Email marketing is one of the most powerful and cost-effective forms of advertising for both small and large businesses today.
When directed to targeted prospects and customers, properly executed email campaigns can produce fantastic results, but more importantly, they build and maintain long-lasting, loyal relationships – which are the very core of successful businesses.
Here is a few tips and ideas to improve email marketing campaigns
1. Define the Purpose of Your Email Campaign
To start your e-mail campaign on the right foot, be certain you define a clear goal or purpose.
2. Develop & Prepare Your Email List
Build an email list by encouraging current, previous & prospective customers to provide you with their email address. Entice them to give you permission to send them email by providing a basic clipboard on your front counter or submit form on your website, that states “Sign up here to receive coupons & discounts by email!” or “Register here to get our free email Newsletter!”. Targeted opt-in email lists of individuals interested in what you offer can also be purchased at reasonable prices.
3. Establish a Time Table
Decide on how frequently you will be sending your broadcasts. There is a fine line between over doing it and not reaching out enough in order to build and maintain long-term relationships. Using a mixture of useful content and promotional messages and sending it at varying time intervals is an acceptable practice. Avoid sending too many promotional related emails.
4. Send Emails When Readers are Most Receptive
Independent studies have shown the best response rates 4 are generated from email campaigns sent on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 2-3 o’clock in the afternoon.
5. Write a Compelling Email Message
The text body of your email is critical. Ensure your message gets right to the point with captivating content, exciting news or special offers. Be certain to include a sense of urgency with any promotional material – (i.e. Offer expires Friday). Place the most important portions of your message in the first paragraph. Use bullet points to make it easy to read. Well laid out
content will help convert an opened email into a click to your web site or a phone call to your business.
6. Use a Powerful Subject Line
First impressions are everything! Capture the recipients’ attention with a short and captivating subject line. Studies have shown a well written subject line can produce open 6 rates 10-20 times greater than subject lines that are not.
7. Use a Strong Call to Action
Use words that urge the reader of a promotional message to take immediate action such as “Call Now,” or “Click Here”. A retail advertisement without a call-to-action is considered incomplete and does not convert well.
8. Be Personable
Let’s face it: Getting one-on-one personal attention is better than dealing with a faceless corporation any day of the week. Refrain from trying to sound professional and tone down the corporate speak. Your customers and prospects are your friends. Speak to them like real people. Your response and click-thru rates depend on it.
9. Include an Unsubscribe Link
Refrain from holding the recipients of your message hostage and provide your readers with an easy and convenient method to unsubscribe from your list. It is mandated by law that you must honor all unsubscribe requests within 10 days. In addition, avoid the use of deceptive headers, from-names, reply-to email addresses and subject lines. All unsubscribe links in your outbound messages must be functional for at least 30 days after your campaign has been sent. Lastly, always include your physical mailing address in the footer of your message to identify yourself (PO Boxes are sufficient).
10. Tracking Performance
This is an often over-looked step. Tracking the links in your outbound messages will allow you to gain valuable insight and uncover what works and what doesn’t within your campaigns. Tracking is a standard feature in certain email marketing systems like Reliant Email. Tracking details are extremely helpful when fine tuning your email campaigns. Track what subject lines generate the most opens during your broadcasts. Analyse which messages produce the most click throughs to your web site or phone calls to your business.
11. Refine and Repeat
What did you learn from your first round of email campaigns? Here are some questions you can ask yourself:
- What worked and what did not?
- Did you achieve the desired results defined in Step #1?
- What can I do to improve my response and conversions for my next campaign?
Remember to continue to refine your approach and learn from your experiences and your customers. Repeat these 11 steps as needed to continue to build a successful email marketing program that keeps your customers and prospects coming back to you again and again. Let us help you implement the above tips to improve your business performance. Contact us today for a free consultation.
