Everything You Need to Know About Email Marketing

This article was last updated on October 20, 2021

Have you been dragging your feet on email marketing? It’s actually a lot easier than it sounds. And since almost 90% of consumers check their email every day, you can’t afford to miss out on this lucrative marketing tool.

At its core, email marketing is simply the process of targeting your audience using email. Without a doubt, it’s the most profitable form of modern marketing, with an average of a $42 return on investment for every $1 spent. The catch is, most people receive an average of 121 emails per day. So to use email marketing effectively, you’ll need an informed strategy to make your email campaign stand out and appeal to your target audience.

The Benefits of Email Marketing

Email marketing is a swift way to drive sales for any modern business owner. A quality email campaign helps you stay at the forefront of consumers’ minds in a way that feels personalized to them and helps:

• Increase brand recognition
• Build credibility
• Boost sales
• Increase traffic to your website
• Strengthen customer relationships

Getting Started with Your Email Marketing Campaign

It might seem overwhelming to get the ball rolling when first creating your email marketing campaign, but don’t worry! We’ve got your back. With the right tools, a little market research, and a targeted email list, you can start your campaign off on the right foot.

Choose an Email Service Provider

First things first, don’t use a regular inbox provider for your email campaign. If you do, your mass emails will end up marked as spam, and all that hard work will go to waste. Instead, use an email service provider like Constant Contact or SendinBlue to ensure your messages reach your consumers’ inboxes. Plus, these providers make it easier to manage your email lists and templates.

Define Your Audience

The next step is to develop your email marketing strategy. Who are you marketing to? Try to define your audience and buyer persona and research the best email marketing techniques to create subject lines, copy, images, and content that are in alignment with your brand. Learn what attracts your ideal customer, and understand what language and imagery they are most responsive to.

Build Your Email List

Start building your email list by working with what you have. Reach out to customers you already have a relationship with, either online or in person, and give them the option to join your email list. If you don’t have many customers yet, take your time and build a list from the ground up. You can do this by creating incentives for people to join your email list, like giving them a percentage off your product if they provide their email.

But whatever you do, don’t buy an email list! Inorganic marketing will only hurt your business in the long term.

The Importance of Segmenting Your Email List

Sending the same cookie-cutter email to everyone on your list is out of style and ineffective. This is where email segmentation comes in. Email segmentation is the process of dividing your email lists based on each customer’s information so that you can send them relevant, personalized content. This method is proven to increase your click-through rates and conversion.

You can segment your email list based on any criteria that you prefer, which might include:

• Geographic location
• New subscribers
• Preferences
• Interests
• Shopping cart abandonment

By appealing to your audience in a more specific way, you’ll see much better engagement and overall results from your email campaigns.

Improving Your Email Open Rates

The current digital age is constantly inundating your consumers with advertisements, so it’s no wonder that they delete dozens of emails each day without even opening them. But what’s the point of doing all that work to create the perfect campaign if nobody opens your emails? There are several actions you can take to conquer consumer indifference and improve your email open rate.

• Double-check that everyone on your email list opted-in to your email campaign. If your subscribers don’t opt-in, your emails will almost certainly be ignored or marked as spam.
• Avoid using spam trigger words in your campaign.
• Remove inactive subscribers from your list. (Hate to say goodbye? Before you get rid of them, you can give one last email campaign a try. Ask inactive subscribers if they’d like to stay on your email list, and if they don’t respond, bid farewell.)
• Send your emails at the right time. Look for patterns in your open rates to decipher when your subscribers are most active. You can even perform A/B tests to pinpoint the most successful timeframes.
• Create the perfect subject line. This is so important! A well-crafted subject line will lure your readers in and save your message from the Trash folder.

Measure Your Results

Once your campaign is up and running, how do you measure its effectiveness? Of course, your ultimate goal should always be to convert as many leads as possible, but other metrics will also help you track your path to success. Keep a close eye on the important aspects of your email marketing campaign, like:

• Open Rates. As stated before, open rates are an integral part of a lucrative campaign. If your open rates are faltering, consider mixing up your timing and experimenting with new subject line styles.
• Click-through rates. Does the content of your emails inspire subscribers to shop with your brand? If your click-through rates are underwhelming, ask yourself whether the copy is evocative and the call to action is clear. Perhaps you can tweak your approach and provide subscribers with a more enticing lure to visit your site.
• Unsubscribe rates. Inevitably, some people will unsubscribe here and there, but a high unsubscribe rate could indicate that you aren’t segmenting your emails properly. Are you spamming your subscribers’ inboxes with too many emails or topics that are irrelevant to their interests? Examine your campaign closely and adjust as needed.

Related: 10 Ways To Successfully Increase Your Email Open Rates and How To Measure Email Marketing Success

MailBakery

Email marketing is a cornerstone of any effective digital marketing strategy. It’s a direct line to your consumers, with a high return on your investment. So why wouldn’t you leverage this technique? With a little help, your brand can quickly develop an email marketing campaign that will put you on the road to success.

MailBakery provides all the help you need to get started. We partner with your business to design and code jaw-dropping, brand-specific email templates that are sure to convert.

Want to create something great? Contact our team today, and let’s work together to cook up the campaign of your dreams.