As a small business owner, you need to find a way to attract new customers and retain the existing ones. Lack of time, money and resources are often limiting factors in finding a solution that will bring the desired results. Email marketing is known to be the solution that gives the best ROI (return on investment). It is also an effective solution that allows you to reach your customers anywhere in the world, as long as they have internet access to check their emails.
Email marketing is a great way to promote offers, build brand loyalty, and create excitement among your audience. By sending targeted promotions and personalized content, you can keep your brand top-of-mind and encourage repeat business. It’s a cost-effective method that reaches customers directly in their preferred communication channel. Additionally, it offers the advantage of mobile reach, ensuring your messages are accessible anytime, anywhere.
Understanding your audience is crucial, and email marketing provides valuable insights through metrics like open and click-through rates. These metrics help tailor your content to match subscriber preferences, driving higher engagement and conversions. The ability to track and measure results easily means you can refine your strategies and achieve immediate impact, particularly with time-sensitive promotions.
However, not all campaigns are set up for the same level of success. To ensure that you capitalize on all the benefits that email marketing can bring to your business, it’s important to integrate these key practices into your strategy:
Segment Your Audience
Divide your email list into segments based on criteria like age, location, and interests. This allows for personalized and relevant content, which improves engagement and conversion rates.
Some examples of segments include:
- New subscribers
- Non-purchased subscribers / purchased subscribers
- Inactive subscribers (those who have not been interacting with campaigns)
- Subscribed email contacts who opened any of your last 5 emails
- Contacts who live in a certain location
- Contacts who spent more than $500 in your connected store
User Automation
Leverage automation tools to send timely and relevant emails based on user actions. Automated welcome emails, purchase confirmations, abandoned carts, and birthday greetings enhance the customer experience.
Optimize for Mobile
Ensure your emails are mobile-friendly with responsive designs. Test your emails on various devices to make sure they look good and are easy to navigate on smaller screens.
Craft Compelling Subject Lines
Your subject line is the first thing recipients see. Make it compelling and relevant to increase open rates. Avoid spammy words and focus on creating curiosity or urgency.
Example #1
This subject line includes zero information about the contents of this email to help encourage subscribers to open it over the many other emails they likely have in their inbox. Emojis are overused, and there is no preheader copy to provide further information. All caps are also too pushy and come off as a bit desperate.
Example #2
This example shows the risk of having a lengthy subject line. After 4-5 words, your subject lines get cut off in certain email clients and on mobile devices. It is important to make a statement in the first few words that will incite your subscribers to open, and this example copy is very generic and not very exciting, blending right into the rest of the emails in an inbox.
Example #3
By using the contact’s first name to make the subject more personalized to the individual, using exciting language, a preheader to offer a bit more context and urgency, and one emoji to help the email stand out in the inbox without going overboard.
Test and Analyze
Regularly test different elements of your emails, such as subject lines, images, and the desired call-to-action. Use past performance statistics to glean insights into your campaign’s performance, and don’t be afraid to make changes accordingly. A couple of key tips to keep in mind when analyzing and comparing the success of your email marketing campaigns are:
- Set Specific Goals: Determine what you want to achieve with the test, such as higher open rates, click-through rates, or conversions.
- Develop Hypotheses: Use past performance data and audience insights to form hypotheses about what changes might improve results.
- Monitor Results: Track relevant metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates.
- Record Keeping: Document your tests, including objectives, hypotheses, methodologies, and results. This helps you track progress and learn over time.
Investing in email marketing is a strategic move for businesses looking to enhance customer relationships and drive growth. By following these best practices, you can maximize the impact of your email marketing efforts to attract, engage, and retain new and current customers.
Geoffrey Blanc is the General Manager at Cyberimpact, a Canadian email marketing solution designed to make your life easier. He has been in the IT sector for 15 years, navigating many different avenues, including business management, finance, human resources, business, and product development.
Geoffrey’s passion for digital transformation allows him to help companies develop this aspect and equip themselves with tools and methodologies to support their growth.
