6 Email Marketing Best Practices
While limiting email marketing mistakes is important, identifying and implementing email marketing best practices will all but ensure success…The adage that “email is dead” is one that many subscribe to, however, it couldn’t be less true… Email isn’t only a leading distribution platform for businesses and brands but for leisure communication purposes as well. It also happens to be a key contributor for marketers and advertisers when it comes to returns on investment and conversion rates.
In fact, email marketing returns those who implement it correctly up to a 4400% ROI; that’s a $44 dollar return on every $1 spent! contrary to popular belief, email is a marketer’s most valuable accomplice, whether you’re in the hospitality industry, finance space, or otherwise.
Similarly, to further illustrate email service popularity and value, the global email marketing market is currently valued and almost $8 billion, expected to more than double to over $18 billion in the next five years.
With that said, in what follows, we’ll be detailing what email marketing is and what tips to implement in order to capitalize on your ROI. By implementing the following best practices, you’ll be well on your way to ensuring a successful email marketing campaign and strategy at large…
Email Marketing & Its Importance
While it’s commonplace to presume the importance of an effectively implemented digital marketing strategy, so too is it important to effectively implement an email marketing strategy. As illustrated in the statistic above, it would be silly not to!
Simply put, using email as a means of marketing and distribution simply implies using it as a primary communication modality with your existing email list and target audience.
The end result of an effectively implemented email marketing strategy is arguably the most efficient and effective strategy for attracting, acquiring, and converting target consumers.
If the aforementioned email statistics aren’t enough to convince you of its importance, we’re not sure what will. With that said, here are a few important factors to take into consideration…
Reach Target Audiences
First, email marketing affords the opportunity to reach target audiences in the most authentic and personable way possible. With no concerns about scroll-time, algorithmic roadblocks, or SEO considerations, email marketing is the last one-to-one marketing modality to build customer relations.
Still Widely Used
Next, email still continues to be a widely used application. Not only do 99% of email users check it daily, but nearly 50% of the world’s population still use it. That’s almost 4 billion people! Why wouldn’t you want to have a piece of that pie?!
Automation & Efficiency
Lastly, not only is there an abundance of automated email marketing platforms available for your benefit which will discuss shortly, but they all offer ways to create and customize campaigns like never before, all at a fraction of the cost of most digital marketing efforts.
eCommerce Email Marketing Best Practices
Contrary to what you might think, email marketing is more than typing up an email and clicking send… In fact, email marketing requires time, due diligence, and strategic planning to develop a comprehensive strategy that converts.
Note that without developing a winning strategy unaccompanied by proper research and due diligence, your email is going to get lost amongst the hundreds of other emails your audience receives daily.
So, before clicking send, start by identifying your target audience, establishing your goals & objectives, and devising a strategy… The following are the top 6 email marketing best practices to implement immediately!
Build a relevant email list
Building a relevant email list requires creativity, tactics, and patience, achieved through website pop-up prompts, live chat prompts, subscription bars, social media advertising and landing pages, and other organic promotional tactics. In short, the quality of your email list will largely determine the success of your email marketing strategy.
Segment your email list
Once you’ve established a sizable list of relevant potential customers/clients, it’s now time to launch your first campaign. While many make the mistake of mass emailing, it’s important to instead segment your list, both for A/B testing purposes and to segregate consumer behaviours and buying stages.
Create a captivating subject line
At this stage of your email marketing strategy, it’s time to personalize and optimize your emails. The first step of personalization and optimization? The subject line. In short, the subject line can be thought of as the front lines of your operation; it’s what draws them in to click and take action, or on the contrary, ignore or delete immediately.
The primary aim here is to simply curate a subject line that captures their attention and triggers curiosity to learn more.
Write email copy that’s compelling
Because email primarily comprises the written word, it’s imperative that you prioritize it as such. One of the most effective copywriting strategies? storytelling… In any case, effective copywriting entails both personalization, engagement, and of course, calls to action. While this can be automated, it’s important to ensure that you greet all contacts by their first name, taking into consideration their needs, interests, and desires.
Optimizing for mobile
With more than 50% of email users accessing email campaigns via their mobile devices, it’s imperative not to forget about this subset of the population. Failing to do so will ultimately lead to lost leads. With that said, when curating an email campaign, don’t forget to optimize for mobile, taking into consideration mobile templates, text, pixels, buttons, and load times.
Implement automation
So, you’ve developed a sizable email list, you’ve curated an effective and comprehensive email marketing strategy, and you’re prepared to launch your first campaign… In other words, the leg work is complete. Now all that’s left to do is automate the process! Luckily, there are several applications and email marketing platforms that help you with the automation process in its entirety…