Some people are like me—I’m pretty generous when it comes to handing out my email address. I’ll sign up for a free ebook or an interesting newsletter in a heartbeat (and then proceed to ignore the influx of emails in the following weeks until I finally unsubscribe). Others are more of what you’d call an email list Nazi, refusing to give out their email address for just about anything. They want something incredibly valuable in exchange for their personal information.
There are many benefits of email marketing for your business. But in order to reap those benefits, you must be strategic with your approach and offer your audience engaging and useful content. Read on to learn why your business needs email marketing and how to do it right.
What Is Email Marketing Automation?
Automated emails
Email marketing automation is software that automates your emails. Simple enough, right? The software sends pre-designed emails to your customers for you. You create the emails to start, and the software takes it from there. At Post Launch, we exist to make sure that the setup process is done right the first time. Email marketing is important and things get very messy if the automation starts and the emails weren’t created properly.
Targeted audience
We target the emails to reach the inbox of customers who actually care about the content you’re dealing out. This is similar to how Walmart started sending you emails about diapers about as soon as you found out a baby was on the way. Your neighbor who just performed a wedding ceremony for two of her cats didn’t receive those emails.
Response tracking
Email marketing automation software will tell you which emails are working for which people. You can see which leads are hot by following the customer’s actions on your website after they open your email. You get to see exactly what is working and what is not. Then, you can adjust your marketing efforts to maximize success!
The Benefits of Email Marketing
There are many benefits of email marketing. This form of digital marketing allows for a more direct, deeper connection with your audience than social media or content marketing. When you create the best email newsletters, your message is delivered right to your subscriber’s inbox. With the right tactics, you can make it feel like they’re getting a special email, written just for them (and not 999 other people).
You can send personalized reminders to potential customers.
If some of your email subscribers haven’t yet become a customer, email marketing allows you to send them a quick little reminder that you’re still there and that your product or service is still awesome. You can keep them updated on any changes in your company or new deals they may be interested in.
Approximately 91% of consumers look at their email at least once a day.
There are a ton of people checking their emails daily—currently about five billion active email accounts! 72% of US consumers use email as their preferred method of communicating with their favorite companies. Considering so many people are looking at and actively engaging with organizations through their email daily, it is natural that…
Email marketing continues to encourage people to buy.
Email marketing not only brings in sales, but it keeps customers coming back for more. In fact, 55% of businesses report that email generated over 10% of sales. 81% of online shoppers in the United States will likely make additional purchases from a brand due to targeted emails based on previous behaviors and preferences. You keep emailing them with targeted and smart emailing practices, and they will more than likely come back to your brand again and again.
Email gets a ginormous ROI.
With an estimated 4,300% Return on Investment (ROI), email marketing ostensibly brings home some of the bacon. On average, 88% of marketers say they see a positive ROI from email marketing, which can bring marketers an average return of $44 on every single dollar spent.
Emails are more effective than social media.
While this statement can be argued either way, the statistics don’t lie. Emails have conversion rates three times higher than social media. It is 40 times better at bringing in new customers than Facebook and Twitter (the largest social media platforms). Not only that, once customers hit your online store, they are likely to spend up to 17% more money than they would when finding you with social media.
Ok, But How Do I Stop My Emails from Going to Spam?
Now, there are very different ways to compile email newsletter content. Some take the overly-promotional route (and get sent to the spam folder—or even trash). Others are a little more thoughtful with their approach to avoid getting trashed, and at least get an Open.
Set up domain authentication with your email marketing service
It’s important to first think about your online reputation. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Google and Yahoo are developing stricter rules when it comes to how they separate and prioritize your mail. Companies need a good reputation to stay in the Inbox. ISPs will look at your domain status, previous email engagement rates, any spam complaints, and more. This history will basically determine whether or not you’ve behaved optimally with your bulk email sends.
Next, strategize ways to encourage more engagement; this includes email open rates, click-through rates, website visits, and more. Be careful when sending email newsletters to bulk lists. ISPs are now penalizing you when people don’t open your emails. Meaning, sometimes it’s better to check the engagement rate and let go of those users who no longer open and engage with your content.
Write catchy subject lines and engaging content
A large portion of your efforts should go into creating catchy email subject lines. If that subject doesn’t catch their eye, they’ll continue to scroll through their large heap of emails and miss out on what you have to say.
Then, of course, comes quality content. Be thoughtful when creating email newsletter content. Is it something your whole list needs to hear or just a certain targeted group from the masses?
Give your email a goal
What are you trying to portray or achieve with your content? What are you offering your subscribers? When you’re learning how to create a newsletter, always remember to be brief and be clear. Give your subscribers one primary call to action. Too much information could confuse them and cause them to close your email. Focus on content that gives your audience something of value; avoid being too promotional and salesy.
Use Email Marketing to Your Advantage
There are a million benefits of email marketing for your business. When it comes to automation, however, it’s good to let the pros handle the initial set up. Let Post Launch handle the messy parts, so you can sit back and reap the rewards. Contact us today to get started.
