Even though some people might make the claim that email is dead, or that it’s nothing but spam these days, it is still one of the most powerful marketing tools out there—especially considering email can be used to reach such a large number of people with personalized messages.
However, email definitely can be done wrong. It can be annoying and it can seem like spam—and that’s the last thing your prospects want to see.
So before you start your next campaign, consider theseemail marketing tips to make sure that it’s totally kick ass.
1. Segment Your Contact List
Research shows that emails receive 62% more clicks when sent to segmented lists, so this is a great place to start. Go through your contact list. Which contacts are current customers? Which are Marketing Qualified Leads? Which are Sales Qualified Leads? Do you have some B2B and some B2C customers? Divide your database into a number of different lists, based on these different types of criteria. This can make your contact list more manageable and your email campaigns more targeted and successful. If you want to close more leads into customers with your next campaign, why would you bother sending that email to your existing customers?
2. Personalize & Sympathize
Now that you’ve got your contact list segmented, your emails can be more personalized. Using a marketing automation program like HubSpot, you can even use variables within the email to include your reader’s name, company name, and so on, making a mass email seem more customized and personal. Additionally, using your buyer personas and knowing the wants and needs of your buyer personas, you can sympathize with your reader—show them that you understand their problems, and offer them something valuable that will build trust between you and them.
3. Don’t Forget About Your Existing Customers
Remember that one of the pillars of inbound is to delight your customers into promoters! Keep them in the loop and keep sending them valuable content that they can use (but not necessarily the same content you send your prospects). Getting new customers is important, but so is retaining your current ones. Don’t forget about them, or they might just forget about you (and that would be not-so-kick-ass).
4. Tell a Story
Whether it’s a story about you, your company, your product, or even your reader, stories are engaging. One of the hardest parts of writing a successful email is getting your reader to keep reading—a story might just do the trick. Then, once they get to the end of the story, all you’ve gotta do is wrap it up with a nice call-to-action (CTA).
5. Use Analytics to Measure Your Goals
So what are your goals for your next email campaign? Do you want 50 new qualified leads, for example? Make sure you write this down. By having a tangible goal in mind and on paper, you can gauge the results of your campaign, and make improvements for the next one. Luckily, with programs like HubSpot, you can see how many people opened your emails, as well as the click-through rate on any CTAs inside.
6. Use CTAs to Nurture Your Leads
Which bring me to my next point: Use CTAs in your emails! Email is a great tool to nurture your leads into customers (and delight customers into promoters). After reading through a great email, your lead will want to know what to do next—make it easy for them to find out how to RSVP to your webinar, how to download an eBook, or how to schedule a consultation with you. These CTAs also offer you another opportunity to find out more about them, which can make your next email even more personalized.
7. Don’t Spend All Your Time on the Subject Line
Yes, writing an enticing subject line for your email is very important—it’s what first draws your reader in. But no, it isn’t the only important aspect of your email. The most important part is providing something valuable to your lead or customer, or a CTA that will bring them to something valuable. So even though a high open rate is great, just remember that a high click-through rate is even better.
8. Find Help If You Don’t Know Where to Start
But of course, it’s not always easy to get started. Sometimes you just don’t know how to begin. If you need help formatting your email, here’s an awesome article from Yesware with 9 different email formulas—see which ones work for you and which ones don’t.
So go on, give it a shot! Try one of those formulas, with some of these tips, and your own awesome content offers for a totally kick ass email campaign.
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