This is not the end of the road for email marketing.. And don’t let anyone tell you it is.
Almost all email users check their inbox on a daily basis. In fact trusted business advisor McKinsey suggests that Email marketing is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Twitter and Facebook combined.
Clearly, emails are still a popular communication choice for internet users across the world; and this includes the millenials as well.
The key is to target the right segment in this plethora of email users.
As an online business, you can harness the power of well executed email marketing to nurture customer engagement, retention and to influence purchase decisions.
Understand Email Marketing
The most important thing to remember is that email marketing is NOT bulk mailing!
No.
An amateur marketer who takes this approach will only land up spamming people with promotional emails and getting ‘unsubscribed’, or landing up in junk folders. Not the outcome you want.
Consider email marketing as a targeted technique of sending personalized emails to your potential and existing customers instead. This doesn’t mean you are writing out each email separately. Rather, you are grouping your audience on common criteria and writing to them with meaningful, relevant content accordingly.
What you can do with email marketing
A successful email marketing campaign can help you develop lasting or long-term relationships with your customers. It can strengthen your brand reputation and reinforce the trust you build in your brand among your audience.
You can use email marketing as a cost effective way to send information about your latest discounts, offers, and other valuable news or insightful content to your audience; be it your existing or potential customers.
Curate Your Lists
A well executed email campaign requires proper planning as well as a deep understanding of your audience. Equally, it is crucial to send your emails at the right time of the day and on the right day of the week, and at a frequency that is just right for your subscribers. Not too frequent, not sporadically nor too seldom. The optimal frequency that works best for you will be unique and best found by testing it out.
Relevant content is one of the main ways to attract and retain your audience. This is an important aspect of email marketing so create good content as a priority for your campaign. An excellent way to know what works well with content is also to test it out.
No matter what software you choose to send out your email, you own your list of subscribers. If you are able to build your list over time and include loyal, enthusiastic fans who trust the content you share, your list of subscribers is a powerful asset. Your list cannot be deleted or blocked by any platforms.
It is very important that you have taken permission from your subscribers to send them emails. That way you are a welcome guest rather than an unwelcome one. If you choose to employ unfair practices such as adding email IDs from business cards without permission can also lead to adverse effects.
Remember, consumers are empowered to fight back easily now. They can report irrelevant and intrusive emails as spam.
the subscribers who opt in to hear from you; your emails are not a nuisance, but a preferred medium of communication for interacting and getting new information about your brand. When the content received is valuable, subscribers look forward to email communication.
Customers who are effectively connected via email become brand advocates; and that’s why about 80% of small business owners use email for marketing. These days customers increasingly check email over mobile phone and this is one trend that is expected to continue.
Constructive Tips
- Curate your list of subscribers; create segments based on any one characteristic and send emails with relevant content for that segment.
- Take some time to think of and write eye-catching subject lines
- Pay attention to the tone, timing, and frequency of the emails you send out
- Use the art of storytelling and make your emails interactive wherever possible
- Proofread your emails before you send them out
- Add an email signature; either on behalf of yourself or on behalf of your brand.
- Keep testing and perfecting aspects like subject lines, tone, content, timing, and frequency of your emails.
- Offer discounts or some lead-in to give a chance for site visitors to give you their email addresses and their permission to receive emails from you or your brand.
Email marketing is still very much active and alive. In fact it is a great way to make meaningful connections with your customers; build trust and engagement and to take your business forward successfully. Execute it well!
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