None of the digital methods are as stereotypical as email marketing. It is unfairly put on a par with intrusive mailing, dummy advertising, dangerous spam. Besides, some highly categorical marketers assure that email marketing is going into decline. And innovative tools such as artificial intelligence, social networks, videos, chatbots, and other inventions of the past few years will take its place.
In this case, I want to say something like: “Email marketing is a dinosaur that survived the ice age. It is a truly effective tool for communicating with clients and generating profits to this day. And no social networks with their streams and posts were even close! ” So, if you are just starting your own business or have decided to transform your existing offline business online, you should know: the era of email marketing has just arrived.
In this guide, we’ve prepared email marketing tips for beginners to help you quickly get up to speed with effective ad campaigns.
What are the pros of email marketing?
Besides the fact that email marketing is a powerful source of communication, it has many other advantages:
- unrivaled return on investment (ROI), when you can earn about $44 from every dollar;
- high efficiency compared to the same Facebook and Twitter, which is 40% more than all popular social networks combined;
- easy integration with other promotion channels, where email marketing expands its reach using customer profiles, SMS and push notifications;
- faster and more effective SEO promotion by creating valuable content for consumers, converting customers into leads, and increasing traffic.
But before we learn all about email marketing, let’s take a closer look at the most exciting issue – ROI.
Talking about email marketing ROI?
Depending on the specifics of the business, the average return on investment ranges from 3800% to 4400%. We will now explain why this figure is so high. More than 90% of mailings (98-99% with regular validation of the client base) are delivered to clients in their mailboxes. While a post on Facebook appears in the feed, 2-4% of subscribers of a business page. Do you feel the difference?
Also, nearly half of emails are viewed on smartphones. This means that an increasing number of users can receive information and not be constrained by only one desktop. While the feed on social networks is scrolled through in the blink of an eye, and the duration of reading an email message increases every year. So more than 60% consume your email content in about 8 seconds, more than 25% spend less than 8 seconds on it and only 15% interact with the mailing letter in less than 2 seconds.
Before you discover how to get into email marketing, we want to demonstrate the potential of content that can be sent by email.
- use AMP technology, allowing the subscriber to place an order or place a reservation directly in an email, without the need to go to an external resource;
- experiment with unlimited possibilities of email campaigns by introducing a quest, rebus, poll or original interactive element into high-quality email content;
- adopt built-in analytics tools to understand what conversions are in terms of email deliverability and open rates, referrals, customer interaction time with your campaign.
This way you can make an analysis, optimization of your business, calculating its return on investment, that is, ROI.
What does it take for email marketing to be successful?
To make your business work, you need to know the basics of email marketing. These are simple yet effective rules that will allow you to quickly debug all communication and mail-order functions.
First of all, you need a marketing strategy that should work in 3 ways:
- attracting new subscribers;
- repeat purchases;
- trusting relationships with clients.
To choose the optimal strategy, prepare a list that will help you navigate the necessary tools for work:
- KPIs and goals;
- budget and expenses;
- analysis of competitors;
- plan for collecting a contact base;
- automation of mailings;
- audience segmentation;
- plan of promotional links.
In the matter of automating email campaigns, you will need a series of welcome letters, product training mailings (if necessary), accompanying information on an order, response to user actions, and reactivation measures aimed at inactive subscribers.
Making an effective email marketing campaign
If you’re ready, then keep a clear plan for how to start your own email marketing business:
- learn the rules of work of mailings and postal services;
- create a corporate mailbox;
- register on the email platform;
- build a subscriber base;
- set up the technical part;
- prepare the first letter;
- check the letter before sending;
- send the first newsletter;
- evaluate performance by analyzing metrics.
Before you submit your first campaign, we recommend that you clear your subscriber list. To do this, you can use one of the premium services, for example, email validation API Proofy.io.
How to conduct marketing activities?
To get your email marketing effective and get closer to your coveted 4500% ROI, take note of this simple yet powerful list of recommendations:
- effective and concise headlines as a key to the client’s heart;
- your content is relevant, engaging and personalized;
- brevity is the soul of wit, your emails should be read within 8 seconds;
- a CTA button with a clear call to action, such as “Buy Now”;
- automation of mailings based on interests and behavioral factors;
- regularly checking the list of subscribers using verifying emails with Proofy.
We wish you luck and only successful email campaigns!