5 Common Sense Tips for Successful Email Marketing Campaigns
Many businesses make digital marketing harder than it has to be, but — regardless of what some so-called experts say — there is no mystery behind this type of marketing. Running a successful email marketing campaign does not require a Ph.D. in rocket science; just some basic common sense.
1. Tie Your Campaign to a Customer Benefit
Avoid running email marketing campaigns for the heck of it — you’ll only annoy customers. Instead, find a customer problem that needs solving, and use your email marketing to articulate how you’ll do it. PayPal did this by hooking potential customers with the promise of smoothing out the process of splitting bills.
2. Have an Actual List
It seems hard to believe, but many businesses don’t have enough of a list to get a successful email campaign going. You can do a few things to build your database of email subscribers. For instance, offer a free product, demo or trial when people sign up, or provide an e-newsletter. Remember to include calls to action where applicable, and always explain your privacy policies.
3. Segment Your Email Marketing Campaign
Would you try to sell a product to your grandmother in the exact same way you would to a child? Probably not, because different audiences require different approaches. Follow this philosophy by practicing segmentation. Moreover, check the effectiveness of your marketing by using metrics to test your approaches among various groups. While you can segment by categories such as age, life stage and so on, you can also segment by categories such as people interested only in your newsletter, or folks interested in product updates but not daily email tips.
4. Write Clearly
An email marketing campaign is not the time to be clever or punny. Create a straightforward subject line that tells the reader precisely what to expect in the body of the email. This may lead to fewer people opening the email, but those who do open it will be invested. Use your email to explain how your business can help the customer, and set out a compelling call to action for further research. Conversions matter more than the amount of people who open the email.
5. Define Success
Last, but not least, you won’t know if a campaign has been successful unless you define an objective before the campaign begins. For example, do you want a certain percentage of click-throughs? Use a few different metrics to measure success; common ones include the unsubscribe rate, the deliverability rate and the open rate.
Sources:
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32854/10-Simply-Awesome-Examples-of-Email-Marketing.aspx
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/beginners-guide-email-marketing/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2015/05/07/tips-for-a-successful-email-campaign/3/
http://marketingland.com/the-email-metric-you-should-be-tracking-but-arent-8879