If you are just starting out in business or wanting to grow your business, there are some simple tips which will help you maximise your email campaigns.
A first step is to ensure you understand how to segment your list so it is of the greatest valuable to your business. It could be segmented into current customers, potential customers and past customers. Of course, make sure you embed any new subscribers into the right segment! Each email provider has a slightly different way of doing this and will provide you with guides to help you choose the right way for you.
A top tip is to think ahead… Think about how you want your business to function in the future and if you are running a start-up business, then start segmenting as you mean to go on.
Try not to buy in lists. They can be tricky to manage with GDPR rules and invariably give you little engagement or return on your investment. Organic growth is slower, but it is far more effective. To gain organic growth, start off by ensuring your website is set up to allow anyone one who wants to subscribe to your news or offers by adding a sign-up form or landing page. The form or page should link directly to your email provider and audience lists. This is not as tricky as it sounds as most email marketing platforms will have a specific guide to help you do this, and give you a step-by-step process.
Once done, make sure you build in an 'welcome' automation which sends your new subscriber a welcome email. You could follow this with further automations, such as a specific discount code for your potential customer's first project or order.
Next is to choose your templates and themes for your ongoing emails. Be consistent in your design and images and use all the areas you can to engage your readers. For instance, you can use a sub-header to provide a little more detail for readers. Make sure your header and sub-header is encouraging and entices people to keep reading.
When you write your emails, make sure you send only relevant information to each segment. Potential customers will want to hear about different things to your current customers, or you may want to inform them of different areas of your business. For current customers, you are likely to want to up-sell your products or services and for potential customers, you might want to offer them a special service or discounted price to entice them to work with you.
If you can, personalise your emails. It can make a substantial difference to open rates. Also, make sure your images are the right size and optimised for each type of device.
If you add links to your website or other materials, make sure they work and are linked correctly.
Don’t forget your irresistible, easy-to-click call to actions! If you are not sure what these might be for your customers, look at your competitors and see what they are doing. Note down what type of calls to action (CTAs) work for you and which entice you
A/B test each email element individually. This could be a change to the header text or sub-header text, the length of the text in the email, the colours you use, or the CTA buttons you choose. Sometimes by changing something simple, you find huge differences in the results, so it is worth doing a little testing to see what really does resonate with your audiences.
Some business will go for a short automation process and others will go for longer and more sophisticated trail. If your business is still relatively small, there is no need to make the process too complicated, just automate your emails to a scale which works for your business and build on it as you grow. Again, you can A/B test these and find out what is working for your customers. This is called your funnel. Get Response have a great graphic which is worth a view as it shows you exactly how you could build your funnel by the use of automated emails.
Watch the results… Monitoring and reporting on all of the email systems are pretty high! Be realistic too. Different industries have different rates of opening, click-through and unsubscribe rates. Campaign Monitor gives an excellent overview which will give you a steer on what you should expect and benchmarks each sector.
Email systems to take a look at are:
Or they could be embedded with your website system. Prices and functionality will differ, so it is worth spending some time looking at which one will work best for your business.
Don't forget to check your chosen system integrates with your website.
If you need a little help with your set-up or are looking for regular support for email content, then get in touch!