Tips for Effective Email Marketing

There have been predictions that Email marketing may have a bleak future. But, statistics have shown that email marketing is one of the most powerful inbound marketing tools for reaching and nurturing customers. Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective means of creating a deep relationship with a wide audience. It provides businesses more opportunities and enhances the Return on Investment.

It helps in creating brand awareness: Sending regular emails about your brand and product creates awareness in the minds of the audience. When they need something which you are able to provide, your brand will be the one that surfaces in their minds. This helps in conversion of leads into clients.

It is easy to share: Emails can be forwarded easily by the click of a button. Therefore, subscribers can share your deals/ offers, etc with their friends with ease. This way your products are promoted to strangers as well.

It can be quantified: Email marketing can be measured in terms of various metrics such as:
Delivery rates, open rates, click-to-deliver rates, and subscriber retention rates. These help in providing an insight into the customer behavior. This helps in developing an effective the marketing strategy.

It is cost effective:It is one of the most economical marketing techniques.

1. Selection of email provider: You should select an email provider who vibes well with you. This helps in developing synergy which is beneficial in the long run.
2. Organize your database: If you have had a website for some time, you will have accumulated a database of contacts. You can utilize this data. You can delete the outdated information and update fresh data.
3. Motivate people to opt-in for getting emails: Some methods to get people to opt in are
   • Engaging your users by placing simple email filling forms on relevant pages of the website.
   • Inserting opt in field in inquiry form.
   • Addition of an opt in link to order confirmations and customer surveys.
4. Organize your contacts: Contacts can be segregated into separate lists based on their location, industry or leads.
5. Define the aim of your campaign: Determining the intent of your campaign helps you plan your strategy better.
6. Keep the design of your email simple: Design your email so that the there is more text than images. There should be at least one Call to Action graphic.
7. Ensure great content for the email: Content plays a crucial role in effectiveness of the email. Therefore, if you do not have quality writers, you could employ or outsource writing.
8. Track the effectiveness of your campaign: Tracking provides a feedback regarding the effectiveness of the campaign. It helps in refining the quality of email. Some of the metrics used for tracking are:
   • Deliverability (frequency at which the audience receive messages)
   • Open rate (frequency at which the audience view messages)
   • Click through rate (frequency at which audience click on the links)
   • Conversion rate (frequency at which contacts convert to customers)
9. Refine based on feedback: After the above are tracked, the marketing strategy can be modified to enhance the results. It can be done using variations in subject lines, style, tone, font sizes, colouring, formatting, etc.Email marketing is effective only if it is done in a precise manner. Otherwise, it could result in annoying its recipients.

1. Segment your recipients: The content that you may want to share could be special offers, events or news about the business. However, all the recipients will not be interested in all three. Hence, you will need to segregate the messages according to the recipients. Sending relevant emails to subscribers and customers encourages higher open and click-through rates. It also reduces customers unsubscribing.
2. Create a strategy for acquisition: After segmenting the audience, you should analyze where your customers are engaging with your brand. After this, you could focus on enhancing those experiences and drive interactive engagement.
3. Email should be optimized for mobile: In this modern age, where people look to find everything on their mobile, it becomes necessary to design emails that are mobile friendly. Most customers delete emails that cannot be opened on their mobiles. Therefore, the content should be eye-catching and engaging on a mobile phone.