#1 Return on Investment: A Guide to Email Marketing
For an established business, the best return on investment is email marketing. Email marketing can vary from business to business, your product or service and clientele, but the common theme is using email marketing to communicate with subscribers, leads, customers and fans.
It’s true, there is a right way and a wrong way to use email marketing, or at least a way to make your efforts more effective, or less effective. This guide to email marketing will show you how to best use email marketing for your business, how often your business should use it, who you should be marketing to, and what the email message should contain. Plus, we’ll share a few email marketing tools that you can start using today.
Here’s your Guide to Email Marketing, created by Focused Business Solutions.
Isn’t email marketing SPAM?
If you’re like me, you may be on the receiving end of marketing emails almost daily. Special promotions, discounts, newsletters and updates flood your inbox, and only the best subject lines and perfectly timed emails get our attention. From there, the message within the emails must connect with us, and the offer compelling enough for us to want to pursue the next action.
How to not be SPAM
- SEGMENT YOUR LISTS: WHO receives what offer is important. Sending irrelevant information to the wrong people can hurt your open rate.
- CRAFT THE RIGHT MESSAGE: Focus on building a relationship, rather than the hard sell.
- FREQUENCY: Start small and don’t overdo it.
Segment your Email Lists
The best way to increase your open rate, decrease unsubscribes and have meaningful actions taken is to segment your email lists. There are quite a few ways to do so, so let’s cover a few examples of what this might look like. Of course our guide to email marketing includes segmentation!
Segment by Type (Lead, Customer, Vendor)
Your subscribers, current customers, leads and vendors are the first way to segment your lists. Each group expects you to communicate only relevant information to that particular group. There are some instances where you should send an email to everyone: exciting company update, but for the most part you’ll want to segment your email list.
Segment by Product or Service
Let’s say you have a HVAC company. A lead who inquired about a furnace tune-up might be interesting in a duct-cleaning offer you have, but will not be interested in the new Air Conditioning unit you’ve added to your inventory. But let’s take a step back.
Once the lead is created, it’s time to nurture that lead with helpful and relevant information. If they showed interest in a furnace tune-up, you may want to send them reviews of clients who used your tune-up service, the benefits they received from it, or a special discount for that same service. An email with a guide on “How to know when you need a furnace tune-up” would be a great email follow-up.
Craft the Right Email Message
Once you’ve decided WHO will be receiving an email campaign, it’s time to craft the right message to send to them. The way in which you communicate to your audience is important as well. Here’s a few tips and tricks to crafting the right email message.
Be Personable and Friendly
Don’t be too stuffy or “corporate”. Feel free to use some of your own personal style within the copy of the email message. Imagine if you were a customer or lead receiving this message, does it connect with you? Why or why not?
Keep it Scannable and Easy to Read
Use headers to communicate the main point, so that anyone who scrolls through your message can get the idea right away. Use BOLD or ITALICS to emphasize a part of your message that needs to stand out. Keep sentences short and easy to understand.
Include Next Steps: Buttons and Links
Make sure to include buttons, links or graphics that encourage the next step. Whether you’re trying to solicit reviews, promote a new product or service, or just a general update to your fans, make sure they know what to do next.
Review your Email Analytics
Most email marketing tools will contain at least SOME of the helpful data you can use to know what’s working, and what’s not working.
Open-Rate of Emails
The open-rate of emails is generally influenced by a few factors. Day and Time of the email being sent, the Subject Line, and the quality and relevance of your email list. After sending a few promotional emails, see what’s working, and what’s not, and how you can do better in the future.
Unsubscribe Rate
People who unsubscribe from your marketing emails are actually doing you a favor, kind of. If your unsubscribe rate is too high, you may be sending too many emails, or they are sent at a bad time, or the content of the message is not something they’re interested in. What’s even worse, is sending emails to those who never agreed to receive marketing emails in the first place.
Clicks within Emails: Buttons and Links
Some email marketing tools will track which buttons and links were clicked, and by whom. This insight will help you understand how much of the message people are reading, and what buttons and links are most effective at driving conversions. A great tool that utilizes all of tracking features is Hubspot.
Tools for Email Marketing
There is no shortage of email marketing tools that will fit the needs of your business. Here’s a few of our favorite tools for making the most our of your email marketing campaign.
Hubspot Email Marketing
One of our personal favorite tools that goes beyond email marketing is Hubspot. This full-service CRM Software has been an essential tool for growing my own business and for others as well. Try Hubspot for free.
Email tracking, analytics and reports are included! Plus, you get 1,000 free email sends each month, making it a great option for new and growing businesses. Once you’ve made it to the big leagues, there’s email automation too!
MailChimp Email Marketing
Another great email marketing tool is MailChimp. If you just want to run a couple campaigns or go into full-automation, this is a great tool for you.
Email Examples
Local Salon Makeover Package
One of our clients has had great success promoting their Makeover Special. This eye-catching email header was used, along with crafted email copy, to let current customers know about their special. Total monthly sales are over $10,000!
Local Salon Birthday Appreciation
A great way to nurture the relationship and keep clients happy. A birthday email is sent during the month of their birthday, with a special coupon for $5 off their haircut.
Conclusion to Email Marketing
I hope you enjoyed our Guide to Email Marketing! At Focused Business Solutions, here to help you start or grow your business. Our affordable website design and marketing services have helped many other businesses reach their goals, and we’d love to help you too!
Get in touch with us to learn more about how we can help you succeed!
