How to conduct effective email marketing? Advertising mailing from scratch

Did you know that 99% of Internet users have an email inbox? Email accompanies us almost every day. This is, of course, the reason why companies still run email campaigns. So you should also be interested in this form of advertising. Or maybe you are an email marketing practitioner, but you don't quite know what it's all about? I have some tips for you that will improve the effectiveness of your actions.

What is email marketing?

Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of internet marketing that any company can afford. It involves communicating with current and potential customers through email messages. You may think that sending emails is ineffective, but in practice, it looks different. Email marketing allows you to achieve a high return on investment (ROI) and build relationships with recipients. Of course, it must be properly conducted. Therefore, familiarize yourself with the principles of mailbox operation and good practices for creating emails.

Effective email marketing - what you need to remember

Build your own mailing list

Many entrepreneurs believe that mailing does not bring results. Yes, there is a chance that you will not notice the effects of an email marketing campaign, especially when you target it to a purchased contact database. Therefore, build your own mailing list. To do this, you can place a newsletter signup form on your website or online store. To keep this list clean and effective, email verification ensures that every address collected is valid and active, reducing bounce rates, improving deliverability, and helping your campaigns achieve better engagement. A very good idea is to organize actions aimed at downloading a guide, e-book, or signing up for a webinar or event in exchange for leaving an email address. For this purpose, you can redirect potential customers to a landing page where they will be able to receive a specific benefit. In this way, you can also offer discounts on your products. Also, use social media to inform about the possibility of signing up for a newsletter or receiving an interesting guide.

Set marketing goals

If you want to conduct effective mailing, you must first set its goals. Of course, your primary goal should be increased sales. However, remember that email marketing should not only serve advertising and sales purposes. You can also promote your business by building brand awareness.

Personalize messages

Make sure that your messages are personalized. When you address the recipient by name, you simply capture their attention. Recipients prefer to receive personalized emails because they feel that they are not just another address on your mailing list. This technique is a proven way to increase the open rate of messages.

Use storytelling

You can create a series consisting of several emails targeted at people who have just signed up for your mailing list. In such a series, you can already present your company in the welcome email. However, it's not about dry facts. Tell the story of your brand. Storytelling will help you build trust and brand awareness among stakeholders. Use the language of benefits when presenting your offer. You can also create an email containing reviews from your customers. Remember to educate potential customers and provide them with additional value so that they know they will gain even more by taking advantage of your offer.

Include Call To Action

Every email should include a call to action, or CTA. The most commonly used method is to include a graphic button linked to a landing page where the user will perform a specific action, such as downloading a guide, signing up for a webinar, or taking advantage of a special offer. However, remember not to use too many CTAs, as this can create chaos and the recipient may refrain from clicking on any link.

Choose the right time

The results of a study conducted by GetResponse show that emails sent in the evening achieve the highest open rates. The best result is achieved by messages sent between 9 and 10 PM. Messages sent between 7 and 8 PM also achieve a high open rate. Moreover, the best results are obtained an hour after sending the message. As for the day of the week, emails sent on Sunday achieved the highest open rate, but Thursday is the day when users are most likely to open emails in their inbox. However, keep in mind that the effect may not be the same in every case. Much depends, for example, on the recipient group.

Analyze

Do not forget to measure the success of your email marketing campaign, which involves analyzing several indicators. One of them is the bounce rate, which is the percentage of messages that were not opened. Its inverse is the open rate. It is also worth analyzing the percentage of recipients who clicked on at least one link in the email. Also, monitor how many people unsubscribe from your mailing list.

How to prevent emails from going to spam?

Understanding how mailboxes work will positively affect the effectiveness of your email campaign. How you, as the sender, are perceived by mailboxes determines whether your messages reach subscribers or end up in spam. To increase the deliverability of messages, provide your name and your company name as the sender, as this suggests to recipients what they can expect when opening the message and shows that there is a human on the other side. Pay attention to the email subject, which should not exceed 60 characters. It should intrigue, encourage opening, and stand out from other messages. Remember that you only have a few seconds to capture attention. For this purpose, you can add emoticons to the subject. It is also worth using a preheader, which is a sentence that is displayed below the subject before the user opens the message.

Also, remember to require confirmation of the email address when signing up for the mailing list, and include information about the possibility of unsubscribing in each email. This reduces the risk of marking messages as spam. Also, do not send emails that are larger than 60kB and contain a large number of images. Take care of the visual aspect of emails; they should be associated with your brand and reflect its color scheme. When it comes to graphics, use the ALT attribute to describe their content. Perform anti-spam tests. And of course, maintain regular contact with your subscribers.

Is it worth investing in email marketing?

Due to the fact that sending a large number of emails is not expensive, the return on investment can be very high. What's more, you won't find another communication channel on the Internet that so many people use at least once a day. Of course, social media is also available, which you can confidently use to build your mailing list. Still don't believe in the power of email marketing? How about this information: w study conducted by DMA in 2015, the average return on investment was 38:1. This means that for every złoty spent, you earn 38 złotys. Isn't that a satisfactory result? I hope you have just been convinced of mailing and will do everything to make your marketing effective.