Email marketing is not just for the big guys any more. An influx of solid platforms have been built to allow for businesses of any size to get involved in what is a billion dollar industry. If you want to start email marketing for your business, we've put together a short list of the absolute basics. You can always learn more, but before you get started you have to continue reading.
Email marketing is highly effective for driving leads, prospects and existing customers to your site. Research compiled by Exact Target indicates that for every $1 spent, $44.25 is the average return on email marketing investment. 70% say they always open emails from their favorite companies. Conversely, only 18% say they never open commercial emails.
To get value out of your email marketing initiatives you need engagement. Engagement is an overall combination of important email metrics like Opens, and Clicks but other metrics like Forwarded messages and Unsubscribes should be reviewed as well.
Writing interesting and helpful content is the best way to get high engagement. With engagement will come brand awareness, and consumer loyalty, and then ultimately sales. Resist the urge to sell, and instead focus on satisfying with great engaging content.
A quality email marketing newsletter will share relevant content first and foremost. If you are selling doggy treats, chances are your subscribers are dog owners. You do not need to talk about dog treats every time you email, you don't even need to talk about dog food. Send helpful information to your subscribers that they may find useful. When you provide value to your subscribers, you will generate high engagement, and when you have garnered high engagement, sales will start to flow in.
In between relevant content emails, sprinkle in product education emails. This is where you get to talk about yourself. List out aspects of your product that differentiate you from the competition, or problems that your product solves.
This is when you get to sell! Once you've warmed up your list with great content and information about your product, it's time to generate some urgency. Inform your subscribers what the advantages are to purchasing "right now". It could be a special promotion, or a brand new product you have limited supply of. Don't give away the farm, but treat your subscribers to an additional feature or service if they buy right away.
The role of a subject line in an email marketing email differs from that of other email types. The sole purpose of an email subject line in this scenario should be to drive email opens. With that being said, creativity and constant testing are the secrets to subject line optimization. Do not underestimate the value and importance of good, intriguing subject lines.