Email marketing is good for business growth – when done properly. One of the best parts about email marketing is that it keeps you in regular contact with customers. It keeps you fresh in their minds. That is why your list is so important.
“Building your list is even more important in a tough economic environment,” writes Gail Goodman of Entrepreneur.com. “Your list is your pre-qualified target audience. They know you and your products and services, and they’ve bought from you in the past.”
“They’re an easier sell and a source of referrals, she adds. “That’s why email marketing is still the most effective tool in your marketing mix. For fractions of a penny per person, you can stay in touch with your best customers. So when they’re ready to buy — even in a down economy — they’ll think of your business first.”
Last summer, it was noted that social networking was significantly impacting emailmarketing efforts. Eventually, a study found that social networks had actually become more popular than email. That is why it can pay to integrate your social media marketing with your email marketing.
“In order to increase sales, small businesses want to keep existing customers while creating more sales ops – email helps small businesses doing that,” Steve Adams, VP of Marketing with email marketing company Campaigner told me in a recent interview for SmallBuzinessNewz.
“Although social media marketing is becoming more and more popular, recent studies are finding that people still like and want to receive emails,” he said. “For example a study by Epsilon and ROI Research entitled “Beyond the Click: The Indirect Value of Email” found that 84 percent of recipients liked receiving email from companies with whom they’ve subscribed to their e-newsletters. Another stat to note is from an Aberdeen report, which states that email marketing is ranked the number one recessionary marketing tool. Although there are other marketing techniques gaining popularity, email marketing is here to stay, especially for small businesses.”
Tips
– Track you campaigns. A recent study from eROI showed that 18% of email marketers in the US were not tracking their campaigns. Things that should be tracked include delivery rate, open rate, click-through rate, unsubscribe rate, and conversion rate. More on this here.
– Consider spam filters. Spam filters are a hurdle all email marketers have to clear, and this even includes legitimate ones. Just because you are a legitimate email marketer, this does not mean you will make it through the filters your audience and their service providers have set up. For some specific tips on dealing with this, refer to my SBN article from last year.
– Pay special attention to subject lines and from lines. These things are critical to your open rate. A clear and familiar from line is important simply for the trust factor. People want to know who they are getting mail from before they open it. The subject line is where it gets a little trickier. You have to create subject lines that make people care enough to open it. More on subject lines.
– Provide quality content. Keep your content interesting and relevant to your audience. Think about why they would have signed up to receive messages from you in the first place.
– Consider the timing of messages. Timing can be a factor in a successful campaign. Not only marketing based on events or holidays, but also the time of day. If you are targeting an audience in the UK, for example, but you are sending from the US, you need to take time zones into consideration, and depending on who you are hoping to reach, try to get your messages sent at the right time of day. Are you hoping to catch people at the office? Get your messages out early. Are you hoping to get them after work? Maybe later is fine.
It doesn’t end with these tips. There are tons of tools and applications that can help you optimize your email marketing campaigns. A lot of it requires you to use your head though. Get to know your audience, and try to judge what will keep them engaged.
