Best-in-class Email Marketing Guide

Did you know that buying process happens 3 times faster through email marketing, when compared to social media. It was actually proved true, through a series of research studies done by McKinsey & Company. The research results show a growing prospect for email marketing in coming times.

To describe in definition terms – “Email marketing is an act of sending commercial message, typically to a group of people using email as a medium.” In a broader sense, every email sent to a potential customer of the business can be considered as email marketing. It gives a more personal touch for a brand, with the customers. Emails can be sent in any format – ads, business requests, or solicit sales, etc. The most important point to remember here is to never bombard the customers with bulk emails. Too many emails can push them towards reporting your business as ‘spam’.

Email has always been considered to be the most impactful forms of digital communication from the past. Its just that, marketers are missing out on the opportunities in using it the way that can create a long-lasting impression for the brand within the potential target customer group.

Never did you feel special or important, when you received an email that’s addressed specifically to you, from a brand? I can say with complete confidence that – Yes, I did feel valued. Besides, there’s something that pushed me towards further reading the email content. I got a feeling, as if the content is being particularly written for me, and I believe most of you might have gone through similar dilemma at some point. See, this tells the impact personalization can have on influencing a brand’s perception.

You should use email marketing strategy to build solid relationship with your existing clientele and new leads, by providing reliable information. That’s right – this strategy is not just about you, or your brand. It is about your customers.

Below you can find a quick guide that discusses modern approach to email marketing. It can help in creating more personalized and responsive campaign content, helps in driving solid ROI and brand loyalty.

Here are some important points we will be discussing more in detail:

·         Know who you are targeting

·         Set goals that defines your company’s operations

·         Design a medium for people to Sign up for your content

·         Choose a campaign type

·         Follow consistent schedule

·         Analyse your performance and review the gaps

Know who you are targeting

Further proceedings of the whole strategy will solely depend on rightly defining your target audience. If you miss out on this step, then you will be in a pickle when you need to tailor content for your customers. Because mass communication will not add value to your potential customers. For example, if you do not set any certain target audience and send in a generalized message to all your customer group, then you will be missing out on the crucial concept of -  ‘personalization’.  An effective email is a relevant email. Like any other element of marketing, start with understanding your buyer persona, look into what are their needs, wants, and requirements, based on this information tailor your campaigns/content accordingly. Following this cognitive process can help in creating a long-term bond with the customers.

 Set goals that defines your company’s operations

To set the goals, first make sure you do a through research on the current context. For any campaign to click well with the customers, it is important to know the trends that customers can relate to. Besides, do a thorough research on average email stats in your specific industry, as you do not want to over-do or under-do it. Knowing he minimum-maximum can help you in setting a benchmark. The campaign goals must always align with your overall company’s operations.

 Design a medium for people to Sign up for your content

Foremost, to proceed with the strategy you must have a database of email list of your potential customers and new leads. For that, you need design a channel where customers can share their email id’s, this is a form of permission customer is providing you to send them relevant content. To build that database, there are several options available, such as – sign up form while entering website, offline/online surveys, etc. Choose a medium where your potential target audience exist.

It will take time in gathering the data, but do not be discouraged, going through organic form of research can help you in the long-run. When your email list grows gradually, you are expected to maintain the standard of treatment your initial customers received, this will be a practise for the big leagues.

More info on how to generate leads to sign up for your email list, will be discussed further in detail.

Choose a campaign type

An informative blog? Weekly newsletter? Product announcements? Wondering which campaigns will work for your campaign too. Let me help you with the dilemma, firstly, you can start with researching on campaigns that have worked will in your specific field. For suppose if you are running a skincare business, then sending out emails about product offers, new launches and their ingredients advantages can more benefit your customer group. Make sure you create different lists for different types of emails, so customers and prospects can sign up for the content that are relevant to them.

 Follow consistent schedule

Make a standard plan in contacting your mailing list. Prior informing your customers can make them prepared for what to expect and stick to a consistent schedule. These builds trust and create a sense of habituation with your brand.

 Analyse your performance and review the gaps

Planning, scheduling, and running the campaign are one part of the strategy. The other half involves tracking your overall email campaigns performance, this should come as no surprise. Because as marketers we measure everything to know the success of our idea when put into practise. Performance tracking and analyzing can help you in identifying the problem fields and making required changes to the campaigns/content. The changes might be small, but they will yield larger results.

 Now that you understand the steps involved in planning a strategy. Let’s look into what’s involved in building your email list.

 Prospects in building email list:

First and foremost, purchasing an email list from third party is not one of them. To maintain a long-term customer relationship, you need to organically generate database of leads that would want to hear from you. Speaking of list building, it comes from the most cohesive aspects – lead magnets.

Lead magnets

This medium is exactly as it sounds, you offer customers with something in return to sign in for your email lists. Majority of the companies provide in the form of sign up offers. Customers are very protective of their personal data like emails, until there’s an offer that can save them some time or few bucks. They are more inclined towards providing their information if they are receiving something valuable in return. But you need to choose lead magnets that are relevant to your target audience. It can be anything ranging from eBook to webinar.

Always make your offer solution-oriented and more actionable in practise. Besides, they need to be easily consumed, preferably in a digital format as it is quicker. The offer you are providing the customers with should never be in an impulse or just for the time being, consider all the future aspects/operations of the company and design the offer accordingly. Lastly, create an offer that add values to the buyer journey, and also helps as a steppingstone to your paid solution.

All-in-all, keep it simple yet effective. Treat every customer as they are ‘the one’.