When people think about email marketing, the first thing that often comes to mind is that it is a strategy for big businesses. And for those who think that email marketing isn’t worth their time, it is worth mentioning that it has a return on investment of 4400%. (Not a typo!)
If you run an SME, you can benefit from email marketing just as the big players do. Let’s get started!
Start by setting up a mailing list
Email marketing requires you to have email contacts of potential leads. But how do you create a mailing list? You create a signup form and place it on your social media and website. One thing to note is that you should always ensure that customers know what they are signing up for. Mailchimp will help with this. Provide an incentive to prompt them to provide their email.
Decide on the type of emails
Depending on your type of business, and the type of product, you will need to decide on the type of emails you will be sending. You will also need to decide how frequently you will be sending the emails. For instance, will you be sending a monthly newsletter or promotional messages? Give it some thought, and then follow through.
Email designs and creatives
It’s now time to create the design of your email. When you are doing so, you must keep the customer in mind. The goal is to create a message that resonates with the reader and one with which they are willing to engage. This means you have to understand what your readers are searching for before creating the copy. Of course, this also goes for choosing the ideal images.
Analyze the performance
Handling and optimizing your email campaigns doesn’t end with the send button. You now have an excellent opportunity to get feedback from your customers. This is where you will evaluate the different email marketing campaigns to find out which works and which doesn’t. With this information, you can improve your next email campaign.
Tips to make your email marketing a success
Quality v Quantity
You’ll know this from your personal experience—people do not want to go through hundreds of emails. This is why you should give up the quantity and instead switch over to quality. Send emails that add value to your readers’ lives and create copy that people want to read. This implies that you have to perform customer research to understand your customers better.
Entice customers to sign up
The signup form should not just be on your website’s homepage. You should include this in the blog, as well as in other pages of your site. The goal here is to entice readers on different web pages to provide their contact email. The more the readers see the signup form, the more likely they are to sign up.
Mobile-friendly emails
This is one of the most critical actions you can take with email marketing. The reason here is that most people use their phones to read their emails and shop – Think about it; phones are like an extension of one’s brain these days, whether you like it or not. It makes sense, therefore, to optimize your emails for mobile phones. Customers have a short attention span and will quickly move to the following email if yours isn’t optimized for mobile. Again, Mailchimp can help with this.
The bottom line
Email marketing is alive and well: With an ROI of 4400%, it makes sense to include email marketing in your arsenal. So, we’d advise you to wait no more and start learning more about how you can apply this type of marketing, regardless of the size of your business…