Follow me along as I’ll be sharing a few tips on how to grow your business with email marketing
It’s often challenging choosing which marketing strategies to invest your time in. As people’s (potential customers) actions and desires change, a well-executed email marketing strategy is needed to act as a provision for those changes.
Email marketing, according to studies, is still one of the best strategies when it comes to building customer relationships and of course ROI (Return on Investment).
Way forward?
Gone are the days that you only have to depend on social media or other marketing platforms to grow your business.
If you are an established business or an aspiring small business owner, these crucial tips will assist in accelerating your growth as a company.
For those looking for more direction regarding email marketing, visit this guide.
1. Opting-in should be easy and simple
Have you ever filled in something that is confusing? Don’t make the same mistake when people need to sign-up. Subscribing should be simple and easy.
To grow your email list, you should include more than one signup form. This way, your subscribing forms are visible on each page of your website.
Normally, subscribe forms are included on your landing page, about page, contact area, blogging area (if you have one, which you should have), on the side areas, at the end of your website and sometimes just as close to the navigation panel for easy access to subscribe.
Popup forms
You might also consider including popup forms (I’m sure you’ve experienced this while navigating a website) throughout your website, but be careful to not overdo it.
Popup forms require special software (exit-intent popup) to perform this specific function. This function can also be used for people leaving your website giving them one more opportunity to subscribe and retain them as potential customers.
This can improve your conversion rate by 30% rather than having lost visitors that could’ve been potential customers.
2. Provide value
Offer something valuable to potential customers as an incentive. Think of it in the form of a sales funnel. In order for people to buy something from you, you first have to be of service to them.
Content utilization is often the answer for successful conversions of potential customers which encourage them to subscribe, whereby, email campaigns can be sent to drive them back to your website and through a sales funnel process.
This way, you can start to build the foundation of trust with your potential customers. Acting as a valuable reason for them to give their email address away in exchange for something worthy also shows that you are not just in it for the money.
With that said, something of value is most of the time something free you can give away to potential subscribers which can be in the form of a free “How to” guide, e-book, exclusive promotion codes and much more.
3. Offer a variety of content
Creating promotional content is vital, but not every email campaign should be as you don’t want to come across as being “pushy”.
• Welcome email
When customers are excited about what you have to offer, they usually expect a kind of welcome or thank you email.
A great time to shine is when the customers are most engaged, so crafting a perfect first email is crucial to make a first impression.
Use this time to offer a discount (if you want to take a step further), taking them gradually through the sales process and prevent you from losing a potential customer.
Also taking them through a welcoming process is a perfect opportunity to keep them engaged with your brand in mind.
Every aspect of your first email is crucial from the subject line to the ending of your email. Be smart in using it.
• Newsletters
Newsletters help with awareness for your brand and loyalty, and engagement with your audience.
Content of any kind, including events (e.g. webinars etc.), promotions and new products/services launching soon, without being “pushy”.
Consider backlinking your website and social media channels for further engagement with what you are offering and to grow your sales.
• Content marketing emails
Most of the time these emails are used to provide value as much as possible, other than selling something.
The focus here is on educating your audience. Whether it is keeping them updated with specific trends or informing on something specific. This could be e-books, guides, blog posts, membership information, etc.
No one wants to be sold to all the time. So building your brand with content marketing and bringing a little human touch into it is always great for a business.
Making long-term customer relationships your priority is a great way for a business to provide value and builds success.
• Promotions
People are always on the lookout for specials or sales. Offering something unique like discount codes through email is a great technique to grow your sales and Click-Through-Rate (CTR).
4. Divide your email lists
Never send generic email campaigns to each individual on your email list. If you are serious about growing your sales and CTR, segmentation is the answer.
What is segmentation? The process of dividing your email lists into different groups that are beneficial to your business. This way you always send content that is meaningful to that email list.
For demonstration purposes, sending out different email campaigns to new customers, those not long ago made a sale and to those who have not opened an email.
The purpose of dividing your list is to provide a variety of emails, so don’t make everything promotional.
5. Call to Action (CTA)
In every email campaign, there should be a call to action button that is clear and concise. The goal is to increase engagement with what you are offering and your business.
Simple tips in compelling people to click on your CTA button:
• Copy is king, so make it stimulating and clear
• Cut out the long words, five words or less is enough
• Use action-oriented words (e.g. Signup, Click Here, Learn More, Download etc.)
• Always make the CTA button easy to find
Getting people to open your emails is just the beginning. Encouraging them to read your content and taking action is crucial for the success of your business.
Conclusion
Email marketing is one of the best ways to accelerate the growth of your business, whether you are competing against the “big guns”.
However, you need to invest your time in building an email list and effective email campaigns (consider copywriting, SEO but that’s a story for another day) to ensure people click on your emails and actually make sales.
If you haven’t considered email marketing yet, try including it in your digital marketing strategy to figure out what is working for your customers and give them value through email. So, are you ready to give email marketing a go?
The best place to get started with your digital marketing strategy is the International Institute of Digital Marketing™