Email marketing seems like it’s been overshadowed by the latest and greatest from social media, content and search engine optimization advertising methods. However, it has become clear that while these newer forms of advertising and client communications are certainly important within the scope of building a brand, none of them compare to the conversion capabilities of email marketing campaigns.
As such, businesses in virtually every industry – most notably smaller, more local restaurants, retailers and similar establishments – must ensure that their message is heard with email marketing campaigns. By putting this type of strategy first, other aspects of the overall branding effort will often see a bit more success and visibility over time, leading to more prolific financial opportunities along the way.
Before diving into the three ways to strengthen your email marketing, remember that it is quite easy to fall into a line of thinking that leads you to be a bit more lax in your promotions and other communications via this channel. Ensuring that you are taking a structured, intelligent and planned approach to email marketing is critical to achieving the strongest overall brand image and loyalty in the eyes of your customers.
Here are 3 ways to improve your email marketing campaign:
Perhaps the most important one of all, studies indicate that email ads need to be short, sweet and informative to produce the desired returns on investment. Small Business Computing recently reported on one study that researched more than 2 million email ads, ultimately revealing that a perfect iteration included no more than three images and 20 lines of content.
This is not to say that slightly longer emails will never be necessary, but keeping this standard might be the best idea. Additionally, ensuring that the emails are viewable on mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, is similarly critical given the fact that so many clients will be using these gadgets to receive the information, the source affirmed.
We are not going to argue that every email you send to every customer needs to be unique, but having a plan in place to customize email ads will inherently help to boost engagement and conversions. Small Business Trends recently reported that analytics can be used within a marketing campaign to ensure that clientele are first segmented, then sent more unique and personalized communications to pique their interests.
Research, surveys and even measuring metrics for past campaigns will quickly give you a better idea of what certain customers desire and which types of messaging will work best for each segment.
This is a bit more difficult, but very important in the grand scheme of email marketing campaigns. First, all messages must be sent at the right time, with soft spots being defined by deals for which the company wants to raise awareness, or by trigger events which prompt consumer action.
For example, if you have a major event in a couple of months, six to eight weeks will likely be the perfect lead-in time to send your message. Or if you’re more interested in trigger-based marketing, think about rewarding subscribers at regular intervals (like the anniversary of their signup date) to generate some extra revenue.
