Tips on email marketing

It is evident there is massive potential in email marketing, particularly as a low-cost, sales driving communication method. This is certainly the case, providing you are canny and avoid falling down the cracks into instant junk or the delete folder.

To make sure your email marketing hits the spot we have developed some tips on how to use email as your top marketing weapon…

1. Consider making use of a good, user friendly email marketing platform such as MailChimp.com but don’t feel tied to their generic templates, why not design your own template for a really bespoke and on brand email?
2. Think about your audience: This is not just about opt-in or creating a large customer database, but exploring who you are trying to communicate with and defining what they want by answering their questions or fulfilling a need/desire. If you have more than one specific audience, it would be worth creating specific communications for each one.
3. Also, consider who your customers want to hear from. If you’ve met your recipient(s) at an event or exhibition for example, send an email directly from yourself to introduce the company. Consumers respond better to a familiar name or company name and are much more likely to open an email to someone they recognise.  If you know their name, include it in the subject line or as a salutation field.
4. The importance of your subject line: Whether emails are opened or not depend largely on the subject being presented. Fewer and fewer emails are getting opened so whatever you send has to be engaging and appealing so the receiver feels compelled to open it. It’s not easy and does require some thought but ultimately, what does the reader gain from opening your email? This is a good question to start with… Be careful not to include words which may get filtered out as spam, such as ‘free’.
5. Deliver the message: The hard part is over; the receiver has opened the email and is interested in what you have to say. It’s important to qualify and live up to your subject line as well as to include benefits that will keep them reading. Communicate your message in a direct and summarised fashion so there isn’t too much to read – many consumers will be put off by large blocks of text, so make use of bullet points, text boxes or good graphic design to present the information.
6. What comes next: The consumer is interested and wants further information or interaction with your company. Your call to action has to be clear and concise – Tell them where to go or what to do – ‘Please Call Dave’, ‘Have a look at our website’ or ‘Click here for further information’. Giving them more than one option allows them to choose how to get in touch in a way that suits them.
7. Measure the success of your campaign by ensuring that your website is linked to Google Analytics – data about click throughs etc is always useful to inform your next campaign, and help you develop your site. In addition, platforms such as MailChimp offer fantastic data analysis which can be very useful in terms of helping to identify clear target groups and markets.

Work through these points to create your email marketing and be ready with your follow up. Don’t forget to do a test run first and enjoy the results. Good luck!