Maintaining effective communications with your customers is one thing, and getting it right will go a long way to enjoy growth and loyalty. Businesses use many ways and tactics to keep their customers entertained and happy and emails are an effective tool for hooking prospective leads.
Email marketing has a proven success rate.
So how are you supposed to use email marketing to work effectively in your business and to promote your brand? These email tips will help you learn some of the easiest and effective ways to use email marketing to your advantage.
Why email is NOT dead
Before we get down to the detail, let’s highlight why you should start using this marketing strategy as one of your perks for business and income growth:
- You can spruce up the dull look of your regular mails and make them more exciting to your viewers
- You can make use of auto-responses such as “out-of-office” or customize your auto response to specific answers
- An email marketing service can help you to customize the times that your emails are sent through email automation (peak hours matter)
- You can also have the peace of mind that with email marketing service providers, your emails will not end up spamming the subscriber or landing in their spam box
- With analytics, you can continue to monitor the status of emails and how many people are actually interacting by engaging and clicking on links or taking time to read the content
- Contacts are organized so that you don’t have to spend time doing so yourself.
There are several email service providers available to assist you with your marketing efforts; some of these top-rated providers include the trusted and reliable Mailchimp.
What your readers generally think
If we have to try to paint a picture regarding your reader’s mindsets to marketing emails popping up in their inboxes, this is probably what’s happening:
- They don’t have the time to open and read the mail
- They have even less time to click through the mail to your website
- Sometimes it feels as if you’re bombarding them with emails each week
- It can come across as spammy especially with email automation settings
Before getting started with your email marketing, have a look at the following tips about how to boost curiosity and engagement with potential customers:
Email tactics 101
Be willing to give something away for free
In order to get through the very first step of successfully getting email subscribers, you must be willing to give something of value such as a monthly or bi-weekly newsletter. Some business owners find it better to give discounts for the first membership purchase at their online store. Find what will work for you and your business and then use it to your advantage.
Ensure your email content provides value to the reader.
Ask yourself, how often will you be sending out your mails? Will you give away discounts on purchases and or free downloads? Will your emails be relevant to your subscriber or simply random information that they don’t care to read?
Make it personal
Once you’ve got the reader to subscribe, you must bear in mind that it still counts greatly in your favour to personalize your emails to the individual. This will give them the feeling that you’re addressing them on a personal basis instead of randomly mailing several other individuals the same email. People prefer a personal approach as this makes them feel important to you and not just another number.
Don’t do random emails
This part is very important to help maintain the loyalty of your subscribers. They don’t want to be bogged down with stuff that isn’t going to enrich their lives and benefit their time taken to read the content.
Staying relevant will help you hold on to your subscribers. This goes hand-in-hand with the point of random emails. If you thought that email marketing is simply about sending emails on random bits of information, you will easily lose the interest and time of your current subscribers. They may even unsubscribe from your mailing list altogether.
Keep your promises
Don’t tell your subscribers that you will send them monthly newsletters and once they’ve agreed, you go and send them one each week or worst of all, every day. If your subscribers wanted frequent updates about new products, then you need to make good on your promise to deliver this news to them, as they would be expecting it.
Relate to your subscribers
To create conversions, you must always try a personal approach. This does not only mean sharing about how much your product will help them, but also that you understand what they’re going through as small business owners.
Be inspirational with guidance
You may not have considered this but making your subscribers feel it wasn’t a waste of their time, you can enlighten them with a tip or two to help them in business. This is also how you can keep them coming back for more and remain engaged. Ensure that your writing itself is on brand and suited to your target market. Check out our writing tips here.
Know when to use the subscriber’s name
To make your email even more organic is by writing as if you were a friend. This includes not over using the person’s name.
Who wants to read content like this for example, “Hi Jane Doe, I have just launched an exciting new offer. My new skincare product will greatly help you enjoy a clear, healthy skin. Jane Doe, you know how hard it is to maintain even skin tone when there are factors like stretch marks and blemished due to acne. Jane Doe, you can also enjoy the all new skincare X cream at a discounted 35% for your first purchase…”
That piece sounds tiring to read and it could probably send the reader heading to a different direction (sadly not yours). In the end, you may learn the hard truth that you’ve been wasting your time and energy to draft emails in this manner. In business, there isn’t time to waste. When you’ve learned how to use certain marketing tactics, then it’s best you use it sooner than later and improve your overall opportunity to thrive in your industry.
Speak as if subscribers are your friend
When using emails to market, you may want to lay off the formal “business tone” because not everybody can relate to this serious take to marketing.
If done right, your emails can lead to increased sales.
You don’t want to come across as superior to your readers, instead, you want to be warm and friendly. Write in simple language (not industry jargon) even if you’re a qualified medical doctor or scientist. The last thing you want is for your subscribers to feel lost in translation, as this will not help your course of improving business.
Don’t sound boring
Yep, being dull and boring is by no means the way to address your readers. You need to create a comfortable natural voice and make them feel happy to open your mail and read more. Some people even use gifs in their marketing emails because this is how people write these days. Getting to know your subscribers is also another good way to come across as original and by all means, a real person.
Be original
This is another way you can show your readers that you’re not simply using bots to email them, instead you took the time to think about the content you’re writing. This will also show added originality when you speak naturally. This point goes hand-in-hand with not being boring.
Inform yourself
When looking to create an email that is great to read, tips on how to do this from larger successful enterprises will help you learn some valid information.
Use numbers to emphasize
When reading letters, sometimes the reader starts to feel their eyes aren’t as focused on what they’re reading. However, numbers look different and they create a stark contrast between letters and numbers causing the reader’s eyes to steady focus. Like this for example; “…here are the 5 memorable scenes we’ve all grown to love in Hollywood… 1….2….3…” Do you get the gist of it?
Another thing to remember when writing any content is to make sure it’s “digestible” so adding bolds, numbers, and short paragraphs are highly important.
Tips regarding your subject lines
Your subject line MUST catch the attention of your readers.
Subject lines are the most important aspect of your email. If you cannot get readers to click on your email, they won’t read it, so your subject line has to be compelling.
- Keep it simple and short – get to the point of what you need them to read
- Don’t let your email be sent with “no reply” sender – no reply is like asking for no engagement
- Make it compelling and urgent – tell readers how important it is as it’s the last chance to grab the deal
- Practice – some copywriting professionals recommend writing 10 – 20 subject lines each time – practice until you find the right one for your email
- Encourage the reader to open the email – if you add a story “to read more” in the mail, this encourages the person to open it up and actually continue reading. They may even click through
The Takeaway
Email marketing campaigns can be very tricky, even a catch 22 situation where you need to be consistent and yet, you must be careful not to upset or annoy your subscribers in any way.
Using these tips will not only greatly improve your marketing efforts and help you get more subscribers, but also ensure that you able to do even better in business.
Make sure your emails get read, not deleted.
Many marketing companies have skilled professionals who can assist in all fields of marketing including email campaigns. For this reason, if you’re still battling to do this on your own, then you shouldn’t hesitate to seek the help you need to improve.
Email marketing helps build brand awareness, keeps your existing customers engaged, and is an effective mechanism to provide value to your readers.
Ultimately, a successful email marketing campaign can drive sales for your business, so put your best effort in to craft compelling, readable emails.
