Email is essential in today’s world, just as it has been for nearly four decades. What started as has simple messages between academics has turned into a global tool, with more than 293.6 billion emails sent and received last year alone. Marketers have long since tapped into this as a resource to connect with their customers online, and email marketing has become a main driver of customer retention and acquisition for small and midsize businesses.
Email marketing is used to develop relationships with current and potential customers and is one of the most cost-effective and conversion-rich forms of digital marketing available. In fact, for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42 (DMA, 2019). That’s a solid ROI, if you ask us.
Depending on your brand’s goals for the new year, you likely have thought of how to grow your email lists, perhaps through a lead-gen offer on social media, a specific CTA on your digital ads, promoting deals that capture email signups, brand partnership promotions, etc.
Once you’ve captured those coveted email addresses, how are you going to maximize your opportunity to reach them? Here are a few tips for how to use email marketing to your advantage:
Master the Welcome Email
Marketers follow a brand’s open rate as a measure of how well an email marketing strategy is performing. With an average email open rate standing around 21 percent, the beloved welcome email open rate is averaging at 82 percent! Use this statistic to your advantage and create an attention-grabbing welcome email that sells your product effectively and introduces your brands value from the get-go.
Customize Buyer Personas
The good news is: Everyone is online. The bad news is: Everyone is online. As we move to a more virtual lifestyle, the consumer is tied to the Internet more than ever before. While this might initially appear to be a boon for the retailer or online marketing team behind your brand, you are now competing with everyone else for the same consumers. How do you cut through the clutter with your email marketing?
It’s important to divide your database lists into specific buyer personas to tailor your emails to resonate just right. There are a ton of creative ways you can segment your email list to run innovative and effective campaigns that customers will enjoy, from geography and industry to content format and topic. Distributing email marketing campaigns with customized messaging, visuals, offers, etc. to appeal to the specific segment of your audience makes your customers feel seen, leading to brand loyalty and more sales.
Create Engagement
Making purchases goes deeper than you having a supply and your customer having a demand. To build relationships with your potential customers and increase brand loyalty with existing customers, focus on email engagement. Brands can expect to lose about 30 percent of email subscribers each year, so what can you do to make sure the other 70 percent stays regularly engaged? We recommend tapping into their emotions. Are you teaching them something useful? Celebrating and recognizing their achievements? Personalizing emails? Being helpful and not just promotional?
Additionally, adding movement to your emails is a great way to increase engagement, via a video or a GIF. The Email Institute found that animated GIF emails see an increase in click-through rates of up to 26%.
Scrub Your List
You’ve worked hard to grow your email lists through a number of strategies and partnerships, so it may sound counterintuitive when we recommend cleaning out your contact lists. By removing unengaged subscribers from your list, you’re free to target only people who want to receive your emails. It will help your engagement rates, and also helps to avoid spam reports.
As our team considers both the latest trends and the tried-and-true marketing tactics for each of our clients, email marketing has remained strong and is continuing to grow. If you’re looking to grow your brand your through effective email marketing strategies, contact Morgan & Co. today.
