According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 65% of all adults check their email every day. With statistics like that, it should come as no surprise that email marketing is a highly effective way to increase sales for businesses of all sizes and types. However, there are many business owners who are not taking advantage of this powerful marketing tool, and even less who know how to utilize it properly. To create a successful email marketing campaign that will increase sales, there are number of important strategies to keep in mind.
Why Use Email Marketing?
There are many reasons why email marketing is more effective than traditional forms of marketing. First, it is very cost effective. The production, labor and materials expenses for an email marketing campaign are extremely low. In addition, email marketing is easy and fast to set up. All you need is a good template, interesting and useful content, and access to the Internet to get your email marketing campaign off the ground. This is a great way to keep in touch with your current clients, attract new clients to your business or website, and encourage people to buy your products and services. Moreover, you can measure the results of your email marketing campaign easily. With simple tracking software or the help of an Internet marketing company, you can see how many emails were opened or trashed, which links people clicked on, and which of those links converted to sales.
Tips for a Killer Email Marketing Campaign
• Make it easy for people to subscribe to your list. If you have a website or blog, place an opt-in box in a place where your visitors cannot miss it. If you have a traditional brick and mortar store, place a sign-up list next to the cash register or somewhere obvious. All you need is a simple form with a place for a name and email address.
• Be sure that your subscribers want to receive your emails. When people opt-in to your email list, send them a confirmation email and ask them to confirm their subscription. The last thing you want is for people to mark your emails as spam, as this could negatively affect your standing in the search engines or even get you kicked out of your email provider service.
• Whatever you do, do not spam. It may seem like a good idea to email as many people as possible to reach a wider audience, but this can seriously hurt your business. Nobody likes to receive unsolicited emails, and as mentioned above, this can cause serious problems for your online campaign. Most importantly, spam is illegal and can incur serious fines.
• Identify your target market and match your content and design accordingly. Look at the customers you already have and those you want to attract, and think about what information would be useful and valuable for them. Keep your layout simple and clean, and use colors, fonts, and language that are easy on the eye and appealing for your clients.
• Use your business email only to send newsletters and updates. If your recipients know exactly who the emails are coming from, they will be less likely to trash the email or mark it as spam. In addition, your clients will have more trust and respect for a newsletter or update if it comes from a company email rather than a Hotmail or Gmail account.
• Create a compelling subject line that is relevant to the information in your email. The trick to keeping clients happy is providing them with interesting content that is valuable to them in some way. If your subject line draws them in they will be more likely to open the email. Once they are in, your content needs to spark their interest to motivate them to buy something from you.
• Do not send attachments, video, or complicated Flash components in your emails. People tend to avoid opening emails with attachments in them, as they are wary of viruses. In addition, attachments, videos and Flash can take a long time to load, so you may lose your reader's interest.
• Be consistent with your emails. Resist the urge to send emails too frequently. There is nothing worse than opening your inbox and seeing a glut of unopened commercial mail. On the other hand, if you send erratic and infrequent updates, your readers may forget that you exist. Set a consistent and reasonable schedule for sending your updates and stick to it. This way your subscribers know what to expect.
• Use a call to action in your newsletter or update. There is no point to sending out emails to clients if you do not give them the means to find what you are offering. Include direct links to your website, a map and directions to your store, or at the very least, a telephone number they can call for more information. In addition, be sure to use active language to gently nudge your clients to use your products or services.
• Encourage your readers to share your content. You can do this by including social media links in the email where readers can share your information on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, or Pinterest. This is an effective and easy way to spread your message without spending a cent on advertising.
• Include an opt-out button or a link where recipients can unsubscribe. People feel more confident about reading newsletters and updates if they know they are not roped in for life. In addition, people may simply move on, or prefer not to receive updates by mail. Be respectful and considerate to those to opt-out, and be sure to remove them from your list in a timely and efficient manner.
• Track and analyze your data. The key to building the success of your email marketing campaign is learning what works and what does not. This way you can tweak your game plan accordingly. Use tracking software to find out information such as the percentage of emails that were opened, how many were trashed without being opened, what content was shared, which links people clicked on, and which clicks converted to sales. You can do this on your own or hire an Internet marketing company to do the data analysis for you.
A good email marketing campaign can propel your business to the head of the pack and keep it there. Not only does an email campaign save you time and money on marketing, but it can drive traffic to your website or business and dramatically increase your sales. As long as you follow the tips above for your email marketing campaign, you should see your profits rising in no time. If you are still in the dark about how to begin, a reputable Internet marketing company can help you create and implement a killer email marketing plan that will help boost your business.
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