Beginners Guide to Email Marketing

Beginners Guide to Email Marketing

There are plenty of digital marketing tactics available to businesses today, from paid advertising to social media, direct search, and much more. However, which strategies actually deliver a solid return on your investment?

According to research, email marketing stands out as one of the most effective strategies to reach and engage an audience. Businesses use email every day to attract, engage and retain customers. Are you wondering how to get started with email marketing? Read on below.

The Importance of Email Marketing

Do you have an active email address? Chances are you do; along with over half of the world’s population! Statistics showed that approximately 3.7 billion people used email regularly in 2017, with the figure set to rise to a staggering 4.1 billion by 2021.

Many people use email in both a personal and professional capacity to communicate about the latest project with colleagues, touch base with friends, or even make an online purchase. Email is the number one communication method, with at least 91% of consumers checking their inbox on a daily basis. This presents a massive opportunity for businesses to reach targeted audiences in all different markets across the world.

An email also converts at a much higher rate than other marketing avenues. With a massive ROI of 123%, email marketing is 40 times more effective at acquiring customers than social media such as Facebook or Twitter. However, with spam a major concern and inboxes being flooded with promotions on a daily basis, it’s now much harder to reach and evoke action from consumers.

Creating a Successful Email Marketing Campaign

1. Choose a Reputable Email Marketing Software Provider

Sending random emails to your audience without a clear goal is not likely to get you very far. Before you send your first email, start by defining the purpose of your campaign. Why do you want to use email marketing? What results do you want to achieve? And how do you measure success?

Make sure your goals align with your overall marketing strategy. For example, if you run an eCommerce store, your primary goal may be to achieve more sales. Email marketing could then be used to send promotions, update your audience on new releases, or engage repeat customers.

2. Choose a Reputable Email Marketing Software Provider

Selecting the right software provider is an essential step for creating effective campaigns that generate a high return. Consider how the software will implement into your current CRM (Customer Relationship Management software), templates available, automation options, follow-ups, sign-up forms, and even customer service! There are a lot of different providers in the market, so make sure you do your research.

3. Build a List

To send your emails, you need a list. There are many different ways to collect emails including adding a newsletter sign-up form on your website, through Facebook ads, offering useful resources in exchange for an email, contests, and more. This is where you can get creative! But remember, people need to opt-in to your list voluntarily before you start sending marketing emails. An unsubscribe button needs to be clearly visible, and don't forget to make sure you comply with all spam laws.

4. Invest in Great Copy

Great copy is the key to an email that a customer opens, reads, and takes action on. Optimise the subject line to produce higher open rates, use actionable language with a clear call-to-action, and personalise your content when possible.

Although, most importantly make sure you provide value to your reader. As an example, if you’re emails are continuously self-promotional you may find yourself in the junk folder very quickly. Make sure you keep your emails short, sharp and provide value for your readers.

5. Send Your First Campaign

If you’re ready to send your first campaign, make sure you have everything set up to track your results. Without proper tracking, you can’t make informed decisions to improve the effectiveness of your campaign and maximise your ROI.

Start by tracking deliverability rates (was your email received?), open rates (how many people actually read your email?), click-through rates (how strong are you call-to-actions in the email/links?), and conversions (how many people took the desired action?).

6. Test and Refine

To improve your results, you need to experiment and test different combinations to find what works best for your business. The best elements to focus on are subject lines, the copy of your email, styling (fonts, colours, formatting), and your CTA.

Grow Your Business With Email Marketing

Email marketing can be an extremely useful avenue for your business if done correctly. Apply these practices, continuously test, and you'll see results in no time!

About the Author

Sertan Djelal is head of online at Five Geckos Digital Marketing. He has worked as an online marketing consultant and strategist for over 14 years, having held positions both in-house as well as agency side, working with a variety of businesses and brands, supporting them to improve their online presence, web visibility & SEO.

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