Regardless of your industry, email marketing can be a great way to connect with your customers digitally. An email is more than a blip of information. This small message speaks volumes about your brand. With the right email marketing approach, your newsletters can have a powerful impact on boosting future sales.
Benefits of Email Marketing
Here are a few reasons why businesses of all sizes should be leveraging email marketing:
Asset You Own: Unlike social media, an email list is an asset that is owned by you. While social media is a great way to connect with current and potential customers, you’re at the mercy of the platform – which means that your opportunities can change in an instant. Social media is an important part of a marketing campaign, but your ultimate goal should be to move these leads to your own assets, such as an email list and website.
Build Relationships: The messages you send over email are much more effective than anything you post on other platforms. You can maintain communication over email with the confidence of knowing that there is a higher chance the information will reach your audience.
Boost Conversions: An online lead isn’t worth a dime until the person decides to move forward with a purchase. Social media is too casual to close the sale, while email is a powerful way to shape the right message so you build a life-long relationship with your customers.
Personalize Your Messages: Email is beneficial because you can personalize the messages for each customer. This customization can be as simple as adding their name to the message. You can also divide email lists based on certain criteria – such as customer interests, previous purchases, or demographics.
Tips for Setting Up an Email List
Now that you see the benefits of setting up an email list, it’s time to look at the best-practices with this marketing method. These are a few important details you need to consider when setting up an email list:
Where to Sign Up: You need to have a dedicated place online where customers can sign up for your email list. An opt-in page is a tool where customers input their information (such as name and email) to receive updates from your company. While opt-in forms can be embedded on social media and in other places, the best solution is to create an opt-in page on your website.
Reputable Provider: When choosing an email provider, it’s essential that you select a service with a proven reputation. The quality of your email service will impact the deliverability of your messages, as well as the ease of use for you and your customers.
Autoresponder and Newsletter: One of the benefits of email marketing is that you can send pre-designed messages to new leads. What is the most important message you want to share when someone signs up for your list? Create the initial autoresponder series to build the foundation with your customer. Then, newsletters can be used to share current information on an as-needed basis.
Segment Your List: Make sure the messages you are sending matches the audience you are reaching. With email segmentation, you can improve the overall results of your marketing campaign by using criteria to divide a larger list into a series of smaller lists. Then, consider the psychology of each demographic so you can send the most relevant messages each type of customer needs to read.
Frequency Matters: There is a “sweet spot” in the frequency of when you contact customers through email. Too many messages can be overwhelming and make the person feel like you are spamming their inbox. Too much time between emails might cause the customer to forget about your company. Recommended frequency depends on your industry and customers but always focuses on the quality of your messages over the quantity of emails you are sending.
There’s no question that email marketing can be a foundational piece of your marketing campaign. With the right strategy, you can maintain communication with your customers and build ongoing relationships that lead to repeat sales.
Need help getting started with email marketing? Let us know! The Evoke Creative team can help :)