Before you dive into our Step-by-Step Guide to Email Marketing, let’s review the facts about why email marketing is so important in today’s digital marketing landscape.
Email marketing is cost-effective
Data & Marketing Association (DMA) research shows that for every dollar spent on an email marketing campaign, companies see an average return of $38. That’s an excellent ROI!
Compared to other forms of marketing, email marketing is a low-cost way to promote your company and advertise your products and services. A thirty-second television ad costs around $350,000 and a direct mail campaign can cost between 30 cents and $10, depending on the content, per person on the mailing list. Even using Google AdWords (at an average of $2.32 per click) can run up a sizable tab. For the money, sending out 1000 emails is far cheaper…and a lot easier to create and deliver.
Is email marketing on the way out?
If you’ve ever heard people say email is on the way out … think again. More than 250 million people use email today. In the next 4 years, that is expected to increase to more than 350 million. The point being, there is an enormous market out there and email marketing is one way of reaching it.
The facts about email marketing conversions
More than 70 percent of visitors that leave your website will not return. With an email list, you can make a personal connection with them that keeps them updated with valuable content that will bring them back…time and time again.
Repeat visitors are more likely to convert into customers than one-time visitors. Research shows that it normally takes 3-4 visits to your website before a potential customer will actually begin to think of doing business with you. So if you’re looking to make sales, an email marketing plan should be part of your strategy.
Once you decide that email marketing is for you, follow our Step-By-Step Email Marketing Guide or contact us to discuss how Chelsea and Rachel Co. can help get you started.
Step #1 – Choose an email marketing provider
There are dozens of great email service providers. In addition to finding the one that fits into your budget, make sure you look into one that:
Benefits of a quality email marketing service
- Allows you to create highly personal and engaging emails
- You can manage your own contacts
- You’ll be able to segment your customers into groups
- Tracking the performance of your email campaigns is easy
- And, most essential—a good email marketing service provider will ensure that your emails do not find their way to the spam folder.
Step #2 – Build your email list
Building your email list is the next step. Kind of an obvious point but without a list of people to send your message too, well, you have nowhere to start. Creating an opt-in mailing list is your best choice, over the riskier side of renting or buying a list.
If you have a physical store, provide ways for your customers to sign up for your mailing list. If you are an eCommerce only operation, make sure you find ways to encourage your visitors to provide you with their email address for ongoing communication. There are a lot of ways to do this, but the bottom line is that you need to provide something of value to your customers (like a discount code or helpful checklist) that keeps them coming back for more.
Step #3 – Segment your email list
As you develop your list, be sure to divide it into groups of people with similar likes and tastes. This is called segmenting your list. This is the first step in personalizing your connection with your customers. Personalized email campaigns are the most successful form of marketing. The Direct Marketing Association claims that businesses can see a 760% increase in email revenue from properly segmented email campaigns.
Step #4 – Develop an email marketing strategy
Take the time to write out your email marketing strategy. Decide the who, what, why and when of your email strategy. Outline your touchpoints with potential and current customers and develop an email workflow to automate your messages. In addition to establishing an email workflow, you should create a campaign that will guide potential customers through your sales funnel.
Step #5 – Create your email
Can you believe it took 4 steps to get to the part where you actually develop your email? The previous steps have laid the groundwork and now you are ready to write your content. Spend time writing a compelling subject line and personalize it with the recipient’s name. Remember that if you can’t grab them in the subject line they won’t open your message and that is where all your hard work will end. Make sure your email content is concise, engaging and includes a clear call to action. What do you want your reader to do as a result of reading your email? Statistics show that emails with a single call to action can increase click-throughs-rates by more than 300 percent.
Step #6 – Send your email
Before you hit the send button, make sure you have sent test emails to a few people on your team who will read, test every link and give you feedback. There are a lot of opinions on what time of day and week is best to send out emails but the truth is it depends on your target audience and industry. Think about who they are and when they might check messages. The closer to the top of their inbox your email is when they check-in, the more likely your message will be read. Find your best time slot by sending them at different times and looking at your open rates.
