Tips for a successful email marketing strategy

by Will Hawkins

Is email marketing dead? A lot of marketing professionals in the industry believe so. Marketing is an ever-changing industry, where technologies and methods for reaching out to customers are constantly adapting. Despite this, the fundamental pillars of marketing are the same today as they were in 1935. The psychology of how to connect with audiences remains the same; we now just have better instruments to achieve it.

So, is email marketing worth it?

Email marketing has undoubtedly had a turbulent decade as a communication method of choice. The General Data Protection Act (GDPR) of 2018 educated many of us that we had rights regarding our personal data. GDPR stopped organisations from being able to email us marketing information without given-consent. This killed the old-school approach of ‘purchasing data lists’ and mass-mailing altogether.

But… good riddance. Unsolicited mailing never was a scalable email marketing strategy. Sure, they might have gained a couple of leads in the past, but they usually did more damage than good. For every lead an unsolicited mass email would bring in, there would most likely 9,999 contacts that won’t ever want to work with the sender again. Unsolicited emails are a method often associated with spam and scams, as a result it can be extremely damaging to your brand.

Since GDPR, we’ve all experienced a little bit more breathing room in our inboxes. Consequently, there is a fantastic opportunity for marketers with organic, compliant data sets to reach out to and connect with. Email marketing allows brands to create content for every stage of their customer’s buying journeys. Plus, with the use of affordable marketing systems, it’s extremely effective to retain visibility of their customer’s engagement.

So, no. Email marketing is very much alive.

Turning customers into advocates

Another benefit of email marketing is that it allows you to focus on your customer’s after-sales marketing process. This is how we can turn customers into brand advocates. For example, if you manufacture and sell exercise equipment, then think about how you could use email content marketing to send useful exercise information and techniques to your customer. It’s small practices like these that promote loyalty and advocacy, and can have the biggest impact when it comes to growing your brand.

Less is more

We probably don’t need to tell you this, but over-emailing is never a good approach. In a post-GDPR world, an unsubscribe is an opportunity lost. If your customer feels like you are spamming them, then they might hit that dreaded button. Once this has happened, you’ve not only lost access to that customer for future mail-outs, but also any opportunity of them becoming influencers for your brand.

Timing is key

Of course, this all depends on who your target customer is. If you’re a B2B-focused brand, then emailing on the weekends usually isn’t the best approach. Studies find that B2B email marketing is usually most effective midweek, at around 10am. There’s a lot of free information out there for a number of different industries, so make sure to do your research before clicking send.

Email subject lines

Contrary to what you might believe, your subject line is 75% of the email. First impressions are everything. Your email body could include the meaning of life, but without an engaging subject line, many of your customers are likely to ignore it.

So, how do I know how to get the timing and content right?

Well, that brings us onto:

A/B Testing

A/B Testing (or Split Testing) is a fantastic automation method that allows you to test different sending times, emails and subject lines. This method allows you to divide your recipients into group A, and group B. Group A will receive one version of the email, and group B will receive an alternative version. Using data on opens, clicks, and engagements for each group, marketers can ascertain which variations work best. Split Testing is also a must-do strategy for many other marketing methods, including digital advertising.

Image sourced from https://www.zoho.com/campaigns/ab-testing.html

In conclusion, I hope that this guide has been useful for your email marketing strategy. There are many marketing systems on offer that can help you implement these steps, for example, Hubspot and MailChimp.

If you would like support building your email marketing campaigns, please get in touch with us today. The Jooba team cover all aspects of creative marketing and help our clients to achieve measurable, scalable growth.

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