Is email marketing still relevant?
Globally, 4.03 billion people are using email in 2021. Despite what trends say, email marketing is still going strong. It was found that in 2020, 66% of small businesses surveyed said that they use email to promote their business or communicate with leads and customers.
For email to be effective, it needs to be personal, targeted, and crafted with the intended reader’s intentions in mind. There may be no winning formula on how to create the ‘perfect’ email, but there are certainly specific copy and design elements that can improve your open rate.
This can be as simple as including graphics and pictures – 88% of small businesses with effective email marketing strategies use images in their emails.
How can email marketing help my business?
Well-planned email marketing helps businesses to retain customers and deliver useful and relevant content. Keep reading for tips on how to make email marketing work for your business.
Tip #1 – Build your subscriber list
What’s the point of email marketing if you don’t have a subscriber list? You don’t have anywhere to send your quality content! Here are effective ways to build a subscriber base:
- Get blogging – It might not be your cup of tea, but blogs are a great way to share information online. The average person spends 37 seconds reading a blog, so think about your audience and get straight to the point! The goal is that your blog was so useful they decide to subscribe for more content.
- Opt-in forms and pop-ups – Make sure that subscribing is straightforward, whether that may be in a website pop-up or click to subscribe button. Don’t make them search for it or you’ve lost a potential subscriber.
- This is also where a web chat becomes handy, capturing customer details is the first step in starting the journey.
Tip #2 – Find out what your audience wants to see from you
As long as your email is well-targeted, 61% of us like to receive one promotional email at least once a month.
However, the average opening rate for email campaigns sits at around 20%. Evidently, there is no “perfect” or “ideal” number of emails to send. You need to find what works for your audience through trial and error.
Consumers want emails that can provide value, offer insight and useful content. Perhaps talking to your customers can give you a better understanding of what they want to see from your emails. Is it special offers? What about monthly newsletters or guides? Get talking.
Tip #3 – Select a suitable automation platform
Once you have built your subscriber list and it’s getting hard to manually write and send all these emails, you may want to consider automation. But how does that work?
Most new subscribers or leads show the intention that they are interested in your business, and by sending them a first email that is warm and welcoming, you are nurturing them along the customer journey.
Take advantage of automated email campaigns by segmenting your customers and tailoring messages to their specific interests or services.
Tip #4 – Yes, the subject line matters
Consider this – If people aren’t opening your emails, then your content has gone to waste! Although this is part of email marketing, nearly 50% of readers decide whether or not to open an email based on its subject line. Remember to come up with short and personalised subject lines.
Tip #5 – End with a strong call to action
CTAs come in different shapes and sizes. Finish your emails with what you want your audience to do or take away, it could be as simple as checking out a particular product or service. Ensure your audience aren’t left hanging, you don’t want them to be left thinking – what was the point of this email?
Your email marketing experts: LANA
Personalised and segmented emails can keep your business at top of mind. Start building your mailing list and choose the right automation platform to reap its benefits.
One of LANA’s many features is to provide a convenient email marketing platform for you to communicate with customers, from “thank you for signing up” messages to handy appointment reminders.
Get in contact with LANA today and we’d love to help you get started in the world of email marketing automation! Call us on +61 2 5503 5262.
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