Jessica Coghlan May 10, 2021 According to recent 2021 data, more than 319 billion emails get sent every single day. Whether personal or professional, individuals are constantly refreshing their inboxes for new messages. This creates a massive opportunity when considering which digital marketing tactics you should invest in for your business.
Email marketing is a powerful tool used to build and strengthen your relationships with customers and communicate key messages regarding business initiatives. In fact, email marketing has proven to generate the greatest ROI compared to other digital marketing efforts (up to 3380%). With so much potential, it’s extremely important to set up and launch your email campaigns correctly. Below are 10 helpful tips to help you get started!
Don’t Oversend Emails
Ever hear the saying “the more the merrier?” While this may be true in some cases, it isn’t the case when it comes to your email campaigns. The last thing you want to do when trying to increase your conversions is flood your customers’ inboxes. More often than not, this will result in a higher unsubscribe rate than anything else. Whether you’re sending a welcome email, abandoned cart email, company update, or are trying to push a promotion, remember to put yourself in the shoes of your audience.
Remember to Scrub Your Lists
When it comes to email marketing, there is nothing better than a clean contact list. Scrubbing your lists is a great way to make sure your campaigns run smoothly. This involves filtering out unengaged contacts from your audience as well as any spammy email addresses or addresses with typos. This can help keep your marketing spend to a minimum since most email platforms charge you based on your audience size, so curating a tight, high engagement list will keep your costs down while driving more ROI. Certain email marketing platforms will actually automatically remove any email addresses from your list that will give you a hard bounce. By removing disengaged contacts, you will be able to cater your messaging to individuals that are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. This will not only decrease your marketing spend but also increase the level of engagement.
Take Advantage of Segmenting and Tagging Your Audience
Most modern email marketing platforms make it easy for you to segment and tag your audiences. Not only does this help you stay organized and compliant, but it also will help you avoid generic emails and send catered, personalized content. The options for segmenting are endless, and will provide clarity into your audience’s demographics, buying behaviours, needs, etc. This way you can do less work, spend less money, and yet yield the results you are looking for.
Make Your Unsubscribe Options Clear
With any email marketing campaign, you are always going to have individuals who decide they no longer want to receive your emails and will unsubscribe. It is important to make this option clear to your audience in order to prove your brand’s authenticity and show your customers that you care. Not only is this a standard email marketing practice, but it is also required by Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). This option can be found in both the footer and the header of the email. Always double-check that the unsubscribe link is working before sending out your email.
Give Your Audience Preferences
Just because your contacts don’t want to receive certain emails doesn’t always mean that they want to cut communications completely. If you send out multiple campaigns, bring your customers to a landing page where they can confirm which lists they wish to unsubscribe from. For example, maybe they no longer wish to receive promotional emails but want to hear about company updates. It’s important to let your audience know that they have control over whether they get marketing emails. Allowing your audience to communicate their preferences will keep them engaged and feel like they have control.
Always Keep CASL in Mind
When advertising and sending out electronic messages, you must always follow CASL. Failing to do so can result in your email account being suspended or in some cases, potential legal ramifications. Keeping a clean email list within your email marketing platform is a great way to make sure you won’t run into any issues. Make sure that you are always updating your contacts when adding new ones to avoid reimporting unsubscribed addresses.
Keep Your Content Focused
Don’t oversaturate your content. Have a clear goal for each email sent and make sure it’s communicated to your audience. If the goal is to sell a new product, then make sure the sale is clear in the subject line, headline, and make sure there is a direct link to the page of sale. Don’t forget UTM codes to monitor success!
Keep a Q/A Checklist
When creating a new campaign, it’s easy for details to slip through the cracks. It is important to keep your eyes peeled when reviewing campaigns prior to sending. For example, is the email being sent to the correct segment? Are the unsubscribe links working? Does every link have a UTM code? Do all images work? Does the draft look good on both mobile and desktop, on both light and dark mode? With so much potential revenue to come from a single email and your brand’s reputation to consider, it is important to double-check key features before hitting send.
Optimize Send Schedule
Just like social posts, the success of your email will depend on the time of day that it is delivered. With so many work emails being sent back and forth throughout the day, it makes sense to avoid the typical “9 to 5” work hours if you want the email to get an individual’s full attention. It is a better idea to send the message out early in the morning (6 or 7 AM) or after working hours (between 6 and 9 PM). Make sure to optimize for the time zone where most of your customers are. If you are unsure, you can always get this data from your email platform or Google Analytics. The latest email marketing platforms allow you to schedule your posts so you can set them and forget them. This way, you don’t have to get up and scramble at 5:30 AM to make sure that your email gets sent out.
Keep Realistic Goals
Now that your email has been sent, you want to report on its success! How many users opened it? Did you lose any subscribers? How much revenue did you generate? Set realistic target goals so you can compare against industry benchmarks and measure your progress accordingly. Depending on your platform of choice, the reporting options will provide valuable information regarding your specific campaigns as well as comparison data to help you measure success and track your goals.
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