Email Marketing: The Evolution of a Powerful Digital Strategy
Email marketing is one of the most used strategies by digital marketing professionals and agencies, mainly within the Inbound Marketing methodology. Some say that email marketing is an ancient technique, and I agree. Email marketing only as a form of promotion, without personalization or context, clearly no longer works. Now, the question is not about the efficiency of email marketing, but about the evolution of the techniques used to make email bring real results.
But after all, what is email marketing?
In the simplest possible way, email marketing is the use of emails to promote your business. However, you can use this technique in several ways to reach several goals. Some of them are:
- Nurture and cultivate the relationship with your lead base;
- Keep your customers informed and updated about your brand;
- To stimulate the buying decision.
Email marketing is a form of direct communication of your company with those who are on your list.
Why do email marketing?
As I talked about it earlier, many people believe that email marketing no longer works. However, a channel that has a forecast of 3.04 billion users worldwide by 2020 cannot be left out of the efforts of your marketing team. We must understand the reason that makes this channel one of the most efficient acquisition tactics for the UK retail market. But do not think that this technique can be used only for retail.
Any business model can benefit from working with email shots if done with the right goals in mind. The use of email in your marketing strategy has some advantages over other channels.
Predictability
Unlike Instagram, Facebook, or other channels, no algorithm limits your organic reach. What do I mean by that? Email is the only channel that if you direct to 1000 people, it will deliver to 1000 people. Some issues can occur due to hard bounce and soft bounce (I will explain these metrics later). However, which channel is used by your team that, on average, organically delivers your message to 98% of the chosen contact list? This assertiveness that email marketing brings to your communication is the greatest desire of any marketer.
High ROI
According to data from Campaigning Monitor, email marketing actions have a return of 4.44 dollars for every 1 dollar spent. For you to use email marketing techniques, it takes little investment. You need a domain, for example, sjswebdesign.co.uk, and a tool that makes email shots. Add the hours of the person responsible for carrying out this strategy, and you’re done! That’s your email marketing expense.
Flexible Format
The email body has the format you want. There is no limitation, as it happens with ads or posts on social networks. That is a unique opportunity for marketers to explore their creativity with gifs, images, videos or even pure text. It’s up to you.
Helps your SEO strategy
One of the problems of increasing the relevance of your content is promotion. Email marketing is a powerful technique to share your content, get backlinks, and bring traffic to your website or blog. Some points should be taken into consideration before you start writing your emails:
- Set your goals;
- Build your lists;
- Create your email marketing campaign.
Remember that the more information you have, the greater the personalization of your communication. However, be careful not to request too much user data and end up not having any conversions. You need to find a balance between the value of what you’re offering and the amount of user data you request.
Build your campaign
With all the steps aligned, and your lists created, it’s time to build your campaigns. To develop your campaigns, follow these steps:
- Choose your contact lists;
- Create custom and contextual email templates for each list;
- Check all the settings for your campaigns and their measurement;
- Send test emails.
Best practices for email marketing
Once we understand what the benefits that email marketing can bring to your business are, it’s time to understand what are the best practices for you to write your emails.
Less Is More
If you build a template with more than 650 pixels, your lead or client will have to scroll the bar next to it to read your entire message. In the digital environment, the more perplexing the access to information, the higher its rejection rate. Therefore, keep your message as objective and concise as possible.
Use More Than One CTA (But With The Same Goal)
In your email, you may have several goals. I advise you to keep one goal per email, that way, you don’t confuse the user and, above all, do not generate doubts about it. Ideally, you would forward an email with the content and, after the user downloads the material, you fire an email for it to request contact with an expert. So, less is more when it’s about call to actions.
Think Mobile
According to the Global Mobile Consumer Survey Brazil, 35% of smartphone users consult their professional email at least once every hour through their mobile phones. Thus, building your email templates for the mobile experience is very important. Whenever you’re going to fire an email at your mailing list, take a test and send it at you first. Check how your email looks on mobile, and if the experience is positive. Now you know what email marketing is and how to use it in your business. If you need email marketing services in Manchester, please contact me!
