We know what you’re thinking. Email marketing? Groundbreaking. We get it. Businesses have been using email as part of their marketing efforts since the beginning of computer time. But despite what you might think, email marketing is still one of the greatest ways to attract new customers, while retaining current ones.
Why? It has a potential return on investment of up to 4400%. Crazy, right?!?
For starters, 99% of Americans check their emails every day, and some of us check our email as much as 20 times a day. (Guilty.) After all, with the rise of mobile use, checking our email is quick and easy. In fact, according to statistics from Adestra, consumers prefer email for communicating with the brands.
1. Keep It Light & Fun
With so many emails hitting subscribers’ inboxes every day you want to make sure to grab customers' attention through fun imagery and design. Go ahead and show off your brand personality with lighthearted headlines that give readers a chuckle, or add an emoji or two in the subject line for some added flair.
2. Make Your Emails Mobile-Friendly
Remember how we told you that mobile use is on the rise? Today’s consumer relies on their smartphones to get information, and research shows a growing number of consumers are doing their every day shopping on mobile devices, so make sure your newsletters, promotions, and informational emails are all mobile-friendly to maximize success.
3. Personalize It With Smart Tags
Did you know emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened? Keep your email off the chopping block by including smart personalization like using subscribers’ first names with smart tags.
4. Provide Useful Information
Sure, your customers want exclusive deals and sales, but you should also use your emails to communicate important information like new arrivals, or when a promotion will end, or when your inventory is running low on popular products.
5. Don’t Send Too Many Emails
It’s also worth mentioning that sending too many emails is the #1 reason customers unsubscribe from mailing lists. Don’t overload their inbox, instead start small and ramp up your efforts as you go.
Now, let's discuss email clients:
There are a ton of email newsletter options out there, both for creating and sending newsletters. These tools and platforms offer all sorts of features and pricing plans to fit different needs. Here are some popular email newsletter options for businesses:
Mailchimp: Mailchimp is a widely used email marketing platform that offers email campaign creation, automation, and analytics. It's known for its user-friendly interface and offers a free plan with limited features.
Constant Contact: Constant Contact provides email marketing services with customizable templates, list management, and tracking tools. It offers a free trial and various pricing plans.
HubSpot: HubSpot's marketing platform includes email marketing along with CRM, automation, and other marketing tools. They offer a free CRM and email marketing plan.
Drip: Drip is an e-commerce-focused email marketing platform that offers advanced automation, segmentation, and personalization for online retailers.
Ascend: This is an email client used by Wix and embedded into their platform. If you're already a Wix user, Ascend is a no-brainer for developing subscribers, automations, email campaigns and sharing information about your business.
What you need to know about opening rates:
Just because you're sending it, doesn't mean they're being read or your campaign is effective. As a matter of fact, if your opening rates are abismal, you will end up being banned from your client/customer's inbox, most of them will end in the spam folder, or in a worst case scenario, you may even be disqualified from running your campaigns in the aforementioned email clients.
General average opening rates are as follows: 12% to 15% is average in all industries (but this will vary a few percentage points depending on yours). High teens would be outperforming the market. If you're in the 20s, you know what you're doing. And with some of our more seasoned clients we are constantly reaching between 40% to 60% opening
rates. (See image below)
At DS&P Digital Marketing Agency we can help you launch, manage and thrive with your email marketing efforts. We typically analyze a wide variety of factors to determine which email client fits your campaign the best, or we can also help you maximize the efforts on the email client you're currently using.
Want to save on email marketing cost while also maximizing your revenue? You're in the right place! At DS&P we have an almost fanatical approach to increasing your revenue. Contact us to discuss how we can maximize your success.
