Email marketing is one of the most efficient ways of sending promotional materials to interested parties. The best part is that you can do this without ever having to leave the comfort of your keyboard. Thanks to services like MailChimp, HubSpot, and Mad Mimi which provide marketing automation software that can be used to create automated email campaigns. These services collect information about your contacts (called “email lists”) and then, based on that, they suggest emails to send out. Let’s take a quick look at the different components that make up a successful automated email marketing campaign:
Subject Line
This is the subject line of your email. It is the first thing your prospects will read when they receive your email.
You can use A/B testing to determine the best subject line for your work. If you are wondering what A/B testing is, it simply means you are sending out an experiment email (A) with a subject line of “Weekly Sales Report” and a regular email (B) with the subject line “Top Sales this Week.” Once you have received a confirmation email that the email was opened, you can determine which subject line performed the best by comparing the numbers. Sometimes a subject line can make or break a promotional email’s effectiveness. The rule of thumb is to keep your subject line as short as possible while still being able to catch the reader’s attention.
Henceforth, We Will Simply Refer To This Email As “The Email”
This is the body of your email. It is also one of the most important parts of your campaign as it contains all the necessary information a reader needs to fully understand your message. The reason this is so important is that you cannot assume your reader knows everything about your product or service. Therefore, it is critical you provide them with enough information so they can make an educated decision about your company and what you offer. Your body text should not be longer than six sentences at most. Remember, you are striving for “short and sweet.” You want your readers to be able to consume the content in a single sitting.
A Call To Action (CTA)
This is what you want your readers to do once they have read your email. Perhaps the most effective (and simplest) way of encouraging readers to take action is to include an unsubscribe link or a button that they can click to promptly remove themselves from future emails of this kind. You should include a physical address for your company as well as a telephone number (both landline and mobile) so your readers can easily find out more about you and what you offer. This is also a good place to include a link to your website if you have one.
Include Any Other Important Info
This is information that could be of use to your readers. For example, if you are promoting a new product or service and you think that some of your viewers might be interested, you can include a small blurb about the benefits of what you are offering. Or if you are providing some sort of special offer, you can include terms and conditions or a discount code that your readers can use.
Product information, pricing, availability, and the like are all important details that your customers will want to know. This is information that can be easily accessed via a simple Google search; therefore, you should not hide this precious data from your readers.
Optimize Your Images
An email without images is like a dinner without a taste. Even if you are sending out an extremely detailed email with nothing but text, you can still incorporate images to make it more interesting and engaging. Before you put a graphic in your email, though, you should ask yourself the following questions:
- Is it relevant to the topic?
- Is it appropriate for the audience?
- Does it match the rest of the content surrounding it?
- Is it worth the space it will occupy?
- Is it easily accessible?
- Does it have the potential to improve the quality of my life?
If you answered “yes” to all of these questions, then go ahead and use your graphic skills to promote your product or service. But if you answered “no” to one or more of them, then it might be better to skip the image and go with text instead.
Follow Up
Once you have sent your “Email,” it is crucial that you follow up with a “Thank you for opening…” or a “Got your attention, didn’t I?” type of email. The great thing about automated emails is they can be set up to automatically follow up with a pitch to ensure you always keep the conversation going.
The most effective way to follow up with a customer is via email. According to HubSpot, sending a quick email a day or two after your initial email can help you stay in touch and keep the connection open between you and your customer. This way your customer feels appreciated and valued as a person as well as a potential buyer. If you are unable to get in touch with a customer directly, you can use an auto respondent that will follow up with them on your behalf. Don’t expect customers to remember you, so ensure you stay in touch by following up with them through email.
Monitor & Adapt
Now that you have set up a workflow that sends out a promotional email once a week, the fun begins. The next step is to monitor its performance. You can track the email’s open rate, click-through rate, and conversion rate (number of subscribers who became buyers or signed up for a service after receiving the email).
You then have the option of adapting what you have learned through trial and error to become more effective. While you are proud of the work you have done, it is a good idea to constantly look for ways to improve. The key takeaway from all of this is that an effective automated email marketing campaign takes some time to set up and require a little bit of maintenance, but it is definitely worth it. For instance, if you notice that a certain subject line works well with your targeted audience, you can use that heading for future emails in the same way a baseball team uses a “signature ball” to represent an individual’s pitch. Similarly, if you notice that a certain image portrays your product or service in a better light, you can use that image whenever you want without needing to seek permission first.
Whether you are just getting started or you have been running your business for a while, having an effective email marketing strategy is a must. As you can see from the above, there are several things you need to keep in mind when crafting a winning email campaign. From subject lines and calls to action to making sure your images are relevant and appropriate, you need to put in the time to make sure your emails are as effective as possible. And since email remains one of the best forms of marketing available, take advantage of the power of automation and start creating lead lists today!