Email marketing is a form of digital marketing which allows marketers to communicate with consumers (employees, potential customers, etc) via emails.
The benefits of email marketing are that 1) it’s relatively cheap 2) it’s easy to set up 3)it has a very high open-rate (69%+) and 4) it allows marketers to segment their audience.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Sri Lanka, the email marketing industry has taken a major hit.
However, it’s not advisable to completely halt your email marketing strategy during these times. After the pandemic, people may feel less inclined to open email messages that they think may be a scam.
So it’s important to find a way to continue engaging with your audience via email marketing.
Here’s a checklist of the crucial things you need to consider before you start your email marketing campaign in Sri Lanka:
Choosing Your Email Marketing Platform
You’ll need an email marketing platform to run your campaign. The most popular platforms are mailchimp, govid and marketo.
Each of these platforms offer something unique so you may want to consider what suits your needs.
Here’s a quick guide to help you make the right decision:
The Pros And Cons Of Each Email Marketing Platform
Let’s examine the pros and cons of each email marketing platform so you can choose the one that suits your needs.
- MailChimp
- GOVID
- Marketo
MailChimp is ideal for beginner marketers who want to get started with email marketing without too much of a financial commitment.
It offers a free plan which allows you to send up to 2000 emails per month. This may be enough for you if you’re just getting started.
If you’re looking for a more robust option, you can move to a paid plan at any time. There’s also a free version of marketo which you can use.
If you’re looking for a simple and cost-effective solution, go with marketo. Or for a free platform that has lots of features you can use, go with GOVID.
How To Create A Powerful Subject Line
A subject line is a special kind of greeting card produced to invite people to open your email message. When you create a subject line, you’re essentially writing an email ad to encourage people to click on your message.
The general formula is to write something that is both intriguing and easy to understand. Essentially, you want your subject line to be both short and sweet.
To illustrate how to craft a powerful subject line, suppose you’re selling a product that helps people reduce their cholesterol levels. Your subject line could read: Get The Facts About Cholesterol Now! (and it works).
This subject line is short and to the point. It gets to the point so quickly that it leaves no room for the reader to misunderstand. It leaves no room for the reader to misinterpret what the subject line means because it’s too concise.
On the other hand, if you want to write a longer subject line, you can use bold typeface, double spacing, colons, subtitles or charmful language. For instance, you could write: Get The Facts About Cholesterol Now! (and it works): How HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor Cholestyramine Makes Cholesterol Reduction Easy.
In the first part of the subject line, you have the important facts about cholesterol reduction with HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor.
In the second part, you use language that is simple, easy to understand and probably familiar to your audience (in this case, doctors or nutritionists who may be reading scientific articles about cholesterol).
This longer example allows the reader to understand more about cholesterol reduction without being overwhelmed by too much information. Longer subject lines are more effective when applied to a mailchimp campaign. However, if you’ve used up all the characters on your subject line and want to go with a shorter headline, go with GOVID.
Set Up A Subscription List
You can’t send email messages to people who have not agreed to receive them. To do that, you need to set up a subscription list.
The first step is to go to your email marketing platform’s dashboard and click Subscribe. At this point, you’ll see a subscribe button with a drop-down menu which contains all the subscription options available. Essentially, what you’re looking for is a combination of things like this:
- An email list
- A website
- A digital marketing calendar
- Customer feedback
Once you have these four things in place, you can start sending out your first email marketing message.
Choose The Right Time
You need to consider the best time to send your emails. In general, you want to avoid sending messages at times when people are most likely to ignore them. So, if you want to send your email at sunrise, do it at midnight. Or, if you want to send it at lunchtime, do it at 10 p.m.
However, since this is email marketing and you’re not going to spam people, there’s no reason to rush. Take your time and plan out a schedule.
Use Personalization
You can’t have a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to email marketing. You need to tailor your communications to each individual recipient. Fortunately, your email marketing platform offers you the tools to do that.
Depending on the country you’re in, you may want to consider using different email templates for men and women. You can also create individual profiles for your contacts so you can send personalized messages to them.
These customization options allow you to target the right audience and send the right message. For example, if you want to send a message to someone who’s a fan of The Office, you can run a targeted campaign using Google Adwords. People who are searching for The Office will see your message and may click on it.
Personalization is one of the most powerful tools in your toolkit when it comes to email marketing. Don’t forget about it!
Above all else, make sure that your email marketing platform has an easy-to-use API so you can integrate other services to extend its functionality. For example, if you want to create a pop-up window when someone clicks on an email link, you can use the API to integrate Mailchimp’s ClickToModal popup.
Use Performance-Based Marketing
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we all live and worked. As a marketing rep, you’ll want to adjust your game plan along with the world.
Performance-based marketing focuses on driving revenue and increasing engagement with audiences, not just advertising.
To do this, you may want to consider using platforms like google analytics so you can track the performance of your social media channels. You can also use these platforms to analyze the results of your email marketing campaigns.
These are crucial tools to have in your digital marketing toolkit.
Measure The Success Of Your Campaign
To ensure the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign, it’s important to measure the results. This way, you’ll know if you’ve accomplished your goals and can continue improving.
You can use website analytics tools to track the performance of your campaigns (you’ll find them in your email marketing platform’s dashboard). These tools allow you to measure the results of each campaign and improve your strategy.
However, it’s not just enough to track the performance of your campaigns. You also need to consider the performance of your email lists. To do this, you can use tools like Growthoid which integrate with your email marketing platform. This way you can easily access the data you need.