I recently had the opportunity to test out Pleo, a new email marketing tool with a twist. Normally, I’m not the type of person to get too overly excited about a new piece of software or a mobile app, but in this case I was genuinely curious as to how this product would work and if it was something I would actually use.
Thankfully, I was able to test out the product for a week and use it to promote my blog, A Creative Agency. With that in mind, let’s jump right in.
What Is Pleo?
Pleo is essentially an email marketing tool designed to make the process of creating and sending bulk emails more efficient. Instead of having to build out the content of an email in a word processor, and then manually copy and paste it into the email, you can use various tools to draft email messages in a more streamlined manner.
Pleo’s email marketing toolset gives you all the tools you need to build out a complete email marketing campaign, from initial research to follow-up emails and everything in between. It comes with a host of pre-built email templates that you can use to get started or choose from a huge library of stock images to use in your campaign.
Plus, you can use its drag and drop content builder to easily create appealing email campaigns with a few clicks of the mouse.
Let’s dive right in and take a closer look.
Why Should You Care?
Anyone who’s spent any time on the internet at all knows that creating compelling content for email marketing can be quite the challenge. You’re not only fighting for attention in a crowded inbox, but you also have to ensure that your pitch is relevant to the person you’re emailing and that it sticks out amongst the rest of the junk mail.
Additionally, a lot of times, email marketing involves sending automated emails to people who’ve opted in to receive them. While these automated emails can be extremely effective, they also open you up to potential legal issues if you don’t fulfill your contractual obligations when sending these emails. Having a system like Pleo to help you automate your email campaigns and draft the emails you’ll need ahead of time can help you avoid many headaches and potential land yourself in hot water because of automated sending.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to grow your email list and want to be sure that you’re following the right steps to do so legally and successfully, you can take a look at my guide on how to create an email marketing campaign.
How Does Pleo Work?
When you first log into Pleo, you’ll notice that it’s fairly simple and user-friendly. You won’t be overwhelmed with features right away, as its goal is to make email marketing as easy as possible for everyone. From the get-go, you don’t need any experience to figure out how to use it. In fact, you can literally create your first email campaign in less than 10 minutes and start sending it out.
Pleo’s drag and drop content builder is where all the magic happens. It makes creating an email campaign a whole lot simpler than typing out the full contents of an email on your own. Plus, you don’t need any special skills to use it. Simply drag and drop images, text, and other elements to create the perfect email design, and hit send. With that being said, let’s have a quick look at how to use the drag and drop content builder.
How To Use The Drag And Drop Content Builder
To start creating an email campaign using the drag and drop content builder, click on the “New Email” button at the top of the page. You’ll then see a blank email form. From here, you can either choose to type out the full contents of the email in the “to”, “subject”, and “message” fields, or opt to use one of the pre-written emails that come with the product. If you decide to go with one of the pre-written emails, simply start typing the body of the email and hit enter to complete the sentence.
Alternatively, you can also choose to use one of the email templates that come pre-loaded with the drag and drop content builder. These templates are fully customizable and you have complete control over the look and the content of the email. Once you’ve made your selections, take a quick look at the preview pane to see how your email will look when it’s finished.
Creating An Email That Works
As we’ve mentioned above, one of the great things about the drag and drop content builder is that it makes creating an email incredibly easy. Nevertheless, there are a few things you should keep in mind when crafting an effective email marketing message.
First, make sure that your email address is visible in the email header. This will make it much easier for people to get in touch with you if they have questions about your product or service. Second, ensure that the content of the email is relevant to the person you’re sending it to. Especially when pitching or marketing a new product/service, it’s important that the recipient feels like they’re getting value for their time. Third, be sure to test out your email campaign at least once before you go live. This will help ensure that everything flows smoothly once you do go live. Fourth, make sure that you follow-up with your emails. Just because someone clicked on a link in your email doesn’t mean that they’re automatically going to buy your product or service. Ensure that you follow up with a minimum of three emails, spaced out over a few weeks, to continue the relation and earn a little bit of trust from your audience.
Last but not least, make sure that you track the success of your email campaign. This can be done by either using a tool like MailChimp to follow all the clicks to your website, subscribing people to your blog, or using a combination of the two. Having a look at each individual segment of your email campaign, such as whether or not someone opened your email, clicked on a link or two, or made a purchase, can help you determine which parts were most effective and improve your strategy for the future. For example, perhaps you found that people who received a weekly email with a new article were the most likely to make a purchase, so you might want to consider shifting your focus towards creating content for a weekly email instead of a monthly one.
Pleased To Meet You
Once you’ve crafted an email that works, you can use the tool’s preview pane to send it out. This will give you an idea of how the email looks and whether or not it will be accepted by your audience. If you do decide to go ahead with the send, you’ll see a green “✓” appear next to the preview pane. If there are any errors in the email, a red “X” will be displayed next to it. Simply click on the “Preview” button to see what your email looks like without having to send it.
As we mentioned above, anyone can use the drag and drop content builder to create a fully functioning email campaign. Nevertheless, not everyone will want to go through the effort of creating a new email each time they need to send out an email. Instead, if you’ve used the email tool regularly, you can choose to go “out of mode” in which case all of the pre-written emails, templates, and designs will be saved to a centralized place. This way, you can easily come back to them whenever you want to send out an email.
In any case, creating an effective email marketing campaign doesn’t have to be hard. With the right tools and a little bit of patience, you can put one together in no time.