Good email marketing campaigns are those that are focused on delivering value to your customer and building a trusting relationship.
A good email marketing strategy may seem easy enough; all you need is an email list and you can start sending out emails to your contacts. However, things are rarely that simple. Different types of email marketing campaigns perform better than others, depending on your target audience, platform, and content.
To begin with, you need to understand what makes up a good email campaign. What elements should you include? How can you improve? The answer to these questions will help you develop a clear picture of what you should be aiming for with your email marketing strategy.
Actionable Content
One of the most significant differences between a good email marketing campaign and average email campaigns is the amount of content you include. The average email usually has a couple of paragraphs of text, while a good email marketing campaign will often consist of several pages of text and an attachment or two. Your content should be engaging and provide the reader with something they can act upon.
A good email marketing campaign will always include an email marketing plan. Your plan should include the different content you will use to engage your audience, the schedule you will follow, and how you will measure the success of your email marketing campaign. The more you can include, the better. It’s always preferable to have a content plan B rather than scramble to come up with something as you go along. This is especially important if you are trying to maintain a constant stream of content.
Personalized Content
Another significant difference between a good email marketing campaign and the average email is the level of personalized content you include. While most emails are very generalized, including only the most basic information about the product or service you are promoting, good email marketing campaigns will always include something more. This could be as simple as a different subject line for each email you send out, or it could be as complex as creating a personality profile for each of your contacts and using that to personalize your communications.
Personalized emails are more effective than generic ones because they allow the reader to link their experience directly to the information you are communicating. For example, if you are trying to sell them technology and you use a generic email, they may feel they are receiving the same message as everyone else because it doesn’t relate to them specifically.
Pro-Active Behaviour
An important distinction between a good email marketing campaign and the average one is the level of engagement you expect from your readers. A good email marketing campaign will always include an element of persuasion, including a call to action like ‘click here’ or ‘buy now’ to take the reader to the relevant product or service. However, the difference between a good email marketing campaign and a great one is the depth of customer engagement you include. A great email marketing campaign will encourage your audience to actively engage with you, starting with something as simple as subscribing to your blog or following you on social media.
The better your pro-active behaviour, the better your email marketing campaign. To encourage subscribers to do more than just consume your content, you could offer them something in return. Maybe you give them a discount on future purchases, maybe you deliver valuable tips or hacks, or perhaps you provide them with a free sample product to try out. The key is to make sure your audience knows what they are getting in return for engaging with you. Otherwise, you may end up with low engagement and no conversions!
High Level Of Technical Credibility
As a content marketer, you will often find yourself writing about complicated issues or ideas that the average person could not understand. This is why it is important to maintain a certain level of technical credibility when writing in your emails. If you are trying to sell technology to someone who does not understand it, you are wasting your time and the effort of the reader will be completely lost. Your credibility will be at stake, and you will have to work extra hard to regain that faith.
To keep your technical credibility, you must include expert knowledge in your writing. You could start by including your own in-depth knowledge about the subject you are writing about, or you could consult with subject matter experts within your company for support. Whatever you do, you must ensure the reader understands what you are talking about and that you are competent enough to explain it effectively to them.
Attention To Detail
The better your attention to detail, the better your email marketing campaign. If you are submitting your email for approval and it isn’t perfect, your editor will surely tell you that your email lacks that “perfect balance of content, format, and delivery.’ This is also the type of attention to detail you need to ensure your copy is error-free before sending it out.
To get the best out of your editor, you must provide them with plenty of content to work with. Even if you are sending out only one email, you must ensure that it is structured and well-thought-out. Every detail counts and, as a marketer, editor, or publisher, you must be sure that each element is used optimally to engage your audience into taking a specific action.
An Integrative Approach
In order to generate the best results from your email marketing campaign, you must adopt an integrative approach. While it is important to focus on the important pieces of information in your email, you must keep in mind the bigger picture. Your success will depend on a variety of factors, and you must ensure that you are including all the pieces necessary to produce the desired results. To put it simply, if you want your email to have the strongest effect, you must connect the dots from the get-go.
When writing your email marketing plan, you must start by asking yourself ‘why?’ Why are you sending this particular email? What is your goal? What do you hope to gain from this? Only then can you move on to ‘how?’ How will you achieve your goal? What actions will you take to reach your goal?
From a branding and marketing perspective, ask yourself ‘what action do I want my reader to take?’ What do I hope they will do after reading my email? What do I want them to remember about my brand?
Thought leaders, influencers, and subject matter experts will often advise to start by identifying the biggest challenge you are facing right now. You can then expand from there by considering the question ‘how do I solve this problem?’ Once you have answered that question, you can develop a clear picture of the action you will need to take to solve that problem. If you can’t seem to fit all the pieces necessary into your plan, then you have some rewriting to do!
In summary, when developing a marketing strategy for your brand, it is important to keep in mind the type of content you are using and who you are targeting. Different types of emails perform better than others depending on your goals and the platform you are using. To begin with, it is important to understand what makes up a good email campaign.