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By Mona Mangat
It’s obvious to any marketer nowadays that you should use email marketing as a way to stay connected with your target audience. Despite the wide array of different strategies available to marketers, having a well-developed email marketing plan is integral to your overall marketing campaign. It’s an excellent way and the most productive channel for getting the best ROI.
Yet, don’t expect the stars and the moon from your email marketing strategy if it’s not done right. If you haven’t planned out a sustained email marketing effort, it simply won’t be effective. You can’t just send out whatever and expect it to get results. A well-planned and thought-out strategy has to take into account your customer’s likes and behaviors, and has to then target them efficiently.
Here are some tips about how to do it:
1. Don’t treat your audience like nameless faces
It’s simple…no one wants to be a number, and potential customers don’t want to be seen as a nameless face. Everyone wants to be acknowledged as a unique person, so you have to address that. This is the first step to take and is pretty easy, since all you have to do is personalize your correspondence. Don’t send out the same bulk email to everyone. Look at the feedback customers give you, then organize and segment your email list so you make them feel like you know what they want and what they’re thinking.
2. Acknowledge and adjust the sales funnel to the customer’s journey
Knowing the customer’s journey is a major part in effective marketing. You have to map out the customer journey and chart their various touch points, so you can figure out in which way customers will behave, and that can tell you what content they are looking for and will respond to. Put this together with demographical information and customize the sales funnel based on the type of client or audience you have.
3. Test, retest and optimize
There is no ever-green email campaign. You have to test to see which email campaigns work, retest and keep optimizing. Use A/B testing campaigns to identify what works best and to refine your campaigns. Testing effectively will keep your strategies productive and fresh.
4. Don’t crowd or over-send to your customers
Obviously your clients and customers want to hear from you, but that doesn’t mean every day. Consistent email campaigns can boost your ROI if used responsibly. Don’t overkill it. Know that your customers don’t want to be overloaded with emails daily (unless they’ve opted into daily emails). Give them space to miss you. Have a defined schedule and stick to it.
5. Use automation sparingly
Email automation should be a part of your email strategy, but you should also send out other emails that aren’t part of your automated workflows or funnels. Mix things up a bit.
6. Remedy ‘opt out’ issues with a short pause
Sometimes people choose to opt out of a lot of different emails at once because they’re overwhelmed–but that doesn’t mean that they find all of the emails coming from different people to be of the same quality. When users ask to opt out, ask them if they would be interested in just pausing the emails or decreasing the frequency of emails. This way, you’ll still get through to subscribers without pestering them. It’s a win-win.
7. Optimize for mobile
Mobile devices are the main way people are accessing the internet, and some only exclusively through their mobile devices. Your emails better be optimized for mobile if you want them to succeed. Test for all devices so that no matter which device they use, it should automatically adjust to fit their screens. Optimizing for mobile is very easy and most mailing list providers offer mobile support.
Don’t be shy! Your clients and prospects want to stay connected to you, but you have to do it in a way that offers them something of value. Just follow these tips, stick to your plan and lay out your practices clearly, so you can increase your subscribe rates and keep people on your list for a long time to come.
Want help creating your email templates, workflows or content? Contact us today or order prepaid marketing support hours and we can start planning your email marketing strategy tomorrow!
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