Email marketing continues to be a tool, in the marketing realm for engaging with your audience and boosting conversions. With open rates hovering around 20% and click-through rates typically ranging from 2 to 3% email still surpasses media platforms in grabbing attention and delivering outcomes.
Moreover, email proves to be an investment yielding an average of $42 for every $1 spent on marketing. This amount is four times greater than marketing channels such as media, direct mail, and paid search. Moreover, the vast number of emails exchanged daily surpasses 306 billion indicating that both individuals and businesses still heavily rely on email communication.
This comprehensive guide will provide you with all the information needed to create email marketing campaigns that produce outcomes this year. From developing a high-quality subscriber list to crafting engaging content and evaluating performance we will delve into email marketing from start to finish offering advice, for achieving success.
Why Email Marketing Still Matters
Given the rise of digital platforms like social media, messaging apps and more, some marketers wonder if email marketing is still a relevant strategy in today’s day and age. However, a deep look at key statistics makes it abundantly clear that email is not only here to stay, but remains one of the most effective digital marketing channels for engaging audiences.
Let’s look at some of the data:
- Over 4.1 billion people worldwide actively use email today. This massive number shows just how ubiquitous email remains as a communication tool. It far surpasses the number of active users on any social media platform.
- 306.4 billion emails are sent and received globally each and every day. That’s over 100 trillion emails per year! From professional communications to personal conversations and everything in between, email gets used constantly.
- Email boasts an average return on investment of $42 for every $1 a business spends on email marketing. This stellar ROI is higher than other marketing channels like social media ads ($5), direct mail ($12) and paid search ($15).
- 91% of consumers check their email inbox on a daily basis, making it a vital touchpoint channel. 53% view email as very important for interacting with brands.
- Email drives more revenue for companies than Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn combined. While social media has its place, email still dominates when it comes to dollars and cents.
Looking at these stats, the case is clear – email marketing remains one of the most relevant and high-performing digital marketing channels. It simply works. When leveraged effectively with thoughtful strategy and quality content, email continues to outperform other online platforms. Any modern marketer should have email in their mix.
Building Your Email List
The foundation of any successful email marketing strategy is building a robust, engaged email subscriber list. Without quality leads to market to, your incredible email campaigns will fall flat.
Here are some of the most effective tactics and strategies for growing your email list over time:
Offer Lead Magnets
One of the best ways to capture email addresses is by creating lead magnets – these are free offers that provide value to your audience in exchange for their contact information. For example, you could offer a free eBook, checklist, guide, toolkit, template, or other “bite-sized” content in exchange for an email signup. This content should closely align with your industry and products.
Gate Certain Content and Resources
Consider gating some of your best blog posts, guides, webinars, whitepapers, and other premium content behind an email signup form. For instance, you may gate a comprehensive market research report or an expert interview transcript so visitors have to submit their email to access it. This can capture highly qualified leads.
Promote Signup Forms Across Your Website
Place email signup forms and popups prominently on high-traffic pages and key conversion points on your website, such as your homepage, contact page, blog, pricing pages, etc. Ensure they are easily visible and hard to miss.
Run Contests, Giveaways and Sweepstakes
Encourage visitors to enter contests, giveaways or sweepstakes by requiring an email address for participation. For example, you could run a contest to win your product for subscribers.
Leverage Exit-Intent Popups and Slide-ins
Use exit-intent popups and slide-ins that engage visitors when they are about to leave your site and capture email addresses. Time these appropriately to increase signups.
Promote Your Forms on Social Media
Leverage your social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. to promote lead magnets and drive traffic to landing pages with email signup forms. Run social contests, too.
Offer Discounts or Deals for Subscribers
Consider offering discounts, exclusive sales, early access to products, and other special deals and offers solely for those who subscribe to your email list. This provides incentive to sign up.
Send Confirmation Emails
Always send confirmation emails when users sign up asking them to confirm their subscription. This verifies the lead and prevents fake signups.
The larger your high-quality email list, the greater your marketing potential. Continually find ways to grow your subscriber base.
Write Clear, Benefit-Focused Subject Lines
The subject line is the first impression your email makes, so ensure yours captures attention. Keep them short, benefit-focused, and highlight the value proposition of your content. Avoid vague subjects that will blend in.
Personalize the “From” Name
Avoid sending emails with a generic name like “Company Newsletter”. Use a real human name, when possible, to build familiarity. First names with the company name work well.
Summarize the Content in the Preheader
The preheader text contains a summary visible on most email clients. Use this space to highlight key benefits, preview content, and entice opens.
Structure Your Content with Headers
Break up blocks of text with descriptive headers and sub headers. Use bullet points and numbered lists to make content easy to skim.
Include Relevant Images, Graphics and Visuals
Insert images, screenshots, gifs, graphs, and other visual content to make your emails more engaging and interesting for the reader. Ensure images are optimized for different email clients.
Link to Specific Landing Pages
When including links within your email, drive traffic to targeted landing pages that align with the offer rather than generic home pages.
Close with a Clear Call-to-Action
End each email with a strong, benefit-driven call to action that tells the reader exactly what you want them to do next.
Establish Your Voice and Tone
Craft emails that align with your brand’s voice – whether that’s funny, informal, warm, educational, etc.
Getting these email content basics right is crucial. Continually test and optimize different elements like subject lines, content, designs, and calls to action to boost performance.
Email Marketing Strategies and Best Practices
Let’s explore some of the top email marketing strategies and best practices to boost your results:
Send Emails Consistently
Set up a consistent email marketing cadence rather than just sending one-off blasts. Sending on a weekly or monthly basis keeps you top of mind. Nurture new subscribers with a welcome series.
Make Mobile Optimization a Top Priority
With the majority of emails now opened on mobile, optimize every aspect for smaller screens. Check templates on mobile and test different calls to action.
Leverage Segmentation and Personalization
Slice your list into targeted segments, then customize content with merge tags, personalized subject lines, and more to speak directly to each subscriber.
Automate Campaigns When Possible
Use automation tools to set up workflows like welcome sequences, cart abandonment flows, re-engagement streams for inactive users, and more.
Always A/B Test Your Emails
Continually test different subject lines, content formats, designs, and calls to action and send times to see what resonates best with your audience.
Track Opens and Clicks
Use open and click-through tracking to monitor engagement. See which messages and links resonate and which don’t.
Ensure Compliance with Anti-Spam Laws
Understand and closely follow CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and other email regulations to avoid deliverability issues or penalties.
Focus on Providing Value
Only send emails that truly benefit your subscriber with relevant information. Avoid spammy sales pitches and over-promotion.
Monitor Performance Metrics
Track open rate, CTR, conversions, list growth, and other KPIs to continually refine your approach for better results.
Apply these proven email marketing strategies and best practices to boost engagement, open rates, clicks, and conversions.
Key Email Marketing Metrics to Track
To run a successful email marketing program, you need to closely monitor performance by tracking a range of metrics. This data will reveal what’s working well and what needs improvement.
Open Rates
Open rate shows the percentage of your emails that were opened by subscribers. This metric indicates how well your subject lines and sender names encourage opening. Benchmark against your industry average. Look at variability across segments and campaigns.
Click-Through Rates (CTRs)
Click-through rate reveals how many people clicked links or buttons within your emails. It sheds light on engagement levels for content, offers, and calls-to-action. Break this down across links, email types, and segments.
Conversion Rates
What percentage of recipients completed your desired action, like making a purchase or downloading content? Conversion rate is a key indicator of email effectiveness. Monitor over time.
Bounce Rates
Bounce rate is the percentage of emails that failed to deliver due to invalid addresses. High bounce rates signal list quality issues or deliverability problems you need to address.
Unsubscribe Rates
The unsubscribe rate shows how many recipients opted out of your emails. Keep this low by carefully managing your list and only sending relevant, valuable content.
Net List Growth Rates
Is your email list steadily growing? List growth correlates closely to revenue potential. Benchmark month-over-month expansion rates.
Engagement by Segment
Compare open and click-through rates across demographic segments like age, gender, and location. Use this to fine-tune messaging to each group.
Continually analyze this data to optimize your approach. Email analytics tools make this easy.
The Future of Email Marketing
While the fundamental principles and strategies of effective email marketing remain largely unchanged, the tactics and capabilities continue to evolve. As you look ahead to improve your email marketing results in 2024 and beyond, keep these likely trends in mind:
More Personalized and Targeted Content
Look for more advanced personalization in email content using merge tags, segmentation, dynamic content, and AI-driven individualization. Subject lines, content, offers, and messaging will become hyper-customized.
Increase in Interactive Content
Expect to see greater usage of interactive content within emails like assessments, polls, surveys, quizzes, calculators, and other engaging formats that elicit responses.
More Video Emails
Video emails will gain traction, especially for promotions, announcements, and storytelling. Ensure your emails and landing pages are optimized for video.
Tighter Integration of Email and SMS
SMS messaging will integrate more tightly with email for unified campaigns. Consider an SMS follow-up to emails to boost engagement.
Delivery Based More on Engagement
Rather than just contacts, deliverability may rely more heavily on engagement signals like opens, clicks, and interactions. Inactive subscribers may see reduced delivery.
Focus on Privacy and Consent
There will be an increased emphasis on transparent consent, granular preference management, and the right to be forgotten to align with privacy regulations.
Priority on Relevant, Valuable Content
More than ever before, only send content that provides true value to subscribers to produce optimal results and increase trust.
The future remains bright for email marketing. Treat your audience with respect and maintain relevance as trends come and go. With this approach, email will continue to convert.
