Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing strategies that are out there. It is the third most effective strategy after social media and blogs. Email marketing is essentially promoting products and services by sending emails to prospects. Many people might think that who reads emails in this day and age. But they will be shocked if they look at the actual statistics. The most important reason for using this strategy is because there are more than 3.9 billion people in the world who are using email. More than 293 billion emails are exchanged every day. Just looking at these numbers one can understand the various opportunities to reach potential customers. In fact, email marketing is one of the favorite marketing strategies of marketers. Maybe that’s why nearly 87% of the marketers use it.
But the problem is creating emails for each and every customer. Even if you have a few hundreds of customers it is very difficult to create emails for each one of them. All these emails are not the same by the way. You have to create every email according to the time and customer. One has to send emails related only about particular products or services to a specific customer otherwise it will not yield any results. So the best thing that you can do to save yourself from all the trouble is email automation. If you do this then you don’t have to create the same type of emails for sending them to various customers. Once you automate your email marketing the emails will be automatically sent when a customer meets a certain trigger.
There are a few things you have to keep in mind before email marketing automation. Here are a few things that will help you in your email marketing campaign.
Segmentation
If you want your email marketing campaign to be effective then you must know what kind of emails you should send. You must understand that not all of your customers are the same. So there is no point in sending the same type of mail to everyone. You must identify the different types of customers you have and segment them into various groups. Based on this segmentation you can send different types of emails to different groups. In this way, you can make sure that the email is relevant to the customers.
Collecting important data
You must understand your customers first. Only then you will be able to send the emails that they will read. Understanding your customers will help you in responding to them in a better way. If you know how they navigate your website then it will be easier to guide them to perform certain actions. You need accurate tracking if you want your responses to be better. Use web tracking to see the activities of your users in real-time. This will give you an idea about what the user likes. Suppose if the user is someone who is into shoes then you can send him emails that are related to cool shoe brands or latest shoe models.
Relevant content
There is no need to emphasize how important the role of content is when it comes to email marketing. The content in the email must be relevant to the customer otherwise they are not going to open it. Not only that but you should also take care that you don’t send too many emails that are not relevant to your customers. This will annoy them and they might probably block. An effective email is the one that is personal and has high-quality content in it. So test to know the kind of emails that your customers like. This will help you in creating emails that have a high click-through rate.
Welcome emails
This is very important if you want to run a successful email marketing campaign. You must send an email to your customers when they sign up. Almost all the customers would like to see a welcome email from the company they just signed up. This will assure customers that your company actually cares about them. In fact, welcome emails have one of the highest open rates with an average of 82%. You can add the information in that email that will guide them effectively through your site.
A compelling call to action
Just sending emails to your customers will not yield you results. You must ask them to perform the action the time they read the email. For example, if you send them an email about a product discount it may not yield any result if it doesn’t have a call to action button. Customers might forget about it after some time. But if you add a call to action button that will tell them to hurry so that they don’t miss the offer then they are most likely to make a purchase. So make sure you include a compelling call to action button the next time you send email.
Personalized emails
Most of the small and medium-sized businesses rely on email marketing strategies to increase their sales. Sending personalized emails will help these or any kind of business to retain customers. Personalized emails are seen as a sign of good customer service. Customer service is the most important thing in business. If you offer great customer service then you will have a loyal customer base. Send personalized emails to your customers when they buy something or when there is a new product that they may like. You can send them an email on their birthdays to show how much you value them.
Cart recovery emails
These emails are sent to the customers when they add products to their cart but do not buy them. There are lots of reasons for that. Sometimes they even forget that they have added something to the cart they wanted to buy. In such cases, you cannot miss the opportunity to make them purchase those products. So send emails that will inform them that they have added some products to their cart. Also, include a call to action button and ask them to make the purchase.
Interact with your customers
Interacting with your customers will help you in building a strong relationship with them. Asking them about what kind of products they want to get notified will help you in creating emails for specific types of customers. Don’t always send them emails about different kinds of products, ask them questions. Send them emails with three options of jeans and ask them which one they like. You can even add videos to your emails to make them even more interactive. This will make the customers appreciate your efforts and services more which will compel them to buy from you.
Focus more on customers after their first purchase
The main goal of the email marketing strategy is to retain customers. Your business will only be successful if you can get people to buy from you again and again. Besides, it is actually easier and cheaper to retain a customer than getting a new one. If a customer made a purchase then it is very likely that he will make another purchase. So you must do everything in your power to make them purchase for the second time. Send them personalized emails offering great discounts to retain them. In this way, emails can help you build a strong and loyal customer base.
Conclusion
Email marketing is not only one of the easiest but also one of the most effective ways to increase sales. This strategy is highly cost-effective and the return on investment is very high. For every dollar you spend, email marketing will earn you nearly $40. Email marketing has shown an 80% retention rate for small businesses. So this is a strategy you don’t want to miss. Email automation will make this process effortless. Don’t hesitate to send personalized emails because the customers actually like to see promotional emails.
