Looking for email marketing tips? Email marketing may one of the oldest forms of digital marketing, but it’s also one of the most effective. Email is nearly 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter combined (McKinsey).
Of course, not all companies have enjoyed such success with email marketing, and many still wonder if it’s even worth doing at all. But in truth, there are countless simple email marketing tips that can help you attract new customers and grow your business.
In this article, we’ve gathered several simple email marketing tips to attract local customers.
If you want my team at Sachs Marketing Group to help manage your email marketing, click here.
Overview
Email Marketing Tips
Email marketing has been around since the early days of the internet. In fact, the first email was sent in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson, and it was a simple message to fellow computer scientists about a new computer system.
The first commercial email campaign was sent in 1978 by Digital Equipment Corporation, and it was a success. Digital Equipment Corporation sent out a total of 4,465 messages, and 2,300 people responded to the campaign.
Since then, email marketing has continued to grow in popularity. In fact, according to The Radicati Group, there were nearly 3.7 billion active email users worldwide in 2017. And that number is only expected to grow in the years to come.
So, how can email marketing work for your business?
Here are ten email marketing tips to help you get started.
1. Your Subject Line Is Key!
Email marketing is tricky, because you are trying to create an incentive to open a message your reader might not have an interest in opening at the time. It’s not like you’re reaching out to them to provide a tracking number for a recent purchase they’ve made – something they have a vested interest in knowing about.
No, you’re trying to reach out and make a connection with a reader in hopes of continuing your business relationship. That means having a value proposition. And in the best-case scenario, it means having a value proposition in the subject line of your email.
Related: What is an Email Drip Campaign (And Will it Attract More Customers)?
2. Address People Personally
Personalization goes a long way in email marketing. We’re not just talking about “Hi [user_name]”, but managing your email marketing campaigns so certain users are receiving certain types of emails, based on account settings, purchase history, and other information you’ve gathered.
This is where having user accounts on your website goes a long way – that type of first-party data can help you flesh out customer profiles, and target users with new product releases, wishlisted items, and recently browsed items. Think of the way Amazon sends you an email a few days after you went looking for a product but didn’t buy anything. They use data gathered in that session to recommend all the current best deals in the niche, in hopes of turning a lead into a sale.
As an added touch, use your own name when sending the email, rather than just the company name – especially if you’re a smaller company, to begin with.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to stay in touch with future customers after they’ve discovered your website.
- Chris Rice, Senior SEO Strategist
Most people know it wouldn’t make much sense to get an email from Bob Chapek himself telling them that their Disney+ subscription is running out; but if you’re a small business owner trying to write a follow-up for previous leads or past customers, using your first name in the sender field shows that you’ve taken the extra time out of your day-to-day to hear back from a customer.
3. Offer Limited Local Deals
Want to encourage local customers to come over physically to your store location? Use an in-mail bonus as incentive.
Maybe a significant discount – over 25 percent off the first purchase – if the email is presented at the point of sale, or a limited-edition item only available for pick-up at your local branch.
4. Stats Help
Numbers are eye-catching, provided they’re simple and bolded. Use them to make a point – such as illustrating that you’re celebrating a new company milestone of a million sales of your newest product with a huge sale on older items or write a heartfelt email to the reader thanking them for their purchases over the year, and illustrating how they’ve contributed to your business’ growth this past 2022 through a colorful infographic.
5. Short and Sweet
Whatever you do, don’t turn three emails into one. You might have a few good ideas for an email but consider making each idea the focus of its own message.
It’s popular to say that people have a limited attention span, but it might be more accurate to say that they’ve got an incredibly low tolerance for advertising. If you want to get your message out, try to crystallize your email into one relevant paragraph, with all the rest of the copy being little more than layout and design.
6. Use Your CTA Multiple Times
A good email has one call-to-action. But it can have that call-to-action repeated three, even four times – in the header, the footer, and twice in the copy. Use your judgment to determine what is and isn’t in poor taste, depending on what your chosen CTA is, and how your email’s layout works – but don’t shy away from making your CTA nicely visible in multiple key parts of the email.
Including CTAs in your messages can have a profound impact on the way your email marketing fuels your inbound strategy.
7. Test Your Emails
There’s nothing more embarrassing than sending an email with a faulty script or function, a broken link, a broken graphic, or a massive typo – especially when you’ve gone and sent it to thousands of potential leads!
Not only does that tarnish your reputation a little, but it’s very suspicious. People have grown accustomed to assuming that spelling mistakes mean spam.
8. Does Your Email Have Value?
Good copy, a catchy subject line, and a pleasant layout are all important for good email marketing. But will your reader regret opening this message? Is there anything of actual value worth their time? Readers aren’t interested in hearing about your company’s milestones if it doesn’t mean anything to them – i.e., if it doesn’t result in a direct benefit for them. Always make sure your emails offer something of value, whether it’s a chance at a promo code or news of a new product.
9. Talk Benefits, Not Features
It’s a simple mistake to make, and one marketers and copywriters make far too often; when discussing a new product or service, talk first and foremost about what it means for the customer, not just what’s under the hood.
Don’t write about a running shoe that’s half an ounce lighter than the competition – write about a shoe that’ll help the reader cut their mile times by a solid minute. This is why stats matter – having that data on hand can give you an immediate list of benefits for the reader to chew on, and single out the one that you think will resonate the most with your audience.
10. Always Be A/B Testing
Last but not least, use A/B testing to figure out what type of copy and content style resonates best with your users and target audience. Use a few different subject lines and see which resulted in the most clicks to your landing page or product page.
Data is valuable. Information is key if you want to improve your marketing campaigns and get an even greater return on your investment.
Conclusion
Email marketing is a powerful tool that can help reach more local customers and grow your business. One of the key benefits of email marketing is the direct connection. There is far less competition in your customers’ email inboxes than in their social media feeds, which means you have a better chance of actually reaching your target customer with your message.
In addition, you can use email marketing to track your results and optimize your campaigns based on data. With the right tools, you can easily segment your list and target specific customers with tailored messages or promotions.
Overall, if you want to grow your business in today’s crowded digital landscape, email marketing is an essential tool that should not be overlooked.
How are you using email marketing to grow your business?
