You may be wondering why I am writing a blog about email marketing when I work at an agency that specialises in SEO and PPC Advertising, am I right?
Well, in my opinion, all these digital marketing channels complement each other. Let me explain why.
Before I start, I want to say that this is just one journey that your customer could take.
Let me set the scene. I’m catching up on Married at First Sight Australia on Sunday (how awful is Ines?!). I check my phone and I have received an email from a clothing company.
Ooo a discount, I love it. I browse their products but it’s not payday for a couple of days. So, I continue watching ex virgin Matthew get scared of his wife’s latest revelations.
It’s now Tuesday and I have just been paid. I’m scrolling through Facebook and what pops up. THOSE PRODUCTS I WAS LOOKING AT ON SUNDAY! The internet is a clever place. I go on to purchasing those products from that Facebook Ad.
Even though I didn’t buy straight away from that email campaign, it provided the company data about what products I am interested in. Win-win for all?
Email marketing is a powerful channel that allows you to build relationships with your customers. Experiment with your emails, use the data to your advantage and find out what works.
Time to delve into the tips.
1. Create a welcome series on a mission, to convert that subscriber to a loyal customer
You wouldn’t start a relationship with someone without knowing something about them, would you? The welcome series is the foundation for a long term shopping romance between you and your customer.
The perfect welcome series starts a relationship with your subscriber, showcasing the best of your business and what they can expect from you.
Typically three emails long, this sequence has no promotions or hard-selling involved. Going in too salesy too fast can lead your subscribers to that button. You know, the one that keeps you up at night with sweat pouring down your face, that unsubscribe button.
In your welcome series share your business’ story. Started in your mum’s spare bedroom? Fantastic. Stayed true to your heritage? Perfect. Tell your subscribers your unique selling point, your passion and your mission.
Use your welcome emails to showcase your best content. Got a famous blog page, a podcast or exceptional reviews? Send them there. This increases their trust and the credibility of your brand, increasing the likelihood of turning your subscribers into a long term loyal customer. Which is key to the success of your online business.
2. %insert personalised messaging% or {{endupdeleted}}
Personalised messaging has the potential to transform your open and click-through rate. However, done wrong, it will leave you and your customers looking like this.
They stand out in your customers’ inbox and get the right content to the person at just the right time.
The most basic and quickest way to personalise your communications is putting your customer’s name in the email and/or subject line. However, if you don’t write the tag correctly it can look like this:
Ouch. Awkward moment for all…
If this is a one-off mistake and you already have a good relationship with your customers, this can be forgiven. After all, marketers are human. However, if this is a regular occurrence or happened in the first email, it could leave a subscriber to disengage.
Now it’s time to master the juicy stuff. The personalisation that has a profound effect on sales. Product personalisation.
The amount of data that an online website provides is sensational. That’s one of the beauty of email marketing, that data is yours, for you to analyse to your advantage.
If you notice one customer consistently buying dresses then send them emails full of beautiful dresses, while they are in a shopping euphoria.
Segmentation and personalisation go hand in hand and we will delve into that topic later on in the blog.
3. If you don’t read this your email marketing campaigns will fail – an engaging subject line
Do you ever have the urge to write, “please open this email, I spent so much of my valuable time making sure it was full of valuable information and personalised products”? No? Me neither…
The subject line is one of the most important stages of a successful email marketing campaign.
You need to GRAB their attention. Tease them to read more. BUY MY PRODUCTS PLEASE. Jesus, calm down Carrianne.
If your subject line is boring, not personalised or not even relevant, maybe it’s time for a career change.
In all seriousness, I know that I get hundreds of promotional emails every single day and I click on about 2% of them. What grabs my attention? Promotions, new products and copy that evokes emotion.
The key is experimentation. Your contact list has signed up for a reason, so make sure you understand that and use it to make your emails build a relationship and address their pain points.
4. Check your links!
I get it, you are busy. But not checking that your links go to the right products will leave you red in the face. Imagine, you have done the hard work, got the subject line that your customers have to click on, created beautiful designs and personalised products but then the link doesn’t work.
My thoughts exactly.
Spending that extra five minutes checking the links, not only saves you the embarrassment but also the time. Nobody wants to send an apology email with the correct links, do they?!
5. Did you forget something? Abandoned cart emails
Go grab a coffee, you deserve a break. Oh wait, that’s what got your customers into this mess. Once your customer has put a product in their basket, this shows you that their purchase intent is high.
BUT why didn’t they purchase you ask yourself?
People don’t complete the last step for several reasons:
- Poor checkout process – it’s too long-winded. One-click checkout please!
- Expensive delivery, £6 for delivery? I don’t think so! Why not set up unlimited next day delivery for a set price? That keeps me coming back, *cough, ASOS, cough*
- Changed their mind, it happens.
- Something happened. Their phone rang, tea was cooked or they grabbed a drink and simply forgot
Above are just some examples of the reasons why people don’t complete a purchase but there are more.
An abandoned cart email campaign reminds your customers of the products that they showed a genuine interest in. Hopefully, giving them the last push they need to purchase your products.
6. Split test
No, I am not asking you to do the splits, that would be silly. Experiment, experiment, experiment, that is the key to being a great marketer.
Create your email and do an AB split test. This is where you send out the same email twice but only change one thing. For example, the subject line or the personalisation. It allows you to collate data of what drives results in your campaigns to win those sales.
7. Set up a referral program
I could shout about how good our PPC and SEO services are until I am blue. But would you believe me?
Maybe. However, if your friend from the pub told you how our services increased his business’ sales you would believe him and be more tempted to work with us.
This is how referral programs work. You give a customer who has purchased from you an incentive (e.g. 20% off) to refer your business to a friend by providing a unique code through an email.
This increases your chances of getting more customers and increasing your sales.
8. Promotional offer emails
Bart Simpson, you are not wrong.
Everyone loves a promotion. Back in the day, promotions only happened during festive times or to sell out of last season’s stock. How things have changed. It seems that some brands have promotions ingrained into their business model. There doesn’t seem to be a week where someone isn’t having a sale.
With the emergence of recognition loyalty, promotions have evolved. Companies are offering discounts to loyal customers to keep their custom in a fiercely competitive online marketplace.
While this is great for accelerating sales in the short term, it doesn’t come without long term risks. Customers start to expect a discount and therefore never purchase your product full price.
Whenever you decide to have a promotion, send it to all of your email lists. Put the discount in the subject line to increase the likelihood of them opening the email. Why not even add some scarcity? 20% off for 24 hours only, go go go!
9. Segmentation
Segmentation allows you to send tailored emails based on your customers’ behaviour, demographics and interests. They are informed about the products that interest them. Not only does this increase their experience with your brand but increases the likelihood of them buying.
Simply add tags to their email. For example, we would tag someone who attended an SEO webinar with the tag “SEO” and then send them content, updates and guides about all things SEO.
It means that they don’t get spammed full of emails with things that aren’t relevant to them, creating a more engaged contact.
10. Automation
Interesting fact alert. Before I started in the real world of marketing, I didn’t realise automation and sequences existed. I actually thought that someone had just written that email just before they clicked send. How naive was I?!
Automate every email you can. While it is a hefty task to begin with, it saves valuable time in the long run. First start with your welcome series, abandoned cart emails and upsell and cross-sell emails too.
Find out more about automating your email marketing sequences by reading Active campaigns blog here.
Since you have made it this far. Here is a sneaky extra email marketing tip,
11. Ask for reviews
Reviews are the online equivalent of word of mouth marketing. Arguably one of the most effective forms of marketing. Get your customers to leave reviews. This shows potential customers that they can trust you and can help to know more about things like, what size to order.
Send an email a day after someone has purchased your product and link them to where they can leave a review. You could always offer an incentive, for example, leave a review for 10% off your next order.
Subscribe to our eCommerce podcast to be alerted when our episode with Monique Lebedew, Customer Training Specialist at Active Campaign, is live.
Find out how to uncover hidden revenue with email marketing by listening to Emily McGuire’s podcast here.
