Email Marketing Tips

Are you collecting emails yet? If not, you should be; email marketing has one of the best ROI’s in all of digital marketing, with an average of $42 returned for every dollar spent. Often overlooked by beginners, you should prep yourself for email marketing as soon as you are able.

Every time I launch a new site, I start collecting emails immediately – even if I don’t intend to run campaigns straight away. It is better to build a list of subscribers and not need them, than realise you’ve missed a huge opportunity and try to build your subscribers down the line.

The best time to build your email list was when you went live, the second-best time is now. If you are unsure of how to go about building a list, and what to do when you have one; please see the below email marketing tips to get you started on the right path.

1. Build Your List

I know I have just said is, but this point can’t be overstated. Collecting user data from the get-go will save you several headaches down the road, and you will be able to campaign immediately when you have the right offer.

With that being said, do not buy lists, you may have heard of someone who has had success with an email list they have bought – but it is usually more trouble than it is worth. Not only can is be damaging to your reputation, the subjects are often uninterested, and you are likely in breach of the CAN-SPAM act; resulting in heavy fines.

You should always ensure you follow email marketing best practices throughout each campaign to avoid unethical marketing.

2. Personalize Your Email Content

Most email management tools will allow you to use short code in mail merges to personalize elements of your email. Addressing people by their first name helps promote brand trust and customer relationships, as well as boosting improved email open rate and click through.

You can also segment your subscriber list into smaller, more targeted lists. Segmentation can be divided by any variables that you happen to know about your audience – gender, age range, interests, location, etc. 

Data like this is usually curated through surveys, or through observing user behaviour – for example; you run an online sports store and one of your customers buys a lot of golf gear, you can now segment this user into a golf list and ensure you only market products to his inbox that are relevant to his interests.

This is a sure-fire way to boost engagement and improve conversion rates.

3. Use Email Templates & Great Copy

Email templates are an excellent way to create a professional look with little to no extra effort. Many mail management tools and software’s have premade templates available, and with a little tweaking you can have them on-brand in no time.

Once a user has opened your email, you want to keep them engaged, long enough to convince them to take the desired action. Keep paragraphs short and consider using bulleted lists to break up chunks of content.

Try to limit the amount of images you use, and only use them as necessary – too many images can clutter the screen and, more importantly, they can be seen as spammy by email service providers and get redirected straight into the spam folder.

Make sure any CTA’s are easily visible and placed where appropriate – there is something off-putting about being sold to almost immediately, offer some value and insight to the reader first.

4. Optimize Your Emails for Mobile

Roughly 66% of all emails are viewed on a mobile device, you can have the greatest copy on the planet, promoting the best offers – if it is poorly optimized for mobile it won’t convert.

5. Test & Optimize

Always split test your campaigns, by trying different combinations of copy, subject line, images, CTA’s, and templates you can gather data on what works and what doesn’t. From there you can optimize your emails for maximum results.

I hope you have gained some insight from this article, and if you are considering email marketing for your campaigns, the best time to start is now. The longer you live it, the more you will regret not starting sooner – start boosting your marketing performance today.