Email marketing strategy

Developing An Email Marketing Strategy That Really Works

Email marketing campaigns can produce great results, but only when planned properly. Blasting out emails to a random list of addresses simply isn’t going to be effective. After all, how often do you open every unsolicited email that lands in your inbox? The success of any email marketing strategy all depends on keeping the recipient’s finger away from the ‘delete’ key. Here are a few pointers on how to do that.

Who are you talking to?

There’s little point sending an email to someone who has no need or want for what you’re selling. That’s the fast track to the delete key and a waste of your marketing budget. Research your audience: find out who they are, what they want, how they want it and tailor your email marketing campaign to address the answers to those questions.

Research and relevance

Talking of research, that really is key when it comes to developing a successful email marketing campaign. What can you find out about your target audience through social networking platforms? How do they already interact with you? Look at gender, look at location, look at what keywords are driving them to your website – all this information can help you create content that’s relevant to them and encourage them to engage with you further.

Test your audience – in a nice way

Metrics are important too. Find out what works and what doesn’t by sending out different versions of emails to the same audience. Measure the results, adjust and try again (ad infinitum). The information you gain can be used to tailor (and improve) future campaigns.

Personalise your content

The subject line will have a huge impact on whether or not someone reads on. Make it count. When it comes to copy, keep it short and sweet. Focus on the benefit to the customer, make a clear Call to Action (CTA) and, where possible, personalise your communication. Research has shown that adding personalised recommendations can increase conversions by as much as 25%.

They were going to buy, so why didn’t they?

Customers will often abandon a purchase midway through check-out. Find out why. Is the check-out process too cumbersome? Perhaps the customer wasn’t completely convinced? In which case, a follow-up email might be enough to seal the deal. Failing that, offer an incentive, such as a discount on their next purchase.

Keep them coming back

Just because you’ve made a sale doesn’t mean it’s time to rest on your laurels. Quite the contrary! Now you’ve got that customer onboard, keep them there. Follow up with an email to make sure they’re happy with their purchase. Be consistent with your branding and you should stay out of the trash bin. If you don’t hear back from them, contact them again after a month, perhaps with a ‘loyal customer’ discount on further purchases. Of course, now you have them on your mailing list, you should also be sending them your regular newsletter.