How To Make The Best Of Your First Email Campaign
Every successful digital marketing plan has email campaigns as a major component for communicating with existing and potential clients, as well as building brand loyalty. According to Forbes, companies who neglect to create an effective strategy to contact clients and potential customers via email risk losing a very significant portion of the market. If your company has decided to start sending out emails, how then can you get the maximum benefit out of your first campaign?
Set Your Goals and Priorities
The first question to ask is: What do you want to achieve? Defining goals at the beginning of any venture is the key to success. The popular quip “he who fails to plan, plans to fail” fits right in here. Before randomly sending an email to thousands of people, define what you want to achieve.
Goals for email campaigns should be tied to business goals or a larger picture that is of interest to you, the marketer. Even if you are an influencer, your email campaign goals must be structured to suit and eventually, achieve your overall goals.
SMART is the acronym to remember when setting goals. This means that goals must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound. An example of a goal that covers all parameters: To increase the number of subscribers on the email list by 10% within the next quarter. This goal is perfect because having an email list of customers who are interested in receiving updates from you!
Remember to document your goals!
Create A Contact List
Goals have been defined, the next question to answer is who do you want to reach? For a successful first email campaign, you need to build your email list of people you want to reach. The best way to start is to establish a list of existing contacts or customers. It is best to send marketing emails to customers who have consented to receive such messages. If there is a need to increase the number of contacts, start by setting up multiple calls-to-action (CTA) for permission-based marketing on your website. This means you give existing and/or potential customers to choose to opt-in to receive your emails. Social Media is also a good place to post links for customers to sign up.
Decide on what Email Marketing Service To Use
No one who is serious about email marketing uses regular, free email services to build campaigns. While they allow for simple communication of messages, they do not have the sophisticated tools that email marketing service providers offer. Also, most regular email services protect their users from spam and do not allow users to send messages to a lot of people at once.
Good email marketing service providers allow users to build compelling messages which can be sent as a mass email and to automate them so that they can be used for subscribers who join your contact list at different points in time. The professional nature of these services means you also get features to help keep track of the emails you send so that you can check to see who is opening your emails, as well as those who go beyond the opening to actually engaging with the contents of your emails.
Decide on What Type of Campaign to Design
Having decided what your marketing goals are and why you want to send out emails to your contacts, you have to decide on what form your campaign is going to take. If your goal is to keep in touch with your contacts, continually cultivating them until your messages, products, and website are a full part of their lives, then designing a campaign in the form of a monthly newsletter will be a good idea.
If your goal is to get customers to take a specific action like making a purchase or signing up for a program, then crafting a campaign in the form of a marketing offer with a solid call to action will work. For a brand that already has an engaging relationship with their contacts but wishes to tell them about a new feature or about an upcoming event, an announcement campaign is likely to get them interested enough about the new thing to visit your website and check it out.
Craft An Effective Campaign
Campaign types are numerous and you will have to choose one. Above all, however, your campaign must be designed effectively in order to achieve the desired goal you have in mind. The subject of the email should always be well thought out and optimized for length around 40 characters to ensure that it will be clicked. Experts advise that email subjects should be drafted as teasing questions or urgent invitations to encourage curiosity.
The message being sent must be clear and persuasive, making sure the reader understands exactly what is being offered, how it will be beneficial to the reader, and the necessary steps to take advantage of the offer.
After creating your campaign, ensure you preview it to be sure that the message is cohesive and that all links included are functional. The last thing you want is to send an error-ridden email to your contacts and there are ways to make sure you do not; correct any mistakes you can find, and then test the message by sending it to yourself or a colleague. Once you are sure that it is error-free, you can send off your campaign!
Assess Your Results
Having successfully designed and published your first email campaign, you may be tempted to jump straight into designing the next one. However, you will need to learn from the results of the first campaign so you know whether to send another email or how best to improve in the next one if you decide to. Your email marketing service provider will likely offer you the necessary tools to track the results of your campaign. Most providers offer reports that cover important metrics such as the number of people that open your email, how many addresses bounce your email for whatever reason, how many people read your email and then follow any of the links it provides, and even how many people that choose to unsubscribe from your contact list. Understanding these metrics gives you a framework by which to measure the effectiveness of your emails and to keep making them better.
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Email marketing is a necessary part of any online marketing campaign that has hopes of success. Follow the tips in this guide to make sure you send out the best possible campaigns that your contacts will connect with.