5 Considerations for Your Email Marketing Strategy
According to Content Marketing Institute, email newsletters came in second place this year as the top content being developed for B2B and B2C companies. That’s up one spot compared to last year’s research, meaning that email marketing is more popular than ever.
Email is a fairly easy way to stay connected to your audience, but there should always be a strategy behind the content you’re putting out into the universe. Questions you should be asking as you develop this content should include: who is my audience? Why will they care about this? What’s the goal of this email? Where will the email take readers when they’ve finished reading?
And of course, you should absolutely be tracking your email marketing efforts. Metrics to consider should include open rate, meaning the percentage of people who actually opened the email (a catchy subject line can help immensely); the click-through rate (CTR) of people who actually clicked the link in the email; conversion rate, meaning the people who not only clicked the link but took a specific action afterward; and the bounce rate—the number of subscriber email addresses who didn’t receive your email (and should be taken off your list).
- Personalize your content. Go the extra mile with your content by personalizing it for each individualized reader. This way, the content is guaranteed to be relevant to the person reading. A great example of this is Spotify’s “Year in Review” in which they send all users a breakdown of their top artists and songs for the previous year. While this takes a lot of effort, an easier way you can get more personal is to address each recipient by name in your emails.
- Make your emails more dynamic. Think of this as giving your readers more of a visual experience vs. overwhelming this with text. Images and videos in the email are increasing in popularity. If you have a visual element, less text is more. This is especially great for industries such as travel and hospitality so that readers can actually picture where they could go. Same with retail and getting a closer look at a specific product.
- The future is automation. More and more brands are turning to automation to stay in touch with their customers. This is typically seen in the form of a follow-up email after a user already takes action but doesn’t follow through. What may seem annoying to some can actually be just the reminder someone else needs to buy those shoes they were eyeing and forgot about. In fact, according to Omnisend, automated emails attracted 29% of email orders last year.
- Be more meaningful. Your audience doesn’t want to be sold time and again. When developing email content, start thinking less salesy and more meaningful-y. For example, that new program you launched sounds great, but why did you create it? What good will come out of it for your community? It’s the greater meaning and the “doing good” that resonates with consumers the most.
- Partner with email marketing experts. It is the year of email marketing, so why not move full speed ahead? Whether you choose to work with a new email marketing platform or an agency that helps you write and execute your email campaigns, it’s never a bad idea to have extra help for something that could help drive your sales immensely.
When you’re looking for the right partner or simply some guidance on your next email campaign, we’ll be around. Shoot us a note at info@c-leveled.com.
