According to McKinsey, email marketing is one of the most effective methods of customer acquisition. Here’s why: 91% of US consumers use email daily, 40% have more than one email account, and personal emails cut out the “noise” that’s popping up more often on social media feeds. I short, email marketing can be a personalize, direct line to a unique customer. So here are five ways to harness the power of email marketing for your business.
Design Custom Email Advertising
Print advertising is advantageous for brand recall. Customers see a print ad and, with advertising frequency, they’ll remember that brand when it’s time to buy. Email marketing is entirely different – it’s focused on action. Print is branding, email is action. So why are you using the same print creative designed for branding for your email advertising that’s designed for action? Email marketing lets customers click, buy, shop, sign up, register, share, like and donate instantly so create custom-made HTML emails that help you do just that! If you’re investing in designing strong print creative, then you should invest just as much into designing a custom-made email campaign.
Don’t Send Emails When No One’s Looking
You worked hard on coming up with a great original email (not a print ad) and an awesome call to action. Now, at 10 PM, you’re about to hit SEND. Wait, who’s checking their email at 10 PM? Some do, many don’t so why are you sending it now? Research when your customers check their emails, when they take action on your emails, and the days they prefer to receive emails about you. Here’s a clear example: don’t send an email out one hour before Shabbat but DO send an email out one hour after Shabbat, when everyone’s checking their phones & email.
Subject Lines Matter
Should we say “Free! Free! Free!” in the subject line or maybe “Special!!? Yes, your customers may be interested in that but they’ll never know about it… because your email went straight to spam.There are certain words, terms, numerics & symbols that may trigger spam filters in Gmail, Yahoo and AOL so you need to research what subject lines will help your email reach your intended destination – customer’s inboxes. Incorporate a sense of urgency as well without sounding too “spammy”. For example, massage the line such as “When You Buy One Pair of Tickets, You Get a Second Pair 100% Free!!!” into “Your Free Tickets”. See how different that line is? You got customers attention, they open the email to see if they won free tickets & they see how they can get free tickets. Don’t sell it all in the subject line; it’s meant to tease about the content of your email.
Don’t Do the Same Old, Same Old
Did you know that 41% of all emails are opened on mobile devices? Yet you’re still designing email campaigns for desktops. Mix it up! Still sending the same old content, same old deal, same old event? Mix it up! Send an email with different content, a unique event, a special sale. If customers know what you’re selling already, they have less incentive to open or click through your email. You should even consider selling less and informing more – 90% of consumers find unique content useful, which is why open and click through rates for newsletters, monthly bulletins, industry news and advice are higher than promotional emails.
Think Beyond the Click
Many people make the mistake of thinking it’s all about the click. The “click” isn’t a sale. The “click” is the first step in the decision-making process. The landing page after the click is more important. Think of the click as getting customers in the door; now you have show them a great in-store experience and valuable product line. Make your landing pages easy to navigate and focused on the sale. Customize your web landing pages to increase conversion rates. Pagemodo creates unique Facebook landing pages for your page that gets you the obviously intended Like but much, much more. Implement a 10-second pop-up on your website that can collect customer emails. Annoying? Maybe. Valuable? Definitely. Ensure your best products are right on the first page when customers click through your email, increasing chances of buying. When you think beyond the click, you’ll create a better experience at the best time – the time of purchase.
Email marketing is set to surpass $2.3 billion this year. It’s a smart investment when done right. So do it right with these seven tips.
Yitzie Hyman is the Director of Strategy at The Jewish Link of NJ and founder of Henry Isaacs Marketing, a marketing, design and digital ad agency specializing in Jewish & Kosher marketing. You can reach him at [email protected] or online at www.henryisaacs.net.
By Yitzie Hyman
