Winning at email marketing - part two
Do you still need convincing about email marketing? Even though it has one of the best ROIs of any marketing activity, are you still in the ‘it doesn’t work for me’ camp?
We are big fans of email marketing at Livewire. You might have seen our recent blog, ‘Winning at Email Marketing’ – it was packed with stats about email marketing and tips to make sure your emails give you the best return possible.
Recapping email marketing tips
It’s worth us recapping the previously shared tips for effective email marketing, taken from real-life examples of our clients and within our business. Remember:
- Welcome emails are a must
- Send your emails like clockwork
- Know your measurements
These points are the tip of the iceberg. They are a fantastic starting point for your email marketing strategy, but to really leverage those results, there are more actions you can employ.
Personalise your emails
Have you ever had one of those sales calls where someone uses your name too much? It’s a bit creepy, isn’t it? And it’s a transparent sales tactic. However, used in moderation, dropping the recipient’s name in can significantly boost your conversion results.
At a basic level, personalise the ‘To’ field in your email. This is typically done in the settings for each campaign. Then you can introduce some personal information throughout the email – although beware of overusing names!
Clean up your data
If you’re not sure your data is in good enough shape to personalise your emails, clean it up. Give it a good spring clean anyway. The better your data is, the better your results. Otherwise, every email campaign is the equivalent of throwing mud at a wall and hoping some sticks. Whereas targeted emails heading to clean data is almost guaranteed a bullseye.
Tag your contacts
Segment your data where you can. How you approach this will vary according to your industry sector. For example, our football club client has contacts tagged by their ticket type or whether they’ve attended specific events. For recruitment customers, their connections are tagged by whether they are a candidate or client or by relevant sector or job role.
This allows you to target specific groups of people or tailor your emails according to each tag. Better targeting and personalisation = better results.
Have clear call to actions… but not too many!
You want the recipient to do something when you send your email marketing campaigns. You want them to read your email and take action. It may be registering for a webinar, signing up for an event, or buying your product or service. Think clearly about what action you want the recipient to take and make it easy for them to do so. Have clearly marked hyperlinks or buttons with clear, quick actions like ‘buy now’ or ‘learn more’.
Calls to action are vital but don’t have too many in your email. We are all short on time, so a lengthy email with multiple calls to action will miss the mark. Stick to two or three clear actions per email, maximum.
Test your emails (on phone and desktop)
Your email campaign is ready. You’ve proofread it, and it seems good to go. Make sure you send a test first, however. Check the test email in your inbox and on your phone to check how it displays. Then double-check your links to make sure they go to the correct place.
Finally, forward the test email to a trusted friend or colleague – extra eyes to proofread and check links are always helpful.
Hit send and step away
No matter how many email campaigns you send, you will never escape the fear when you hit ‘send’. Trust us; we’ve been working on email marketing campaigns for years, and we still get a bit of a flutter every time we hit that send button!
Once you’ve sent your campaign, especially if you don’t send them very often, it can be tempting to fixate on watching your results and keep a close eye on who’s opening the email and clicking your links. Step away from the dashboard.
Let your email reach people’s inboxes, give them a chance to open it and give yourself a break. Most of your clicks and opens will come within the first 24 – 48 hours.
After 48 hours, you can view and even extract the results of your email campaign and follow up if necessary.
Finally, think about email sequences
This is taking your email marketing a step up. Once you’re comfortable sending campaigns regularly, think about how you can use email sequences or trigger campaigns.
Essentially this is tailoring your next email marketing campaign based on the actions and impact of the first campaign. Sounds complicated? It’s not, and we can help.
As always, contact the Livewire team if you need support with your email marketing.
