What comes to mind when you think about email? Maybe a dusty desktop computer, the only way to get in touch with certain friends or family members, its purpose overshadowed by recent years of intense technological advancements and a heavy focus on social media marketing.
But here’s the thing. Email marketing is not a communication tool of the past. It’s actually super important for expanding your reach, producing new leads, engaging with current customers, and providing exceptional ROI. In fact, Hubspot found that “email generates $38 for every $1 spent, which is an outstanding 3,800% ROI, making it one of the most effective options available.”
Don’t twiddle your thumbs — now is the time to revamp your email marketing strategy so you can keep your business healthy and your clients and customers happy. Let’s talk about four of the most effective and efficient email marketing strategies.
1. Hyper-Personalization
“Happy Birthday, _______, here’s 20% off!” Maybe this type of email is familiar to you, and maybe it’s one you were excited to receive in your inbox. This is a prime example of personalized email marketing, and it’s a successful tactic. According to Experian, birthday emails are capable of generating roughly 342% more revenue per email than a promotional email. Add that to the “pros” list. While the ROI is crucial, equally important is developing a relationship with the receivers of your emails. Including personalization in your strategy humanizes your brand and increases the likelihood of your contacts engaging with your message.
On the flip side, the lack of personalization can reflect poorly on your company and make you seem out of touch and inaccessible. Also, non-personalization can lead to unsubscriptions, loss of credibility and customer loyalty, and unopened or automatically deleted emails.
As the sender, remember to show your personality! Don’t forget to stay true to your brand’s voice and tone. People trust people, and this trust can easily be developed by humanizing your company through your voice, message, and email design.
2. Incorporating AI
Although it may not be the easiest to understand, Artificial Intelligence continues to change the marketing industry. AI can boost your email marketing strategy by helping you identify the right content, reach the right people, and pinpoint the right time to send.
Figuring out the right content can be tricky, though. Behavior-based email automation, often triggered by shopping behavior for ecommerce companies, can help you continue the conversation with a contact, make your company seem helpful, and potentially lead them to a decision. Examples of these emails may include notifications that a recently viewed item is running low in stock, prompting the recipient to check out what other customers have said about a viewed product, or a reminder about a product still in their shopping cart.
Contact lists naturally decay over time, and any email marketer knows how important it is to sift through unsubscribed contacts, invalid email addresses, and contacts who haven’t opened an email in a certain amount of time. AI services are capable of processing large amounts of customer data and are an efficient way to clean mailing lists so you can minimize and maintain the drop-off between emails sent and emails successfully delivered.
As the sender, it can be difficult to know if you’re sending the right amount of emails at the right time. No one wants a cluttered inbox, and your contacts are more inclined to open an email if it has value to them. With the data-driven capabilities of AI, you can identify the right number of follow-up emails and optimize send times. This way, you can craft your email marketing strategy around real results.
3. Sharing User-Generated Content
Let your happy customers do the marketing for you! One great way to build customer trust is to promote positive reviews as well as photos of customers using the product or benefitting from the service. Adding photos of customers using the product make the product appear more real, usable, effective, and necessary.
If a contact is in the awareness or consideration stages of the buyer’s journey, including a preview of a positive review may stimulate the reader to click to read the full review — a crucial click that leads them to your website where they can find the information they are looking for in order to make a purchase decision.
User-generated content (UGC) is free, and implementing it across your communication channels engages your customers while streamlining your brand’s message and promoting a consistent brand image.
4. Experiment with Email Design
Email design can have a lasting impact on your contacts and can drive engagement. One example of a current email design trend is a minimalistic approach. This approach keeps your message clear, including a straightforward call-to-action and an overall uncluttered layout. Another example is using bold colors to get the viewer’s attention while keeping the focus on one or two images so as to not overwhelm the eye. Finally, optimization is absolutely critical to your design since mobile opens account for 46% of all email opens.
It’s worth spending time to create your email design to reflect your brand image and overall message. Consistency is the key to getting your message and CTA to your contacts clearly. A great way to experiment with your email design is to run an A/B test that focuses on one segment of your email design. Maybe it’s your subject line, copy, images, or layout, but remember to focus on one difference while running a test. Using test results to craft your email design keeps your audience reflected in your message and overall shows that they are valued by you.
Don’t know where to start? We do.
So now you know some of the best and most current email marketing strategies to expand your reach, increase engagement, and develop your brand’s competitive advantage. Despite the popularity of social media marketing and influencer marketing, your email marketing strategy is not to be overlooked — doing so could hurt your business in more ways than one. Now’s the time to spice up your strategy, and we can help you achieve your goal! Check out our email marketing services and reach out to us by filling out the contact form!
Erin Mahady
