Have you ever gone into a store looking for something and left empty-handed because you were overwhelmed by the options? Or that time when you’re seeking something specific and leaving with bags full of random items you don’t need or even desire, leaving you with a sinking sensation that makes you reluctant to shop there again?
Customers today are inundated with choice. And while this may appear to be a good thing, it can be fatal for the business. Cart abandonment rates in the eCommerce business can reach 70% since it’s simply too difficult to decide with all the noise coming from competitive emails and distracting pop-ups.
When countless businesses are competing to steal your few seconds of audience’s attention, you must discover ways to overcome information overload to become a winner as often as possible. Email marketing can help you save the day in this situation.
Although email marketing is a common strategy, not everyone is using it correctly. If you can figure out how to harness its power, you can increase your sales. Here are some tips for leveraging email marketing for your business:
1. Build an email list that is relevant to your business
Comprehensive and authentic email lists don’t appear overnight. They must be meticulously curated over months or even years of work. And, with over 14 million spam emails being filtered out every day, sending generic messages to everyone with an inbox can be ineffective, if not disastrous.
While putting together a genuine email list seems tiresome at first, this article will lead you through all of the processes necessary to grow your email list. To get you started, here are a few highlights:
Segmented pop-ups
Pop-up forms, a tried-and-true method of growing an email list, can boost your list’s growth rate by 50%. Yet, segmented campaigns have a 14.37 percent higher open rate and 100 percent more clicks. You can limit your focus and send emails to certain groups within your email marketing list by segmenting your list. This will make your campaigns more relevant to your recipients. And relevant campaigns, obviously, earn greater results.
You can create a simple and unobtrusive pop-up to encourage new users to sign up. It will sweeten the deal by offering a discount in addition to its existing sale. In this campaign, if you segmented customers well, it would show the pop-up to the most relevant audience and new users.
Rewards
Is there anyone who does not love freebies? Customers who sign up for a business rewards program receive freebies. Most recently, businesses were offering freebies for showing their vaccination certificate. Do you have a 10% discount or an ebook you’re willing to give away? Great! In exchange for an email address, give it away for free.
Subscription boxes
In 2010 the beauty subscription box was popular by allowing customers to try high-end cosmetic items at a fraction of their regular price. Subscription boxes are carefully crafted to reflect the user’s personal preferences.
Selling subscriptions are a great approach to ensure regular income for your business. By offering the first subscription box free or for a fixed percentage discount for a short initial period, you can create a solid email list for targeted marketing.
Opt-in forms
Using unique opt-in forms for different pages on your website can give you useful information about customers’ preferences. You can then utilise them to send customised emails based on the customers’ interests. This also lowers your bounce rate and improves the authority of your email.
2. Create a segmentation system
Not everyone who visits your website is looking for the same thing. Although you won’t be able to personalise every email you send, segmenting your subscribers into smaller groups and subsets can boost income by up to 760 percent.
The most common filter is demographic (age, gender, location). But segmenting your users based on their occupation and interests, or their sign-up source (referrals, social media ads, etc), is a better choice. Consider their shopping history and spending habits if they are repeat customers.
3. Go for automation
Automation simplifies your life and workflows but is it self-sufficient? No, but it is possible with the use of targeting and segmentation.
Making your emails feel less spammy (email sequence triggers to the rescue!) and robotic (a quick shout-out to personalisation variables) takes a lot of time and effort.
You’ll also need to determine the optimal time to send your subscribers an email. And which of your emails is the most popular with your subscribers. Analyse the results of your marketing campaign and do A/B testing to see what should stay and what should go.
4. Don’t be predictable
If we’re talking about a bookshelf or a home security device, consistency is key. Yet, your marketing campaigns aren’t set in stone, and they certainly shouldn’t be predictable. If the last five emails you’ve sent to your subscribers have all been about special offers and discounts, your sixth email may find up in their spam bin.
Rather, strive to pique their interest with something new. Everyone expects a “Merry Christmas” email from you with a promotional offer as the holiday’s approach. However, they may not be anticipating a gift card.
You can mix up your strategy by using the following:
- Sharing industry news and blogs
- Sharing product or store updates
- Offring discounts, free delivery and promo coupons
- Offering limited edition product
- Sending personalised “thank you” emails.
5. Use enticing call-to-actions
Over time, the return rate of generic CTAs (calls to action) like “Buy Now” and “Sign Up” has decreased.
In addition, you can come up with a unique alternative, such as “Show Me Around.” The key here is that you should experiment with different CTAs that aren’t typical to see if something unusual will work for you. Eye-catching and memorable CTAs work best, and don’t forget to remind them immediately before you send the email with the ideal closing statement!
6. Spamming traps should be avoided at all costs
Spam filters and email users are getting better at screening out unwanted emails. Thus, if you want to send professional emails without being labelled as spam, start by requesting permission.
Use double opt-in (a website pop-up followed by a confirmation email) and always provide customers with the option to opt-out. Take a look at the unsubscribe confirmation email from General Assembly.
Attachments should be avoided at all costs. Spam alerts will be triggered by images and GIFs in your emails, as well as suspicious subject lines and spam trigger words like “100% free” and “You are a winner!”
Sending relevant emails thoughtfully on a frequent basis and well-crafted subject lines protects your domain clean and your customers engaged.
7. Experiment with responsive design
Simply said, responsive emails look good on every device, including your laptop, phone or tablet. Shoddy email design is no longer acceptable, with mobile devices accounting for 60% of overall email engagement rates.
A simple test email will show you if your subject line is too long, if your images aren’t loading and if your CTA isn’t stand out.
8. Use a variety of strategies
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to email marketing campaigns. Regular testing will help decide the ideal ratio and order of these emails for your business.
- Welcome emails: Many businesses combine a friendly tone with a special new user offer in the welcome emails, which are a cornerstone of most eCommerce marketing campaigns. Most welcome emails are brief and sweet since most writers can’t think of anything else to say but “Welcome.” Indeed’s welcome email includes a clear call to action as well as a plan of action for those who require additional guidance.
- Emails sent at specific times of the year: If you fear your email messaging is getting repetitive, you can send out seasonally relevant emails.
- Abandonment of the cart: Almost 70% of shoppers abandon their shopping carts before making a purchase. So it could be a good idea to spend a lot of time and effort convincing these bottom-of-funnel leads to convert. If you don’t follow up, you could lose many leads.
- Upsell, cross-sell: When customers add a product to their cart, upselling is the act of persuading them to buy a more expensive one, while cross-selling is the act of offering a complimentary one.
- Re-engagement and customer loyalty emails: you can target inactive users through this re-engagement email, segmented for users who receive the email in their Gmail Promotions tab.
9. Take a Test
In order to enhance your marketing approach, you can use A/B tests to analyse campaign performance by altering a variety of various aspects (from subject lines to graphics). Fifty-nine percent of businesses conduct A/B tests for emails because of the shared belief that testing yields results.
If you are not sure about your email’s CTA, you can test it. Do your customers prefer special discounts to free shipping coupons? There’s a simple way to figure it out. For instance, a minor change for personalising its email sender name generated 131 leads. Test it out and see if it works for you too.
Final takeaways
It isn’t an exaggeration to say that email marketing is beneficial to everyone. Almost everyone who uses the internet has an email account. This means if you fail to include it in your strategy, you’re missing out on a significant chance to drive interest and sales.
In the marketing world, email isn’t old-school. It’s also a consistent and dependable presence that will most likely stay with us for a long time. As a result, email marketing is expected to remain popular. Think about it, when was the last time you looked at your email?
Creating email marketing could be difficult because of so many things that should be considered, from getting the message across, the tone of your brand, the overall content, the scheduling, the list goes on and on. That’s where Top4 Marketing comes in! Our email marketing services keep your audience engaged so they continue to open, click and convert from your email messages. Your dedicated email marketing experts will help customise your email marketing campaigns and manage your lists by segmentation and personalisation, customer acquisition using up-to-date tools to enhance performance, regular campaigns, strategy, execution and reporting. Engage an email marketing agency for a third of the cost of employing an in-house marketing team!
To find out how we can help you with your Website + Marketing, using our unique location marketing platform called Top4, get in touch today at www.top4marketing.com
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