How To Create An Effective Email Marketing Campaign

Email marketing can be a highly effective tool to help you grow your business. Through email, you can build stronger relationships with your customers and drive repeat business. Email is typically very cost-effective as well, making it an accessible option for businesses of virtually any size.

If you’ve ever considered using email marketing to promote your business, but aren’t sure where to begin, here are a few tips to help you get started:

Tip 1 | Know Your Focus

Sending an email is simple, but sending a strategic and effective campaign can be far more complicated. Before you dive into designing and writing your next campaign, spend some time developing a strategy. Your strategy does not have to be incredibly in depth and complex, but you should keep the following in mind:

• Your Audience | Who will be receiving your emails? Are you reaching out to current customers who have already purchased from you, or to new prospects who subscribed to your emails? Knowing your audience will help you tailor your content and develop realistic campaign goals.
• Your Goals | With your audience in mind, consider what you want to accomplish through your email campaign. Are you hoping to reconnect with lapsed customers, or upsell to customers who recently made a purchase? Once you have a main goal in mind, you can set a few performance goals that align with your main goal (such as how much web traffic or how many leads you want to generate).
• Your Resources | You also want to be aware of what resources you have to create and be able to manage your email campaigns. Being realistic about your capacity to manage design, copywriting, and other components of your email campaigns will make it easier to create a plan that works for you. Many popular email marketing platforms offer customizable templates and helpful resources, so you can create a strong campaign even if your resources are limited.

Tip | Having trouble planning out your emails? Try creating an email campaign calendar to simplify the process. Your calendar should include any holidays and seasonal promotions that may impact your email content. Once you have your key dates mapped out, you can develop a plan for your emails based on the timely events that matter most to your business. Beyond helping you tighten up your strategy, keeping an email campaign calendar will make it easier for you and your team to plan ahead.

Tip 2 | Do Some A/B Testing

Even if your new campaign is performing well, it’s possible that it could be performing even better. One of the best ways to tighten up your email marketing strategy is by testing, analyzing, and making adjustments to your campaigns.

By using split testing (often referred to as A/B testing), you can easily experiment with different elements of your email campaign to discover which options are the most effective. Typically, A/B testing for email campaigns is a pretty straightforward process:

1. You create two versions of one of your email campaigns.
2. Rather than being sent to your full list of recipients, a small percentage of that audience is used for the test. Half of that smaller audience will see Version A of your email, and the other half will see Version B.
3. The performance of both versions is analyzed, and the higher-performing version is sent to the remaining email subscribers in your list.

One of the keys to a successful A/B test is to keep your tests simple. Only test one variation at a time so you can be more certain of what is contributing to the change in performance. For example, you may test two different subject lines, or try out using a different color for a call-to-action button in your email.

Tip 3 | Segment & Personalize

It’s hard to connect with your customers if you use generic, one-size-fits-all email content. If you really want to generate results from email marketing, it’s important to share relevant content that feels like it is tailored to your audience’s needs.

There are many ways to create emails that have a personalized, custom touch. Simple adjustments, such as including the recipient’s name in the subject line, can help your email stand out in their inbox. Most email marketing platforms make it easy to include personalized elements in your campaigns, so you can try it out without needing to spend a lot of extra time on setup.

Another method for delivering more tailored content to your subscribers is through segmentation. With segmentation, you can divide your email list into smaller groups based on factors such as demographics, purchase history, location, and more.

Once you have your segments created, you can start developing content that is unique to each segment and better-tailored to their needs and interests.

Tip 4 | Go Beyond Email

To create a truly tailored experience for your customers, think outside of the inbox. Advertising platforms such as Google and Facebook allow you to import customer email lists and use them for ad targeting. There are many different ways to use your email lists as highly effective targeting tools, such as:

• Target Recent Purchasers To Upsell | Targeted ad campaigns are an excellent tool for driving repeat business. Target frequent purchasers with campaigns that promote popular upsell products or services.
• Reconnect With Lapsed Customers | If you have a list of previous customers who haven’t purchased in awhile, a targeted ad that includes a discount code or other incentive can be a great way to regain their business.
• Create A Lookalike Audience | You can also use your email list to connect with new prospects. After you’ve uploaded your email list to use for Facebook ad targeting, you can use that original list to create a lookalike audience. Lookalike audiences consist of people who are similar to whatever audience you use to create them. So, if you create a lookalike audience based on a list of your most valued customers, you can then run campaigns targeting a very similar audience.

There are many ways to promote your business using email marketing, and it’s possible to do so even if you are working with a limited budget and minimal time. As with any other digital marketing tactic, creating an effective email marketing campaign is all about having the right strategy.

If you need help creating an email marketing strategy that will help you reach your goals, contact our team for a free Digital Marketing Plan. Our team will assess your current digital marketing efforts, and help you streamline your strategy so you can achieve better results.