Why Email Marketing Matters and How to Get Started

Email Marketing is an important tool in a marketer's toolbelt. Used strategically within your marketing efforts, email marketing helps you promote your products and/or services, and increase customer loyalty. This tactic can also help communicate new products, discounts, and other services to your email lists; cross-sell between different market segments, and re-engage inactive leads.

Email Marketing matters. Don’t believe me? Check out these statistics:

● Email marketing boosts ROI by 4200% ($42 for every $1 spent).
● 59% of B2B marketers prefer email for lead generation.
● Email is 40% better at converting (in comparison to Facebook and Twitter).
● 37% of respondents name email as the most effective channel for customer loyalty and retention, while websites were named by 13% and social media by only 11%.
● Marketing and advertising emails influence the buying decision of 50.7% of customers.

So now, how do you grow your list? Screaming “Join Now!” is not enough. Here are 5 proven ways to grow your email list:

1. Make the sign-up as quick and painless as possible

Every extra step in the process is one more chance you’ll lose a subscriber. Ask for as little information as possible in an easily accessible sign-up form, such as a pop-up lightbox – but do ask for one or two key facts you can use to strategically segment your lists and provide relevant content in the future.

2. Be Clear to Build Trust

Explain exactly what it is you’re offering and how often they’ll receive it. Include an anti-spam policy, and show your credibility with the number of current subscribers or subscriber testimonials.

3. Offer Opt-In Incentives

Make signing up a requirement for irresistible incentives like free eBooks, exclusive webinars, subscriber-only discounts, or a link to read the rest of an article excerpt.

4. Incorporate Sign-Ups Within Your Social Media

Add a sign-up form to your Facebook, incorporate social sharing buttons alongside your content, and mention influential Twitter users in your newsletter before tweeting about it.

5. Leverage other people’s lists

Cross-promote with other businesses in your niche, by offering your services in exchange for a few mentions in their popular newsletter, or guest blogging.

Once you have built your lists, it’s important to create a content strategy centered around tactics that work. Here are some helpful stats to help you get started:

Frequency and Timing. When to send emails and how often can drastically affect your open-rates and click-through-rates (CTR).

● 61% of subscribers/customers would like to receive promotional emails every week, 38% – more frequently.
● The worst open and click-through rates are on weekends.
● 4AM is the best time for sending emails, 6AM shows the highest CTR.
● The best days for emails are Tuesday and Thursday.

Personlization. Content should be specific to the person you’re reaching out to.

● 88% of users agree they are more likely to respond to an email favorably if it looks like it’s been specifically created for them.
● By addressing the recipient by their name, you can increase open rates and CTR up to 35%.
● 62% of marketers say that personalization is the most effective technique.
● Emails containing personalization in the subject line are 22% more likely to be opened.

Content. Emails don’t have to be text only. Spice up your campaign by using additional visual content. After all, 45% of recipients say that they “like brands that do not take themselves too seriously”, so don’t be afraid to break out of the old standards.

● 68% of millennials use and like seeing emojis, GIFs, and stickers in their emails.
● Emails with an emoji in the subject line show a 56% higher open rate.
● Women react to emojis more positively than men.
● 54% of email subscribers prefer emails with videos.
● Emails that include some sort of graphics have a higher open rate (27%) and CTR (4.5%) than that of text-based emails (20% and 3%).
● Research shows that it’s best to keep the text to image ratio in emails at 4:1.
● 81% check their email on smartphones, 74% on desktop/laptop, 21% on tablet, 2% on a smartwatch.
● An average marketing email consists of 434.48 words and it takes 3.3 minutes to read.
● iPhone cuts off the subject lines over 32 characters

Want to know more about how to plan, craft, and implement successful email marketing? Contact me for a free consultation.