Email marketing is one of the best and evergreen strategies of digital marketing. Email marketing campaign helps the businesses to build strong relationships with the customers by sending emails. Today, you’ll learn from the best guide to Email marketing 2023.
An effective email marketing strategy helps the companies to convert the prospects and visitors into customers. The best email marketing method turns the first time buyers as a recurring customer.
The best part of email marketing is, you can easily automate the complete process. Email marketing makes the work very simple.
Marketing is growing with various forms like video, blogging, SEO and many more. But email marketing method is still alive and has its unique features and connecting with the people, bringing up and turning them into customers.
The definitive data!
Based on the review and data, email marketing still ranks on top and is the most effective digital marketing strategy. It has beaten other digital marketing methods like SEO, affiliate marketing and social media channels.
You may wonder!
Why is still email marketing strategy the most effective one?
The answer is very simple that people use email platforms a lot if you compare with other platforms.
More than 85% of adult internet users in the US use email daily.
That’s why email marketing beats other strategies like social media and search engine methods.
Today, we’ll learn with a step-by-step guide how to start an email marketing campaign from scratch.
This beginner’s guide of email marketing walks you through the entire process of how to set up an email marketing funnel. Also, learn how to acquire leads that convert and generate sales like 24X7.
1. What is Email Marketing 2023 & Email Marketing Campaign?
Email marketing is an effective digital marketing strategy of sending mails to customers and prospects. Constructive marketing mails turn the possibilities and probabilities into customers.
The well-formed email marketing converts one-time or first time buyers into recurring and loyal customers or subscribers.
You may be a beginner or an intermittent; if you’re ready to commit to email marketing then this detailed guide is for you.
We’ve broken this guide into various sections which is very easy for you to go through.
You’ll learn all about the below subjects of email marketing.
- How to build an email list.
- Optimize your emails for high CTR (Click-through rates).
- How to automate the email process to convert the chances, leads into customers.
Let’s start with a beginners guide to email marketing. I would say that this is the most comprehensive guide for beginners to learn email marketing services.
Why Email marketing the most important?
We’ll talk about the importance of email marketing for your business.
Despite the social media domination, email remains the best way to nurture leads and boost consumer loyalty.
There are few factors why we treat email-marketing as the best method.
1. #1 communication channel: 99% of consumers and people check their email on a daily basis. This is not happening in any other marketing channels.
2. Own your list: The best part of email marketing is, you’re the single owner of your big data. Whereas on social media, your fan base, subscribers and even account could be suspended any time for any reason or without any reason.
Here in email marketing service, you or the sole responsible and control the database. No one can delete your email list.
3. Email converts better: Buying products through email marketing spend 140% than who don’t receive email offers.
ROI (Return of Investment) of email marketing is over 4400%. Yes, it’s huge. Email is the easiest way to make online sales.
2. How Email Marketing Works?
The process of email marketing is to target your customers and audience via email.
It helps to increase the sales and revenue by offering the valuable information to the customers and subscribers. When the customers get benefited by your email then you’ll earn money out of it.
Let’s talk about,
- Why is email marketing so valuable?
- When you use email marketing?
- What are the benefits of email marketing?
- When to Use Email Marketing?
There are many situations in which to use email marketing. Below are most common reasons to include:
Build relationships: Build good relationships with customers through personalized engagement.
Promote brand awareness: Make your products and services top on the people’s mind when they need it.
Promote content: Always send emails to share relevant content to your prospects.
Market your target products: Promote services and products of yours or others.
Increase leads: Help your subscribers and customers with relevant content to achieve their goals.
Email Marketing Benefits
3.8 billion users are registered with email programs worldwide. So email is the best tool to reach your customers.
Data says that an email generates $38 for every dollar spent. This is 3,800% ROI – return on investment.
2/3 of customers use email to purchase their products.
Only 20% of leads which are sent directly to sales are succeeded. Remaining has to be nurtured through email along with great content.
Based on the customer acquisition, email sales are 40 times more effective than Twitter and Facebook combination.
Apart from all, you’re the owner of this email marketing channel. There is no other source impacting your business how, why, when to reach your customers.
Industry Statistics of Email Marketing
The rules and conditions will be varied based on the industry who you are marketing to.
Find below a few email marketing trends for B2B, B2C, real estate and eCommerce companies which can do the email-marketing strategy.
Email Marketing Stats for B2B
86% of professionals use email as their preferred communication channel.
Well-formed emails work 3X better than drip campaigns.
60% of email marketers believe that it produces 100% a positive ROI.
Clickthrough – 47% CTR higher for B2B than B2C
Subject line (emojis) counted for raised open rates for 56% of brands.
Email Marketing Statistics for B2C
90% plus consumers check their mails daily.
Email users share social contents 3X higher than others.
78% of email subscribers have unsubscribed from the list, as they receive too many emails.
Email Marketing Stats for eCommerce
86% of customers or subscribers like to receive an updated email or promotional email from the brand. That is also limited to once in a month.
58% of the company revenue being generated by the segmented emails.
Email Marketing Stats for Real Estate Business
It’s true that the real-estate companies get at least 53% of their subscribers from their website.
Businesses using blogs get 2X traffic from the emails or mail subscribers.
40% of real estate businesses use email list segmentation.
3. How to Start Email Marketing?
Looking for the ways to get started with email marketing? There are many factors in-built with the successful email marketing. It doesn’t mean that starting email marketing is very complicated.
Before you dive into email marketing, let’s break down some important steps to start building a strong email campaign that makes your customer encouraged.
You can go through these steps to start a successful email marketing strategy.
Create an Email Marketing Strategy
It’s true that each customer receives at least 121 emails every day. So you need to do something to let your customer open your email.
If you’re not developing any email strategy, your email will be sent to the spam folder. Also there could be a chance to get lost in the mail crowded inboxes or worse.
You must learn the best way to build an effective email strategy. So that you can send emails that customers actually like to read.
It’s like a plan with few steps to build your email strategy.
1. Define who is Your Audience
The first point in building a good strategy in email marketing is like; an effective email is a relevant email.
You must start with a “buyer persona”, know who your customer is, and understand what your customers want. Now you tailor email campaigns based on your audience’s requirements.
2. Establish Your Goals
Research more about the average email stats for your industry. Consolidate the data and use those data as benchmarks for your goals.
Now you may think about your campaign goals.
3. Make a Good Way for People to Subscribe or Sign Up
An email list is a group of your customer’s mail details who have given rights to you to send them relevant emails to them.
To build an email list, you need to find some ways for prospects to opt-in. So they receive your emails.
Don’t worry if you have few people on your email list. It will surely increase and it takes time to build a decent email list.
Treat each and every email subscriber like a gold coin. Slowly you’ll start to see your list will grow organically.
4. Select an Email Campaign
Email campaigns are the best tool if you send a weekly newsletter. You can set your email email-campaign to send out any product announcements and updates.
You need to decide which product posts are worth sharing to your subscribers.
These questions may trouble you as a marketer. But the straightforward answer is Subjective.
First of all, you need to learn all about the different email campaigns that already exist. Now you need to decide which email campaign suits your audience.
You have to set up different lists for different types of emails based on the requirements.
This will help the customers and prospects to sign up only if the emails are relevant to them.
5. Schedule it
You need to decide how frequent you plant to contact your list. Also don’t forget to inform your subscribers upfront. So that they will be ready, what to expect and know your email timings to build trust.
Also this will build good relationships with your customers and they never forget about you.
6. Measure Your Results
As an email marketer, you need to measure every single incident in your email marketing process. Being sharp about each and every movement will help to do small changes to your email campaigns.
A small change may yield large results to your business.
I hope you’re now clear on how to create an email marketing strategy. Let’s learn how to build your email list now.
4. How to Build Email List
Building email lists is the most interesting part in email marketing.
There are several creative ways to build email lists. I am not interested in purchasing emails from outside.
Email list building comes with two key elements. Those are,
- Lead Magnets
- Opt-in Forms
Let’s see how to get started with email building and how to grow your email list.
1. Lead Magnets
As it sounds, it’s very attractive to get more prospects to your email list in the form of free offers.
There are many formats for offers that should be valuable to the prospects. They should exchange their email addresses for valuable free offers.
We know that people are more hyper-protective about their personal information like email addresses. So you cannot expect to get their email addresses without exchanging some valuable stuff.
Think wisely about a lead magnet which is relevant, enjoyable, useful for your prospects.
Below are the best lead magnets you can create for your prospects.
- Ebook
- Infographics
- Whitepaper
- Template
- Checklist
- Tool
- Webinar or Free Course
- Study materials
- Reports
Still, you can create your existing content to create a new lead magnet to attract your prospects.
How to Create a Great Lead Magnet?
Keep in mind that your lead magnet must be relevant to the prospects. Find below some guidelines to make sure that you create valuable stuff for your potential list.
Solution-oriented and Actionable Offer
Make an offer which provides practical information and offers a solution to a problem. Make a feel to your prospects to feel a realistic way to get the solution.
Ensure the Asset is Easy to Consume
Make sure that your lead magnets should reach your customer in a digital format. Your asset may be a PDF file, a video or a website. Your asset should be very easy for your new lead to receive and consume it.
Make an offer with future content
Keep in mind that your followers should be satisfied with your offer. They never get disappointed with your offer, this is very bad.
Ensure that your offer is very well-aligned with the measure or value that you’ll provide throughout your relationship. Otherwise, this will surely damage the trust.
Lead magnet is a key for paid solution
The intention of collecting email lists is, eventually direct the subscribers to buy a product or service.
You can offer a free trial or demo to explain the value of the product. This will eventually lead for a sale of your product or service.
Create the offers relevant to every stage of your buyer’s journey.
All new leads will be at the different stages of the buyer’s journey.
As an email marketer, it’s your responsibility to know the current segment of your buyer’s journey.
Based on your current stage (journey) of your subscriber, you need to use opt-in offers. You need to talk more about a prospect’s thoughts by the content they take.
2. Make an eye-catching Opt-in form
Make sure that your opt-in form should be enticing to get a prospect’s contact information to add in your email list.
This is the entry point of your future sales. Find below are the best tips to create enticing and eye-catching opt-in forms.
Create an attractive design with attention-grab header.
Ensure that your form should be branded and entice the people to register or sign up. Your header and opt-in form look should stand out from the page. This is how you like to excite the readers with the product offers.
Make Truthful Questions
Yes, it’s your intention to get people to enter their email address on the form. But you should not deceive them.
All the information on the form should be a neat and truthful representation about the offer.
- Do not add anything beyond the product or offer.
- Keep the form simple
- Your form is the first impression and interaction with your prospect. Don’t make them scared by asking more questions.
- Ask for the essential information like, name and email which is good enough to start.
- Make your Opt-in form with Double-confirmation
- It’s a good habit to ask your subscribers to opt-in your emails two times.
Studies say that customers like confirmed opt-in (COI) email which is 2.7X more than a welcome mail.
Check how the flow works
Treat yourself as a user, to check how the form works. Check all processes like how thank you page works and how the offer is reached to the customer as promised and expected.
Ensure from your experience which you just had that your form is working as professional.
Alright, so far you’ve learnt how to build email lists. Now, it’s the time to learn how to send marketing emails to your customers or subscribers.
5. How to Create Email Campaign and Send Marketing Emails
Below are the best ways to send marketing emails effectively to your prospects to convert as lead or sale.
1. Choose the best email marketing service.
2. Follow email marketing tips.
3. Implement email segmentation.
4. Personalize email marketing based on your need.
5. Email marketing automation.
6. Email marketing templates.
It’s good to hear that you’ve built a robust list of subscribers who are waiting for receive an update from you.
You can’t just send them emails, which may store in the junk folder, spam folder or in a blocked list.
Below are the important things to kind in your mind before sending emails to your precious email list. You worked hard to collect this email list. So you need to be careful when you choose the email marketing service or method.
1. Choose an Email Marketing Company / Service
If you want to do your email marketing effectively then you must follow an Email Service Provider (ESP).
Email service providers help you to fine-tune your email marketing efforts to get more conversions.
There are many email marketing or service providers that help you to create email forms. ESP helps to optimize marketing emails, personalize and create the email signup forms professionally without any designers.
The email marketing service companies have all templates ready to use with your email marketing campaigns. You will get unlimited support from the email service providers to tune your business towards profits.
Things to be checked before choose an Email Marketing Service
- CRM with segmentation capabilities.
- Brand of the ESP.
- Simple way to build forms, landing pages and CTAs.
- Email Automation
- Easy to comply with email regulations
- Ability to Split test emails
- Built-in Analytics
- Downloadable reports.
2. Use Email Marketing Elements
You need to think twice before you send an email to anyone. Keep in your mind that the mail you compose should generate more leads.
There are few components involved with email marketing.
Text: The text or content in the mail body should be consistent and target a single topic.
Images: Choose images which are suitable with your forms or template. Also ensure that your images are well-suited with all devices, relevant and eye-catching.
Call-To-Action: Make sure that your call-to-action should be top on everything and stand top on the rest of the email.
Timing: Based on the statistics (20 million emails), Tuesday at 11 AM Eastern Time is the best time to send your email. Because you ”’ll get more responses in this time.
Responsiveness: Study says that 55% of emails are opened on smartphones. So make sure that your email or templates are suitable for all devices.
Personalize: When you write an email, just think you’re sending emails to your friends. Address your customer in a familiar tone and be personable.
Subject Line: Your email subject should be actionable, clear, enticing language and personalized.
3. Email Segmentation
Implement email segmentation, because segmentation is the best way to subcategories your big email lists.
You can do the segmentation of your email list based on the unique characteristics, geo location, preferences and interests.
How to Segment Emails Lists?
You may collect the emails through Opt-in or lead magnet technique. But you need to break-up the huge list into a few segments. Those are,
- Gender
- Lifecycle stage
- Geo location
- Industry
- Language
- Job title
- Awareness and considerations
- Previous deals with your brand
It’s all up to you how to segment the email list. You may have your own thoughts to segment the list, so plan accordingly.
4. Email Marketing Personalize
When you know to whom you’re sending email and what is important to your subscribers is help you to personalize your email marketing.
The personalized emails have 26% higher open rates and 14% of CTC (click-through rate) when you compare to others.
Simple ways to personalize your emails.
- Add first name in your subject line and (or) greeting.
- If it’s needed include region-specific information.
- Send the content which is related to the life-cycle stage.
- Write about personal and personal events, holidays and birthdays.
- End your email with your signature (human not company).
- Use call to action to an offer which is useful to the readers.
5. Email Marketing Automation
Automation is activating your segmentation to use. Once you’re set with your sub-groups or categories, you can send automated emails which are highly targeted.
You can do the email automation through two simple ways.
- 1. Autoresponders
- 2. WorkFlows
1. Autoresponders
An autoresponder also called as “Drip Campaign” is a chain of emails which is sent out automatically.
When a user does an action it will be triggered automatically and send an email.
For an example when a user downloads an ebook then an email will be sent out to that person.
The best part of autoresponder is that you can set autoresponder and forget about it.
Each and every user who is part of the autoresponder gets each email that you’ve added to the serious.
2. Workflows
The advanced version of autoresponder is called Workflows. This term “workflow” is like a flow-chart like yes/no questions or branches that will execute the actions as per the criteria you’ve set.
Workflows have two components. Like,
- Enrollment criteria
- Goal
Enrollment – User will qualify for the workflow based on his / her action (Yes).
Goal – User will go out of the workflow based on the action (No).
Here is an example:
6. Email Marketing Templates
Templates for email marketing are the most wanted components to do email marketing effectively.
Email marketing templates just save a ton of time. All email marketers are not software engineers or skilled about templates.
Email marketing templates are built-up of all required designs, UX definition and coding.
6. Email Regulations
It’s a must one for every consumer desires to know why and how their details are being used. Email marketers have to make the consumer understand that they are not going to misuse their information like name and email address.
1. CAN-SPAM Compliance
Technically, CAN – SPAM means, it’s a short form for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing. (These two may go together sometimes).
It’s like a promise to protect your subscriber’s right to only get emails which they agreed and related.
This law passed in 2003 and is applicable to any commercial emails used for any kind of business.
How to ensure that your business emails are CAN-SPAM compliant?
Add your company’s name and address as signature or bottom of every email.
Add visible “unsubscribe mail links” within your email.
Always use real name and email address in “From” and “Reply To” fields.
Ensure that your subject lines indicate the contents of your email.
2. GDPR Compliance
“General Data Protection Regulation” – GDPR helps to get closer with the customers to build the trust and relationship.
GDPR allows your clients or customers the right to choose. They will choose your email, hear from you, your products. That’s what exactly inbound marketing is about.
3. Avoid Spam Filters
As of now, you learnt how to spend time to create a perfect email and adhering to the rules and regulations.
We have to avoid being deduced to spam by following factors. Because,
- It hurts your email delivery rates.
- Your email contacts may miss all of your emails.
- You’ll not be able to measure how your email marketing is effectively working.
- Your email analytics will be collapsed.
Reasons for spam:
Minding your copy:
During sending emails, avoid using all CAPS and many exclamation points. Also if you want your email should reach your customer then avoid spam trigger words. Those are
- Opt-in
- Click below
- Order
- Click Now
- Submit Immediately
These are the words easily detected and marked down by the ISP – Internet Service Providers.
Use a Reliable Email Service Provider –
Email service provider’s process impacts your deliver-ability. So choosing the best, reliable and branded is the key to do the email marketing effectively.
Double Opt-in
When someone opts in with your subscribers list then send an email and confirm it. This is clearly to make sure that the subscriber is really interested in your email and likes to subscribe.
Getting Whitelisted
Whitelisted is the opposite term of Blacklisted. So blacklist means, it’s an approved senders list that allows you to reach your customer’s or subscriber’s mail inbox.
The simple way to do this, request your new subscriber to add your id to their email contact or address book.
7. Email Marketing Analysis
Email marketing analysis helps to measure and take your business to the next level. If you do the analysis effectively then it will impact the business positively.
What are the best ways to analyze your email marketing campaigns?
1. A/B Test your Marketing Emails.
We have seen in our experience that some audiences like personalized emails but somebodies think this is spammy.
Some people like eye-catching images, CTA buttons and bright background.
So it’s very difficult to find which email model is best. That’s what A/B testing comes into the picture now.
A/B test or Split test is a tool or process to find what type of emails performs well with your audiences.
You can easily analyze whether email A or email B works fine.
Step-by-Step Process of A/B Testing:
- Take one variable to test. Like Image or Subject line.
- Compose two versions of emails, like with and without variables.
- Allow your email software to send simultaneously.
- Analyze and choose which version performs well.
- Now test a new variable and do the process repeatedly.
We’ve seen most of the Email service providers have A/B testing built with their mailing software.
This will help them to find out the best method to send emails easily.
2. Set Email Marketing KPIs.
If you want to evaluate email marketing campaigns effectively then you must pay attention to a few factors.
Delivery – It will analyze which emails reach the subscriber’s inbox.
Open rate – It’s the percentage or ratio of how many people open the mail when it reaches their inbox.
CTR – Click-through rate is the % of people click on your CTAs.
Unsubscribes – It measures how many people opt out from your email list.
3. Use or Create Email Marketing Report Template
Collecting reports and analyzing the performance will help you to fine-tune your campaign towards a profit path.
You can make a spreadsheet with the metrics and analyze to optimize your email campaigns.
Metrics in the Report:
- Number of sent emails
- Number of delivered emails
- Delivery Rate
- Open Rate
- Bounce Rate
- CTR – Click Through Rate
- Subscribe Rate
- Unsubscribe Rate
Data:
- Subject Line
- Email body’s length
- CTA (graphic or inline)
- List Segment
- Offer
Conclusion.
Today, the email marketing method gives huge ROI for marketers. If you have been ignoring email marketing, it’s the best time to reevaluate your strategy.
Keep in mind that, you’re a guest in your subscriber’s mail inbox. You need to be polite, valuable and respectful or else you will be out of your customer’s inbox.
There is no short-cut or formula. Be honest with your subscribers and your business will reach top at the earliest.
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