Email marketing can help businesses keep in touch with customers and prospects. But there's a big difference between simply adding people to your contacts list and running a savvy campaign that drives traffic to your website and generates sales.
Here are some tips to help you maximize the power of your email marketing:
1. Split test your opt-in forms.
Split testing can be a powerful tool in the online marketer's arsenal. You can test different variables on your website and in your marketing campaigns to determine which combinations will generate the most email subscriptions.
For example, if you can't decide where to place your opt-in form on your website, or what color to use for your "Sign Up Now" button, a split test can pit various choices against each other and determine a statistically significant winner.
To get started with split testing, consult your email management program's help section. Most top-tier list management programs -- including Aweber, MailChimp, iContact and ConstantContact -- offer split testing as a default function.
Related: What's Hot and What's Not in Content Marketing
2. Split test broadcast messages.
Your "broadcast messages" also can be useful candidates for split testing. These are the messages you send spontaneously, unlike scheduled follow-up emails that go out at a set time.
Because broadcast messages usually announce timely information such as product launches and sales promotions, it can be important to make them as effective as possible. Consider split testing both the subject line and call to action in your broadcast messages.
Even small improvements in open and click-through rates can make a significant difference in the ROI for your email marketing.
Related: What You Need to Know About YouTube's New Analytics Program
3. Survey your customers.
One of the greatest benefits of having customers' email addresses is the market research potential. For example, if you're trying to decide whether to stock Brand X or Brand Y, you don't need to rely on gut instinct. Set up a survey and use email to ask customers for their feedback. You also can gather demographic data about them through these surveys.
4. Help now and sell later.
Too many people approach email marketing as yet another opportunity to make their sales pitch. But that's often a shortsighted view.
Instead, use your email messages to provide helpful information and deepen your customer relationships. As customers come to rely on you as an industry expert, you will likely see a corresponding increase in sales.
5. Segment your lists.
When composing a marketing message, which do you think will be more effective: a one-size-fits-all pitch that promotes the same product regardless of the customer's purchase history? Or one that offers promotions for products the customer bought most recently?
The better you can tailor your email marketing messages to specific customers, the more effective your promotions will likely be. The key lies in email list segments -- groups of subscribers who have a certain characteristic in common. For example, you could create segments for subscribers who have spent a certain amount of money with your company, or who open every single message you send.
The specific segments that work best will vary by business and industry. But by experimenting with different types of segmenting and targeting, you can make your messages more interesting and relevant to subscribers and, consequently, more likely to result in sales.
Related: Chris Brogan on Cultivating Visibility
6. Regularly scrub your lists.
Email list subscribers who no longer open your messages are wasting your time and money. Because most list management programs bill by the number of email addresses, it's important to take time each month to "scrub" your list and remove people you've fallen out of touch with.
You can use the search function in your email management program to identify subscribers who haven't opened a message in a given period of time, such as the last two months, and who were added to your list before that "scrub" time. Keeping your list clean will help ensure that it's as effective as possible.
Life insurance as low as $14/mo for $250,000 or $21/mo for $500,000 of coverage. Contact MetLife®
Comments:
its a nice article.....its really a helpful....
Very True. Totally agree to the facts stated. Its really important that we should maintain a list and offering freebies to the subscribers before you actually sell, would build trust in them and make them wait for your emails or newsletters.
Try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM3qONBA4l4 !!!! Everything else is just... nothing!
Hey AJ, some nice tips here. It's incredible that some people are saying email is dead, it's not! If the email campaigns aren't working, it's probably because something isn't been done as well as it should be. Start with the basics and one thing not mentioned above is consistency: How regularly you send eg every day, once a week, once a month, In your design, in your tone of voice and the added value you bring with each campaign. Make it brilliant and your market will actually look forward to receiving and reading your emails!
I have never thought of scrubbing, this is a good idea. Thanks for sharing
I never thought about scrubbing the list, this is a good idea. Thanks for the tip. perfectresource.net
Great post! This is a bit off subject, but what is an average or fair monthly compensation, for someone to manage a clients email list building campaign? ex. data collection, segmenting, surveys, monthly newsletters email content creation etc. Thanks
Thanks for the tips! I have done surveying and segmenting. I could probably do some clean up on my lists. My bigger concern is building the list. Any articles on that?
Very cool - thanks for sharing!
For sure. You can get some great market insights when you simply take the time to ask people what they're looking for!
Definitely take a look at split testing options. When you're first getting started, having data that shows which factors get your email messages opened more often will help you to improve your skills much faster.
Definitely. The more personalized you can make your messages to the people on your lists, the better!
I'm not sure if I'd call it an "ATM", since there's plenty of work involved in terms of building a list, drafting messages and optimizing your campaigns. Maybe it's more like a paycheck, where you earn money for work done... :)
Email Marketing Is a quiet ATM machine that produce cash online.Many entrepreneurs have made big cash through E-mail marketing and you can become a member of the train.All you need is the specialized skills involved.
While segmentation is better than mass email, personalization is even better. eCommerce sites that send personalized products recommendations and cater to the individual see much higher CTR and conversion rates
It is good to have the emails of the customers but the thing that if one sent out messages to customers then none going to see your email and do not see the inside stuff that reside in the email. So before sending email, one need to meet the customers and need to build strong relationship and then if you send messages to them then definitely it will be helpful for you and for your business.
I'm about to start an email campaign myself, never really thought about split testing...thanks for the tip!
Great list, I agree that surveying your customers is key. Taking the temperature of the room lets you know exactly what you should fix and focus on
There's a really cool startup in Chicago called SimpleRelevance.com that helps retailers send dynamic product recommendation newsletters to their customers (using MailChimp, iContact, or Constant Contact) based on their customer behavior prediction engine that learns from the e-commerce purchase history, social interests, and other factors. Super easy to use, and very powerful.