How to Create a Winning Email Marketing Strategy to Increase Brand Loyalty and Boost Sales Email marketing can boost awareness and sales for your startup. Here's how to create a strategy that works — and avoid costly mistakes.
By Liviu Tanase Edited by Maria Bailey
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Email has existed for over five decades, and its prominence is only growing. Not only do we use it extensively at work, but as a marketing channel, email has proven its effectiveness again and again.
By 2027, email marketing revenue will grow to $17.1 billion, a Statista report predicts. It's no wonder that 69% of marketers use email to distribute content, increase brand loyalty, and boost sales.
As a startup founder, you may be wondering how to achieve the same success. Perhaps you feel nervous about launching or haven't seen great results from your first campaigns. With a clear and strong strategy, you can confidently overcome those jitters and press send.
Here's how to improve your approach and avoid pitfalls when planning email marketing campaigns for your startup.
1. Define your goal
Before you start, define what you'd like to achieve with your email marketing—whether it's boosting website traffic, increasing brand awareness or making sales. Having a goal gives you more clarity about the steps you need to take next and how you'll measure success.
Related: Supercharge Your Brand Awareness with These Game-Changing PR Tools
2. Gather your email list
It's time to put together your email list and make sure it's ready for outreach. Don't worry if your database is small – many startups see high engagement from smaller databases. What matters more than your list size is its quality. Have all your subscribers opted in to receive emails from you? You want to reach out to an audience who is expecting to hear from your startup.
3. Double-check your contacts
Aside from getting your subscribers' consent to send them emails, a high-quality list also means those subscribers are real and their contacts are accurate. Getting bounce-backs on your newsletters and campaigns will negatively affect your reputation with inbox providers. To avoid that, use an email verification service to validate your list before your emails go out.
Related: How to manage your email list like a pro
4. Segment, segment, segment
With an opt-in, healthy email list, you're steps ahead of many of your competitors. Next, to further fine-tune your approach, analyze your customers and prospects to see how you can organize them in separate groups. Start with one or two filters, such as one-time buyers and repeat buyers, and niche down from there. To boost engagement, send these groups emails that gently encourage them to try more of your products.
5. Choose a good email marketing platform
Now that your lists are ready, it's time to pick a service to send your emails. As a startup owner, you may be cautious about spending too much, but this isn't an area where you should cut corners. Your email marketing platform should allow you to streamline your efforts and, most importantly, ensure high email deliverability so your campaigns reach your audience. Go with a reputable company.
6. Test your emails for mobile
Some emails can look great on desktops but present errors on mobile devices, which can cause your audience to tune out right away. To keep people engaged, use a testing tool to point out any issues so you can fix them beforehand. Also, test your emails with your team. Apart from detecting errors, their feedback can further help you improve your content.
7. Don't procrastinate – hit send
If your list is in good shape, you found a reliable email-sending platform, and you're proud of your content, it's time to hit Send. Startup owners and marketers often postpone taking that big step because they're nervous about customer feedback. But procrastinating and obsessing over the smallest details will only increase your nervousness. Send your email so you can get that initial feedback and learn how to improve.
8. Show up as promised
This is probably the best email marketing habit you can adopt for your startup. Sending an email here and there won't make much of a difference in your business. Showing up for your subscribers regularly will. What's more, sending emails regularly also gives you a chance to see exactly what your audience most responds to – so you can focus on that in your future campaigns.
Related: 11 email marketing mistakes (and how to fix them)
9. Make every email better than the last one
While consistently emailing your audience is vital to your success, you must also strive to maintain and improve content quality. It's how you'll continue to boost your metrics: 47% of consumers open a brand email primarily because they always get good emails from that brand. So avoid sending an email just because it's due. Instead, work with your team to make every email count.
10. Partner with other startups
Partnering with other companies for co-marketing initiatives has been one of the best ways I've grown my own startup, ZeroBounce. My team and I continue to pursue these types of engagements as they help us gain exposure to new audiences. Reach out to businesses in your space and suggest a partnership, including an email cross-promotion. It will help you earn awareness and even new subscribers.
11. Stay up-to-date on email-sending rules
The email industry has seen many changes in recent years – from Apple releasing its Mail Privacy Protection update to Google and Yahoo enforcing new sending rules. To enjoy great email marketing results for your startup, stay abreast of any similar updates. For instance, large email service providers now require email authentication from senders reaching out to more than 5,000 subscribers daily. Following the rules ensures you're compliant with these protocols and helps you land your campaigns in the inbox and increase sales.
