Email is the most reliable method for connecting with prospects and developing long term customer relationships. Email has the best return on investment among all online marketing channels, particularly when it is used together with social media and SEO. Email also provides a more solid foundation for strong messaging when compared to shorter and easily forgotten Facebook posts. While there are a lot of great guides out there for growing your email list and a ton of little tricks that can help. There are 5 critical tips that are at the center of all successful email marketing campaigns.
Opt-ins
Many websites will downplay their email signup forms and promote social media instead. While followers do have a lot of value, they are not more valuable than a solid email list. At the end of the day, it is your email campaigns that establish a loyal customer base and drive sales, so be sure to make your email opt-ins clear, attractive and compelling.
Demonstrate your value
You want the value of subscribing to your email list to be obvious and unmistakable. Your opt-in messaging should be focused on clearly and convincingly demonstrating the direct value of subscribing. One way to create a positive foundation for the value of your emails is to ensure that your website content is always of the highest quality. While your customers will be unsure of the value of your emails, they can clearly see the value of your content and will base their assumptions about your emails on their impressions of your content. This is also a good place to use your testimonials and show off the size of your followers list. If you already have a large base of customers, then prospective customers will be likely to think that you must be doing something right.
Niche newsletters
The newsletter is the workhorse of all email marketing campaigns, since they let you provide consistent value to your subscribers. There is a lot that goes into the creation of a quality newsletter. Many companies will have full-time professional staff that are solely focused on creating them. However, even with limited resources, there are a numbers of ways that you can produce a high quality newsletter.
Always start any newsletter with the needs of your readers in your mind. Offer valuable and useful information that is more than simply rehashed sales material. Try offering deals, coupons and free trials with every newsletter, as these make your readers far more likely to open your email and read the content. Always offer a variety of content from across your niche area so that you have a little of something to everyone, instead of trying to make one focused piece of content.
Run engaging contests
Contests are an engaging and fun experience for readers. While contests can take many forms (trivia, user voting, content submission, etc), the key point is to ensure that the entrants need to register with their email to participate. This is simply offering value to your readers for the submission of their email. While the fun and excitement of the contest itself does have some value, it is best to also offer one or more prizes to seal the deal and really provide value to your readers for the submission of their emails.
Monitor and test your metrics
One of the most important aspects of all your email campaigning effort is the proper use of the analytics panel. Many people find this aspect of email marketing to be confusing and intimidating, but it is an essential aspect of the business and those marketers who learn how to master the use of analytics will be the ones whose businesses thrive the most.
There are a huge variety of metrics that you can track and monitor, but the most important ones are your delivery, unsubscribe, open, click-to-open, spam complaint and share/forward numbers. Once you know your numbers, it is time to start testing your metrics to optimize your content. Try using various content ideas, subject lines and images to get a feel for what your readers are looking for. The goal is to establish a process of constant improvement, as you make every single email more attractive to your customers and effective in driving sales.