Even though social media marketing is all the rage nowadays, email still remains one of the best communication methods for buyers and consumers. The problem with email marketing is that many website owners and marketers alike have yet to master the art of email marketing.
There a few things to keep in mind when creating an email campaign: from send times to subject lines, these steps can often get overlooked. In this post, we’ll show you 6 simple steps to create a killer email campaign.
Before creating your email campaign, it goes without saying that you should work on growing your email list. Growing your email list is not as hard as you may think: including mailing sign up forms on your website is the first step in the right direction.
But you can see even better results in the growth of your email list if you include lead magnets and connect them with your email sign up forms.
Once you start getting subscribers, it’s time to wow them with your email campaigns. Here’s how.
1. Segment your audience
Sending the same email to everyone on your list may seem like a logical thing to do but the truth is you’ll have better open and engagement rates if you create email campaigns with your audience in mind.
You need to have a clear idea of what your audience likes and what are they interested in before sending them an email The best results are achieved by segmenting your audience and creating targeted email that cater to their specific interests.
2. Create valuable content
Your readers and visitors entrusted you with their email address so now is your chance to prove your value. Instead of focusing on what you have to offer, shift the focus on them and create content that your subscribers will find valuable.
This is why segmenting is so powerful – once you know their interests, it’s easier to create targeted content. Make sure you include a compelling subject line. Keep the body of your campaign brief and to the point. Use short paragraphs and bullet points so your readers can get to the bottom line quickly.
3. Include a call to action
The goal of every email campaign should be getting your subscribers to take action. Whether you want them to read your latest blog post, hire you for your specific expertise or simply to buy a product, your subscribers won’t know what you want them to unless you tell them.
That’s why it’s crucial to include a call to action in every email campaign that you send. Many email providers allow you to include a button in your emails but you can also use links and descriptive language to get them to actually click on your link.
If you’re using a button, make sure it performs well on both desktop and mobile as the last thing you to happen is your subscribers not being able to click the button because it’s too small.
4. Conduct deliverability tests
Many email service providers have the option to test your emails before sending them in order to make sure they comply with the latest anti-spam laws. All your hard work of creating a targeted email campaign will be useless if your email doesn’t even reach its destination. That’s why it’s important to test for email deliverability before sending out your email campaigns.
Even though you might think there is nothing wrong with your email, sometimes certain words can trigger the spam filters which hurts the health of your email list overall. Be sure to test any and every email you intend to send for potential red flags and correct them before scheduling your campaign to go live. You can test the body of the email as well as your subject line so it’s worth to spend a few minutes and run the test to make sure everything goes smoothly.
5. Choose your send time
When you send your email campaign can have a great impact on the open and engagement rate. It’s impossible to cater to everyone’s taste because everyone deals with email differently in the effort of getting to inbox zero. Moreover, if your audience is global, finding the perfect time to guarantee your email gets read is even trickier.
The general rule of thumb is to send emails during business hours – either early in the morning or just after lunch. However, the best way to determine when you should send emails is to look at your past campaigns and compare the open rates against send times.
If you have no data to compare, then try testing different send times and see which one brings you the most engagement. Some email providers, like MailChimp, have a feature that allows you to schedule a time and they will deliver your email to your subscribers according to their time zone.
6. Track and analyze
Your email marketing efforts need to constantly evolve and improve over time. However, if you don’t track your efforts, you won’t be able to make progress. Make sure you’re tracking open rates, click-through rates, and email bounces to see what type of content is resonating with your audience, which subject lines work best, and which areas could use improvement.
Many if not all email providers will allow you to perform split-tests of your email campaigns. Usually, you will create two different versions of your campaign and schedule them to go out – each to a different percentage of your email list.
The email provider will track the open and click through rates for you and then automatically deliver the better performing campaign to the rest of your list. By doing so you will ensure your campaigns are always optimized for the best possible conversion rate.