Email newsletters are a very powerful marketing tool, even in this era of social media. While they won’t go viral giving you much exposure, emails can be precisely targeted, which makes them very efficient by default.
The truth of that is proven by the fact that three-quarters of professional marketers state email campaigns provide excellent ROI, and that considering that 42% of marketers do not even use layered targeting (HubSpot).
Now think what kind of ROI you will get if using an email newsletter strategy to the fullest. And the only things you need to achieve those great results are a bit of good planning when setting goals and some handy marketing tools.
Tips for building an effective email newsletter strategy for 2019
1. Set small goals with the big one in mind
Defining your goals is the first step in developing any strategy. And in marketing, you need to have small goals to help you choose the kind of content to put in your newsletters. However, as The Email Funnels Agency highlights, every element of the marketing strategy must have revenue generation as its end goal.
Even if your business isn’t selling anything and the campaign doesn’t advertise some product directly. The purpose of it is to somehow influence your customers to generate more business, thus increasing your revenue.
With that in mind, think about how your email newsletter campaigns can help you achieve that goal best. Do you need to attract more new customers? If so, create messages that will encourage readers to share. Do you need to increase customer retention and loyalty? In this case, your letters must contain special offers and valuable information. Apply the same principle to outline the goals you need to achieve through email newsletters.
2. Segment your subscribers
Segmentation is key to better targeting, which, in turn, is essential for making your emails more personalized and therefore effective.
The easiest way to give you data for more effective customer segmentation is a survey. You should email one to your subscribers immediately after signup. Ask what they are interested in outright so your email automation software can add them to different lists accordingly. However, you should also run additional surveys, sending them out occasionally to gather more data.
3. Include videos in your emails
Data shows that including a video into your marketing emails can boost the click-through rate by 300%. And considering the fact that the popularity of watching videos online is growing still, this number might increase in 2019. Therefore,
Bear in mind that for this trick to work, you need to mention the word ‘video’ in the email newsletter subject line. Remember that over the half of marketing emails are opened only because of the subject line. Therefore, you have to make it good and attention-grabbing. You might go with
4. Aim to promote customer loyalty
Nowadays, a business that wants to succeed needs to not only attract new customers but to keep the ones it already has. Maximizing the customer lifecycle is the ultimate goal because new lead converts bring less revenue overall.
Emails can help with this better than any other marketing tool, but only if you can have customers interested in reading them. This means offering value and versatility. Your newsletters must not be limited to news only. Of course, you need to send out notices about discounts, special offers, and new product launches. However, you also need to provide valuable information, like product reviews, ‘how-to’ guides, and relevant industry news.
Always use analytic tools to see which of your emails perform best and correct your strategy according to this data.