Email is an important part of digital marketing. It allows you to create multiple touchpoints with your audience, and when done well, can give you a great return on investment.
Getting your email marketing right isn’t always easy, but these five steps can help.
Onsite Content
Before you look at your email content, it’s important to ask yourself why people sign up for your email marketing campaigns in the first place.
They do so because you’ve convinced them you offer something valuable to them.
One of the best ways to convince people of this is by creating high-quality onsite content. If you answer people’s questions and solve their problems on your website, then they’re going to expect the same from your email newsletters, so they have a reason to sign up.
Lead Magnet
Hopefully, your amazing content will be enough to convince people they should sign up for your emails, but that’s not always the case. People are protective about their inboxes and wary of giving out their email addresses.
One of the ways you can overcome this weariness is by offering a lead magnet.
This is a free piece of content you offer someone when they sign up for your email campaigns. What you offer them is up to you, but make sure it’s valuable to the user.
If you get someone’s email by promising them something useful and don’t follow through, then it’s not a good place to begin a relationship (what you’re trying to cultivate with your email marketing).
Easy Sign Up
Once you’ve convinced someone they should sign up for your email marketing, you need to make it as easy as possible for them.
It’s similar to when someone buys a product online. They’ve gone through a complicated decision process that’s led them to make the purchase, but if you make it difficult for them to complete the transaction, then they’re going to question whether it’s worth the effort.
Keep sign-up forms simple, and don’t overcomplicate the process.
Offer Value
Getting people to sign up is only step one in the process. You can have tens of thousands of subscribers, but if none of them open your emails, then it’s all for nothing.
You’ve convinced people that you offer them value, so you’ve got to follow through on this with your emails. If each email is jam-packed with useful advice, then you’re going to get people engaging with your campaigns.
An important part of this is personalization, so make sure you’re treating people like individuals by using segmentation and email signature manager software.
Set Expectations
What should people expect from your email communication?
Often, we sign up for things, and we don’t really know what we’re going to get. If you’re clear about what you offer, then people have a picture of what to expect, and this can make them much more open to what you’re trying to achieve.
Set expectations early and follow through with what you say you’re going to do.
