The first email marketing , sent in 1978, generated sales of 13 million dollars and gave life to one of the most used marketing channels, even today. Because of its four – decade history, email is not as flashy as other newer channels such as messaging services or social networks, but it is still a very effective way to have an engaged audience that generates good results.
E-mail has not come to an end. It is one of the few marketing channels we can use to generate a real connection with the people who keep our business running.
Email marketing is not spam, but neither is a personal note from a former colleague; it is an intermediate channel. Your customers do not provide your personal information easily, so if you use it correctly, email marketing can help you build relationships with them and generate more profit.
You should use this tool to improve relations with all members of your list by offering valuable and relevant information to help them achieve their goals.
Remember that what is important in email marketing is not your business, but your customers.
If you can focus your attention on them, subscribers will not only read your e-mails, but anxious wait for the next updates of your company.
Consider why email marketing is one of the most important elements of your marketing strategy and how you can use it responsibly and effectively.
There are 3.8 million email users worldwide; therefore, if you want a good way to reach your customers, this is the perfect way to do it. On average, the email generated $ 38 per dollar spent, representing an ROI of 3,800%.
Here are some statistics that show the great effectiveness of email marketing:
Unless you have the human resources and time needed to establish personal and individual relationship with each of your prospects and customers, e-mail should be your best ally marketing capital.
These are some of the ways you can (and should) use email:
Before overwhelm with the wide variety of possibilities offered by email marketing, we explain some aspects so you can start creating a great email campaign that delight your customers.
Each of your clients receive 121 emails every day. That means that if you do not spend the time needed to develop a strategy, your emails will be lost in trays filled message entries or, what is worse, they end up in the spam folder.
You can discover how to create an effective email strategy and send messages to users really interested. All you need is a plan that can be divided into different categories.
Consider the following six categories as an outline of your marketing strategy. Then we analyze them in depth.
An email is only effective if relevant. Like most marketing process begins with your buyer person , includes searching and adapt your email campaign to your needs.
Before developing your campaign objectives, it brings a little more context. Investigates the average email statistics in your industry and use them as reference points for your goals.
Email marketing to be effective, you must first have a base of contacts interested. An email list is a group of users who have given you permission to send relevant content. To create that list, you need to offer different ways for prospects voluntarily subscribe to receive your messages.
It is normal that at first only have a few users on your list. Develop a solid list may take some time. Meanwhile, treats each subscriber and sales opportunity as unique, and you’ll soon see how your list grows organically.
There are many types of email campaigns and choosing one is not easy. Would you like to send a weekly newsletter? You should send new product announcements? Which of your blog posts are relevant enough to share?
All marketers these questions are asked once, but the answer is subjective. First, you could analyze in depth what are the different types of email campaigns and then decide which is best for your audience. You could also create multiple lists for different types of mail, so that customers and prospects can register only emails that are relevant to them.
It sets how often you plan to contact your user list, infórmaselo your audience in advance to set expectations and respects a consistent program to build trust and become a constant choice for your customers.
This is totally normal for marketers we tend to measure everything we do. If you are careful with every key metric, you can make small changes to your emails that will result in great results. Later, we will discuss what the key performance indicators (KPI) that you are monitoring.
This is often the most fun part: fill your mailing list with prospects interested and committed to looking forward to your communications.
There are many creative ways to develop your list of emails (and buy mailing lists will never be one of them). Strategically, creating a list consists of two key elements that work cohesively to expand the number of subscribers: magnets sales opportunities and voluntary subscription forms.
A magnet sales opportunities is exactly what its name suggests: an element that attracts prospects to your list of emails, usually through a free offer. The offer may have different formats, you must be valuable to your prospects and should offer it for free in exchange for the email address of the user.
The only problem is that users increasingly protect your personal information. You can not expect to receive an e-mail without offering valuable content.
Think of a magnet sales opportunities that is relevant, useful and facilitate the life of your prospects.
These are some of the types of magnets you can create:
If you do not have enough resources, you can reuse your existing content to create sales opportunities magnets .
Remember that your magnet opportunities should be relevant to your prospects. Here are some important guidelines to ensure you create valuable content for your potential list.
It provides practical information to solve a problem and a realistic method to achieve the solution.
Magnets sales opportunities should be delivered in digital format. Either a PDF, a website, video, or some other format, it is important that your new sales opportunity to get content easily and consume.
There is nothing worse than signing up for a great deal and become disillusioned with the time to receive low-quality content. Make sure your offer is aligned with the value you offer them throughout your relationship with the prospect, because, otherwise put at risk your credibility.
The ultimate goal of your email list is to direct subscribers to a pay offer. The purpose of offering free content is to demonstrate the value that your company can provide and your free offers should lead to sales opportunities your product or service.
Each new sale opportunity will be at a stage of the tour of the buyer different and your responsibility is to know. Segmenting your list from the beginning to provide different subscription offers depending on each stage of the route of the buyer. You’d be surprised what you can learn about the attitude of a prospectus according to the content they consume.
Your subscription form is how you get information from a prospect to add to your list. It is the gate that divides your future sales opportunities of incredible material you’ve created for them.
Your form must be consistent with your brand stand out on the page and convince users to subscribe. You must make readers really want to get the offer.
While your goal is that users will provide your information, you should not deceive them. All the information you put on your form should be a faithful representation of your offer.
Perhaps this is one of your first interactions with the prospect, so you should not overwhelm with too extensive form with multiple fields. Apply only the most basic information such as name and email address.
Perhaps you think it is counterproductive to ask your subscribers to register twice your email, but a study on open rates showed that most customers prefer to receive a mail subscription confirmed , instead of a welcome email .
Before starting your strategy, complete yourself every step that makes the user experience. Verify that the form works as expected, the Thank You page is active and that your offer is delivered as you promised. This is one of the first impressions that the new sales opportunity will have on your company, so make sure it is professional and positive.
If you follow all the tips properly, you create a consolidated view of subscribers and sales opportunities that are really interested to receive your message list. However, you can not start sending emails immediately, unless you want your messages end up in the spam folder or a list of blocked emails.
These are some very important factors you should consider before you start sending messages to that list so valuable subscribers in which you have invested so much effort.
When you send emails to your friends, it is normal that do not give much importance to the format or the subject line of messages. However, post marketing email campaigns are very different. There are many important factors, from the time in which you send mail to devices that use the recipients to open the message.
Your objective in relation to all emails is to generate more sales opportunities , so developing an email marketing is a process that requires much more time and attention than any other type of communication.
Consider the components of an effective email marketing:
Subject line: using an attractive, practical and clear language that is personalized and consistent with the body of the email.
Text: text body of your email should be consistent with the voice of your brand and should be based on a single topic.
Images: select relevant and striking images that are optimized for all devices.
CTA: Your call to action should be redirected to a relevant offer and stand out from the rest of the mail.
Right time: according to a study in which response rates of 20 million emails, the best day and time were analyzed to send a message is Tuesday at 11.00.
Responsiveness : 55% of emails are opened on mobile devices . Therefore, your email should be optimized for all types of devices.
Customization: writes each email as if you were to send a friend. Be nice and go to the player using a familiar tone.
Segmentation involves dividing your entire email list into subcategories that suit the characteristics, preferences and interests of your subscribers only.
After all, our subscribers are people and we should do everything in our power to treat them as such. That means no generic send mass messages.
Segmentation is so important because without this resource, you run the risk of sending wrong content to the wrong people and lose subscribers.
All users who register to receive your emails are on a different level to become customers (which, after all, is the most important objective of any strategy) preparation.
If you send a discount coupon for your product to subscribers who have not yet discovered what exactly is your problem, it is likely to miss. That’s because you’d be leaving out a very important part in the process, which must build trust and develop a meaningful relationship with prospects.
All emails you send should try to subscribers as people, not as a group of equal opportunities that you intend to contact the same way.
The more segmentes your list will generate more confidence in your sales opportunities and the easier they become.
In addition, the segmented emails generated 58% of total revenues .
The first step of segmentation is to create opportunities magnets independent sales and subscription forms part of the route for each buyer. That way, your contacts are automatically divided into separate lists.
In addition, email marketing platforms allow you to segment your email list by behavior data and contacts to help you send the right messages to the appropriate recipients.
These are some of the ways you can segment your list:
In fact, you can segment your list the way you prefer. When sending emails to each subgroup, be sure to be as exclusive as possible.
Now that you know who the recipients and what is most important to them, it will be much easier to send messages with custom details.
While it is true that you go to more than 100 people at one time, your contacts do not have to know.
To better understand this, consider the following: custom email open rates get one rate improved 14% compared with generic messages.
You have collected many unique details and your email marketing software lets you use tabs customization . That means you have no excuse not to send personalized emails and make your recipients feel special.
Here are some ways to customize your emails:
Automation is put segmenting your list into action. Once you’ve created specific subgroups, you can send highly targeted emails automated. Here are some ways to do it:
This system, also known as gradual campaign is a series of emails that are sent automatically once activates a certain action, such as when someone downloads your ebook.
Use the same guidelines as previously indicated to compose your emails so that they are useful and interesting for your readers. You should determine how often you want to send your emails; for example, after a few days, weeks or even months.
The best system autoresponders is that you do nothing more than set. All users who are part of your system receive all emails you have added to the series.
Workflows significantly improve the system of automatic responses. Think about the workflows as an outline with bifurcations Yes / No to execute actions based on the criteria you set.
Workflows have two key components: 1. Criteria for enrollment ; ie, the action that qualifies a user to be added to the workflow. 2. Objective ; It ie the action that removes the user’s workflow.
Workflow tools are smart enough to know if a user opened an email or downloaded an offer, and trigger a series of actions based on that behavior. That means you can send a series of emails or even change the life cycle stage of a prospectus by their actions.
This is an example of how you can set up a workflow:
Source: HubSpot
The main difference with the systems of automatic responses is that workflows are intelligent; ie they can change the course of your automated depending on what is most useful and relevant to your prospect series. For example, if a new subscriber receive a welcome email and configuration indicates that the following email is an offer, but already downloaded on your site, the tool will workflows that information and adapt its action. In a system of automatic responses, users receive a set of default at specific time intervals emails, regardless of the actions carried out.
Why is this important? Send the correct email at a bad time negative impact on the final outcome of your business. Companies receive a 20% increase in their income when they send emails based on life cycle stages.
Email rules establish the consumer needs to know how and why your information is used . Nothing matters more than meet what our customers (and potential customers) want.
Technically, CAN-SPAM is an acronym for “Control of Pornography and Marketing attack Unsolicited”.
In practice, this rule is a way to protect the rights of your subscribers to receive only emails you have requested.
This law was passed in 2003 and applies to all business emails sent for commercial purposes.
These are some of the ways you can ensure that your emails comply with CAN-SPAM regulations:
Note: This article should not be considered legal advice. Check the site FTC for more legal information on the CAN-SPAM Act.
“Compliance with the RGPD goes hand in methodology inbound business world,” said Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot.
While many professionals consider these new rules email as harmful and unnecessary, General Data Protection Regulation (RGPD) actually makes it easier for companies to establish loyal and lasting relationships with their customers.
The main objective of RGPD is to offer customers the right to choose; it is they who must choose to receive your mail, your news or your products. And that precisely is based inbound marketing.
It is noteworthy that the RGPD is valid only for companies that conduct business in the European Union and for organizations that manage data of EU citizens. Failure to comply with this rule results in significant fines, so be sure to read all the guidelines RGPD .
This is a brief overview of how you can ensure compliance with the rules of RGPD:
These standards are very important, so you should create a strategy RGPD for your business before you start sending emails.
Spend a lot of time creating the perfect email that complies with all regulations, so it would be a shame to end your message filed in a spam folder.
You should avoid spam filters for different reasons:
To prevent messages end up in your spam folder, follow these tips:
A whitelist is the exact opposite of a blacklist; This is a list of approved senders that are authorized to be sent to the inbox of subscribers. The simplest way to do this is by asking the new subscriber to add your email address to your address book. It includes instructions on how to do this in your welcome email.
Avoid using all capital letters and multiple exclamation points, as well as words that trigger spam filterSuch as “subscribe”, “then click” or “request”, terms that are easy to detect and block by Internet service providers.
The reputation of your service provider can affect your email deliverability, so be sure to use only known and trusted companies.
After a user voluntarily subscribe to your email list, send an email requesting confirmation. So, you make sure that your new subscriber is really committed to your company and interested in receiving your emails.
Check out other ways to avoid spam filter .
All marketers love to analyze everything that is within our reach. This allows us to evaluate our marketing decisions and justify our work to the rest of the company.
These are some of the best ways to analyze the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.
Not all email lists are created in the same way. Some audiences prefer customization, while others consider it spam. Some users like CTA buttons colorful and flashy, while others prefer to call buttons to the discrete action.
You never know what kind of audience up your list until you try variants. This is where testing A / B come into play.
These tests, also known as Segmented tests are a method to find out what type of email works best with your audience by analyzing the results of mail A mail compared to B.
This is the step by step process to perform A / B tests of your emails:
Most service providers will email / B testing built into their software, which makes it much easier for you to compare the results without doing too much manual labor.
There are four key metrics that you should keep in mind when evaluating the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign.
There are many factors that affect your key performance indicators, and you should experiment and investigate what changes in your emails will cause major changes.
If you do not get the results you want, try these variants try to improve the results of your emails .
Deliverability
Opening rate
Clickthrough rate
Subscription cancellations
It serves not collect a lot of data if you can not organize them properly.
A report email marketing is a worksheet where you can record your results. This report will help you draw conclusions about your key performance indicators and execute the appropriate actions to improve them.
Then you can see how to organize your report:
Email marketing rules vary depending on your industry and your audience. Here you can see some trends in email marketing for B2B, B2C ecommerce and real estate that can contribute to your email marketing strategy.
Now that you understand all aspects of email marketing, you must select a company that offers everything you need to create the best email marketing strategy . When choosing a service provider email, make sure you have the following characteristics:
Templates facilitate the work of design, coding and definition of the user experience of your emails. Unless you have extensive knowledge of web design or development, templates will help you save time.
One caveat: When making your selection, choose the email templates that have proven effective. Quality templates come from recognized and reliable ESP that have tested thousands of other alternatives. So you know: always stay with professionals.
Some of the best email marketing campaigns have used all outstanding advice we develop in this publication. Check out some excellent examples of email marketing and get inspiration for your next campaign.
While there are many rules to email marketing, always remember that the most important thing is to treat your subscribers as people.
You can achieve all your goals email marketing if you apply this golden rule in all your automatic responses, magnets sales opportunities and subject lines.
Your subscribers actually want to receive your news and interact with you. If you can become a genuine resource, your audience will wait anxiously to receive and open an email from your brand.