The first ever email was sent in 1971, from one computer to another computer in the same room. It was in 1978 that the first mass mailing was sent out, and it wasn’t until the birth of the internet in 1991 that email marketing took off. However, since then it hasn’t ever really slowed down.
The simple fact that the amount of emails we send has increased, and continues to increase, year on year should show that the platform has plenty of life left in it yet.
With a potential return on investment of up to 4400%, email marketing remains the best way to attract and retain customers.
So how can you make sure that you’re getting the most out of your email marketing?
Monthly Newsletters
This is the most simple and common way to use email marketing. Instead of focusing on sales, use this platform to connect with your subscribers. Provide them with quality content in order to keep that connected and engaged. It will indirectly encourage people to make a purchase through building loyalty and trust- not because you are selling to them.
You can also use a monthly email as a way to drive website traffic through the use of a strong call-to-action.
Segment your Audience in order to be More Specific
You should send out emails with messages tailored to the audience. Segment by as many demographics and interests as possible in order to identify what type of content and offers would attract them.
Segmenting your email list is an easy and cost-effective way to give your audience the content they want and how often they want it which will most likely get you better responses and higher open rates.
Allow Sign-Ups to Specific Topics
This is almost equivalent to segmenting your audience before they even sign up.
If you add in a sign-up form to your email newsletter, which asks your subscribers what topics they would like to hear about, then this means that you can ensure you’re only sending your subscribers relevant content. It may reduce the amount of recipients you have for certain mail-outs, but what’s the point of sending people content that they are only going to ignore?
Implement Annual Email Scrubbing
Email scrubbing just means removing any unengaged subscribers from your email list. Now a days many businesses are too precious with their mailing lists, and they are reluctant to loose any valuable data. But truth is, if the people you’re emailing aren’t even opening your emails, then this is no longer valuable data.
By removing any dead wood from the list, you will increase open rates and click rates. Even if no extra people are opening your emails, the ones who are will now make up a bigger percentage of the total emails sent. It will save you money too as most email marketing services charge based on amount of emails sent.
Use A/B Testing
In the context of email, A/B testing is the process of sending two different variations of your email campaign to two different subsets of subscribers in order to see which variation of the campaign gets the best results.
When it comes to A/B testing your emails, one thing you should always keep in mind is that small changes can make a big difference.
In order to increase open rate you should focus your A/B testing on the subject line, as this is what will make a person decide whether they are going to open an email or not.
Be Aware of GDPR
Brought in in May 2018, the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has had a direct impact on marketing practices, including email marketing.
Email marketing under GDPR essentially means that, as an email marketer, you need to collect freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous consent.
You should adopt new processes which include opt-in forms, proof of consent storing systems, and a method through which people can ask to remove their personal information.
There are also many other things to be aware of, such as needing an Unsubscribe option, and a contactable return email address, and much more.
You can find a detailed guide to GDPR here.
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