What is Email Marketing?
It is a cost-effective form of marketing by using email to send out information, sales and promotions to a targeted group of people, usually consisting of customers or potential customers.
Why use email marketing?
There are 3 main objectives companies use email marketing for: to build customer loyalty, instill trust & build brand awareness. The purpose is to enhance the relationship with current or previous customers, strengthen customer loyalty by increasing repeat business, attract new customers and persuade customers to purchase something immediately by a promotion or limited time offer.[i]
IMPORTANT DISCLOSUE:
Businesses are required to comply with various data protection legislation such as PIPEDA and GDPR. Please note that legislation various state by state.[i]
It is important not to overuse email marketing, as receiving an overload of marketing emails that are irrelevant or too frequent can put customers off and push them to unsubscribe. Put together a plan or strategy that includes specific goals, messaging, dates and frequency of emails that will be sent. There are many email marketing campaign services on the market that are easy to use and can help with building your campaigns. They come with ready to use templates, automation, list segmentation and easy to read reports on how your emails preformed. Here are a few suggestions that come with free trials to test out:
What does an email “open rate” mean?
Email “open rate” is the percentage of customers who opened your email campaign. The percentage is calculated based on the number of people who received your campaign and opened it. For example, if you sent 10 customers your campaign and 3 customers opened it, your open rate is 30%. A good open rate is typically between 15-25%.[i]
What can affect my open rate?
The most important factors that affect the open rate of email campaigns are the subject line, pretext headers and who the email is from. This is due to the fact that customers see these 3 items first in their inbox before they open an email. These 3 elements are the key factors in determining whether someone opens an email or deletes it.
Your “Subject line” is the most important pieces to help increase your ‘open rate’. This is the first piece of information the customer will read to determine if they will open your email to find out more. Include the most interesting part of your email here, make it fun or witty so it sparks interest.
Next is “Pretext Header”, which automatically pulls the first lines of the text in your email, to provide the recipient a preview of what your email is about. If you subscribe to an email marketing service (see above suggestions), there is a field where they allow you to customize your “Pretext Header”.
What is CTR?
CTR stands for “click through rate”, which is the percentage of customers who clicked on a link or image in your email. An average CTR is about 2.5% conversion.
What can affect my CTR?
Having eye catching content that is colorful, engaging and a clear, concise and relevant to the message to your customer are very important to quickly get the message across without confusion. Next you need a “call to action”. This is telling your customer what you would like them to do next. This usually is in a button form, on your email that links to an online source, such as your website, your social media, a blog article, etc. Examples of “call to action” can be: Book your appointment now, click to view new styles or subscribe for 10% off your next purchase.
Smart phones make it easy for everyone to check their email no matter where they are. This is why email marketing is necessary and so effective. You can target your customer directly to their inbox. Traditional marketing methods such as print ads, mailers and billboards cannot guarantee delivery directly to a customer, especially for the same price. With many service providers to choose from, you can find one that fits your budget and ready to use templates that will make you look like a pro!
[i] https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/knowledge-base/what-are-the-average-click-and-read-rates-for-email-campaigns/
[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_privacy_law
[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_marketing
