What is Email Marketing and How Does It Work?
Email marketing involves sending promotional messages to a large audience through specialized email tools to advertise products or services. The goal is to achieve objectives such as enhancing brand visibility, fostering loyalty and trust, and driving sales.
The concept of email was introduced in 1971, but the use of email for marketing purposes was pioneered by Gary Thuerk in 1978, resulting in $13 million in sales from his campaign.
While email marketing may seem complex, it’s a straightforward process that involves following a series of steps to effectively connect with your target audience. Here’s an outline of how it works:
- Choose an Email Marketing Platform
- Develop Your Subscriber List
- Define Your Campaign Strategy
- Craft Engaging Email Content
- Plan a Sending Schedule
- Launch Your Campaign
- Analyze Performance Metrics
We’ll dive deeper into each step later in this article. But first, let’s quickly explore the advantages of using email marketing.
Read more: Email Marketing: An Expert Guide for Beginners
How to Get Started with Email Marketing from Scratch
To achieve outstanding results, it’s essential to optimize your email marketing efforts. Here’s a guide to developing an effective strategy:
1. Define Your Business Objectives
Email marketing can serve a variety of purposes, but it’s crucial to focus on specific goals for each campaign. Consider what you aim to accomplish, such as:
- Building brand recognition
- Announcing new products
- Encouraging upsells and cross-sells
- Promoting special discounts
- Fostering audience engagement for loyalty
- Soliciting customer feedback
Having a clear objective will help you pinpoint your target audience, determine the content that will resonate with them, and allocate an appropriate budget for your campaign. Additionally, this is the perfect time to establish measurable metrics to assess your campaign’s effectiveness later on.
Commonly used metrics in email marketing include unique opens, bounce rates, unopened emails, click-through rates, unsubscribe rates, shares, and spam complaints. For insights on reducing email bounce rates, click the link provided.
2. Identify Your Target Audience
When launching your email marketing initiatives, the first step is to clearly define your audience.
Understanding who your customers are and what they require is essential, and one effective way to achieve this is by developing buyer personas.
Depending on the nature of your product or service, you may have one or multiple buyer personas. Creating these profiles will involve some research. A great starting point is to conduct surveys and phone interviews with your current customers. Since these individuals are already engaged with your offerings, they provide valuable insights for building accurate profiles.
Another useful resource is the “user map,” a concept introduced by Laura Klein. This visual tool helps you connect customer personas with their needs and stages in the buying process. It’s an incredibly effective method for enhancing your understanding of your audience!
3. Choose Your Campaign Type
Every email marketing campaign should have a clear, singular call to action (CTA) for your audience. It should also consist of a well-structured series of targeted emails designed to capture and sustain customer interest over a specific period.
Selecting the right campaign type is essential to effectively connect with your audience. Consider your goals and the preferences of your target audience when deciding which campaign format to use. Ensure that your CTA aligns with your objectives and drives meaningful action from your customers.
Here are some common types of email campaigns:
- Newsletters
- Promotions or announcements
- Reengagement campaigns
- Content or blog updates
- Automated sequences, such as welcome emails, transactional messages, and more
For instance, if your audience values a sense of connection with your brand, a newsletter can be an excellent tool to keep them informed and engaged.
4. Build Your Email List
You may already have a list of leads to leverage, but if you’re starting from scratch, here are some practical strategies for developing an email list. Even if you have some experience, these tips can help you review the fundamentals of your approach:
- Incorporate Personalized Call-to-Actions (CTAs): Enhance your blog posts and landing pages with tailored CTAs. According to HubSpot, personalized CTAs yield a 42% higher view-to-submission rate compared to generic ones. Examples include offering ebook downloads or interactive quizzes.
- Implement Timed Pop-Ups: While pop-ups can sometimes annoy visitors, a well-timed and thoughtfully designed pop-up can effectively grow your email list. Consider using onsite retargeting techniques, such as displaying pop-ups only for returning visitors and limiting their frequency. Ensure that the pop-up offers something valuable to entice sign-ups.
- Promote Your Newsletter through Emails and Social Media: Include links to your newsletter in your email signature and on social media platforms. This creates opportunities for interested individuals in your network to subscribe. This tactic is particularly effective on social media if you already have an engaged audience eager for more content.
- Increase Your Landing Page Count: Companies experience a 55% boost in leads by expanding their landing page count from 10 to 15. Focus not just on quantity but also on creating landing pages that target specific demographics, leveraging the insights from your buyer personas.
- Develop a Lead Magnet: Offer potential subscribers something of value in exchange for their email addresses and consent. Common lead magnets include downloadable reports or guides, free trials, video training links, and engaging quizzes.
5. Divide Your Audience
Organize your email list by grouping your customers into specific segments. These segments allow you to tailor your messages, increasing the likelihood that recipients will open and interact with your emails.
When creating segments, consider the diversity among your customers and how you can personalize your communication to better resonate with each group. Here are a few examples of useful segmentation strategies:
- Location: For instance, if you’re sending newsletters about community initiatives, you might want to customize the content based on the recipient’s region.
- Demographics: Tailor email subject lines and content to suit the preferences of different age groups.
- Purchase History: Send targeted promotions to customers based on products they’ve bought in the past.
- Shopping Habits: Engage frequent buyers with exclusive deals or rewards.
- Interests: Gather customer preferences (e.g., through a survey) to share personalized recommendations.
- Engagement Levels: Send frequent emails to highly active subscribers without overwhelming them, while using reengagement strategies for less active ones.
Segmenting your audience helps you align your email campaigns with their unique needs, making your marketing efforts more effective and impactful. Personalization is key to maximizing results!
6. Select an Email Marketing Platform
Choosing the right email marketing platform is crucial for achieving the objectives you’ve set for your campaigns. A robust platform streamlines the process of sending emails and evaluating the success of your marketing efforts, consolidating everything you need in one convenient location.
When selecting a platform, ensure it can accommodate your desired scale and offers the level of support necessary for your business. Additionally, identify which features are essential for your needs. Reading reviews of popular email marketing platforms can guide you in finding one that aligns well with your business model.
7. Create Engaging Email Content
After segmenting your email list, it’s time to develop captivating content that will entice your subscribers and encourage them to open your emails. Here are some strategies for crafting engaging email content:
- Craft an Attention-Grabbing Subject Line: Your subject line is the first impression subscribers will have, so make it impactful. Keep it concise, relevant, and intriguing.
- Personalize Your Emails: Address subscribers by their names and adopt a conversational tone. This approach makes your emails feel more intimate and engaging.
- Be Concise: Get straight to the point without overwhelming your subscribers with excessive information.
- Incorporate Strong Visuals: Use images and videos to break up text and enhance the visual appeal of your emails.
- Include a Clear Call to Action: Clearly instruct your subscribers on what action you want them to take, whether it’s clicking a link, making a purchase, or registering for an event.
8. Test and Analyze Your Results
Once your email campaign is live, it’s essential to test and analyze its performance. This process will help you understand what strategies are effective and which areas need improvement for future campaigns. Here are key metrics to monitor:
- Open Rate: The percentage of subscribers who open your emails.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of subscribers who click on links within your email.
- Conversion Rate: The percentage of subscribers who complete the desired action (e.g., making a purchase or filling out a form).
- Bounce Rate: The percentage of emails that could not be delivered.
- Unsubscribe Rate: The percentage of subscribers who opt out of your email list.
To enhance your email campaigns, consider conducting A/B tests to determine what resonates best with your audience. For instance, you can experiment with different subject lines, email layouts, calls to action, and sending times. Use the insights gained from these tests to refine your email strategies and boost overall performance.
9. Plan Your Email Schedule
Creating a schedule ensures your emails are sent at the optimal time, increasing the chances they’ll grab your audience’s attention. The ideal timing for high open rates often depends on your recipients’ location and time zone. Below is a statistical chart, based on HubSpot research, highlighting the best times to reach U.S. audiences.
Avoid sending emails over the weekend, as most people focus on personal matters rather than work-related emails. Instead, aim for weekdays like Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday for better engagement rates.
Tools like weMail can assist you in setting up multiple schedules, allowing you to automate email delivery tailored to various audience segments efficiently.
10. Launch Your Email Marketing Campaigns
With your email content ready, it’s time to roll out your campaigns. Keep the following considerations in mind:
- Select the Optimal Sending Time: Avoid dispatching your emails during periods when your subscribers are likely to be preoccupied, such as early mornings or late evenings.
- Conduct Pre-Launch Tests: Before sending your emails to your entire list, test them with a small group of subscribers to ensure they display correctly and function as intended.
- Track Your Performance: After launching your campaigns, keep an eye on key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates to evaluate how well your emails are performing. Use these insights to enhance your strategy for future campaigns.
