One of the most powerful forms of market at the disposal of every entrepreneur and business is email. Email still remains one of the top channels available, and can outperform other avenues and for a lot less cost. In fact, one of the most powerful aspects of email marketing is how cheap it is to get started. Services like Mailchimp offer free plans, and other services start from only a couple of bucks of month. Despite all this, most businesses are not properly utilizing email to its fullest, in many cases because they simply don’t know how to.
Today’s consumer is smarter than ever, and gimmicky sales emails get immediately junked. A successful email campaign is one that is able to engage with the reader, while at the same time driving conversions; not an easy feat! Today we’re going to look at the 7 steps you can take to start your own killer email campaign.
1. Know Your Goals and Audience
The first thing to understand is the goal of the campaign your setting up. By understanding your goal you can better tailor your message to the audience. Here’s a couple of common ones we’ve all probably seen.
Welcome New Users
The standard email welcoming new users is a popular one. You can take this a step further by creating a whole campaign around the welcome, which is shown to boost user retention. For example, a web application might have a 7 day getting started series that introduces new features each day.
Boost Engagement
Great for announcing new posts, products, and other things. Emails targeting engagement are a great way to keep older subscribers interested in what you have to say.
Sell a Product
There’s nothing wrong with trying to sell to your subscriber base from time to time. Generally, you want to have some sort of build up or flow that prepares your readers and gets them excited to buy.
Refine Subs
A less used one, but there’s always room to get more granular with your data. If you’re someone who has several different products it might be time to segment your list down which help with writing more targeted emails later on.
These are just a couple of popular goals you might have when creating your email campaign. In many cases, they might not be as cut and dry as this; you might for example have a series that is both a welcome series, but also aims to sell a product to the subscriber. It’s okay to mix and match, do what works for your business.
The reason it’s so important to know your goals is it both gives you some to measure progress, but it also helps you tailor your emails. You want to tailor each email to push closer to that goal, and it’s hard to do that if you don’t know it.
You also want to keep in mind when thinking about your goal is who your audience is. You want to make sure that the emails are written towards your goal, and towards your audience. The way you write to a group of stay at home moms is probably going to be very different than a group of truck drivers. This is a pretty extreme example, but you get the point. Write in a way that encourages your unique user base to do whatever it takes to accomplish your unique goals.
It’s also important to further refine your list as time goes on. You might make sales to some, none to others, or find certain demographics respond better to certain emails. This is a good chance to segment your list, which breaks it down into sub-list by a certain criteria. By doing this, you have the ability to create more targeted emails later on.
2. Create a Killer Offer
Almost every email marketing campaign needs to have some sort of offer. There needs to be a reason why someone is giving your their email address, typically they want something in return. This is sometime called the lead magnet, in that it sucks in leads to your email list.
Now, your offer doesn’t have to be something crazy. Maybe they get updates when you post a new article on your blog? Things as simple as that might entice the right user base, it all depends on who your audience is. If you want to get a bit more creative putting together things like PDFs or training videos are also very popular ideas that are tried and true. It really depends.
To give you a quick compare and contrast, take a look at Theindoorgardens.com. At this site we have a simple “Subscribe to our mailing list”, on which we provide updates on articles and simple gardening tips. This works because this is a very content heavy site, and people coming to it and spending time on it are necessarily interested in gardening tips and content. Now if we look at another site Totalwebconnections.com we offer a PDF for website tips upon signing up. This is tailored to our target market, and serves a more important role than a simple newsletter.
Building off point one, knowing your audience here is absolutely crucial. If you don’t, then you won’t be able to create an enticing offer for them. You need to be able to create something that gets your audience excited, and if you can’t your campaign is going to be dead on arrival. Even the most well thought out campaign is going to be useless if you have no subscribers. This makes this probably the single most important step in the whole process. If you don’t nail this, you’re going to miss out on subscribers, which means your efforts on the rest of the steps is going to be missing it’s potential.
Seriously, sit down right now and brainstorm 5 offers that would excite your target market. You’ll thank yourself later.
3. Great a Great Headline and Copy
Now it’s time to start finally writing your campaign. Every great campaign has two key pieces of content, the headline and the body copy. Each of these is important, and having one without the other is a sure fire way to fall flat. Each of probably deserves a whole article on it’s own, so look out for that here shortly. In the meantime, we’ll briefly touch on each one an examine what’s important.
Headlines
The headline is where everything starts, and what initially gets your readers attention. Without a good headline no one is going to read your email in the first place. This is incredibly important as it’s amazing how many emails the average person gets each day; it’s so easy to get lost in the noise.
Good headline writing is an art that takes time to master, but there’s a couple of things you can do right away to get better at it.
First off, always keep your audience in mind. You want to tailor your subject line to something you feel will appeal to your readers. Different groups of people will respond to different things, so make sure you’re writing to the audience you have.
Next, make sure you’re also providing some sort of value in your subject line. There needs to be a reason why your reader is opening that email. This is going back to both knowing your audience, as well as going back and relating to your offer proposition when they signed up. All of this needs to be in line and working together.
Another good technique is to use utilize the power of numbers. Studies have show that users respond well to numbers, and are more likely to open an email that has numbers in it. This is also why you’ll see so many articles written like [5] ways to do X. Numbers pique readers interest, and can help increase your open rate.
There’s definitely more to it, but that’s a good place to start. If you want to learn more, we have a dedicated article on writing email headlines.
Copy
Once the reader has opened your email you want to keep their interest and further your goals. Writing copy is once again an art on its own, but we’ll do our best to get you started.
First off, like the headline, you want to tailor the actual email content to your audience and goals. Make sure the language you use meshes with your audience while also pushing them towards your goals. We’ve touched on this a bunch as it’s super important, tailor what you write to the audience you’re writing for.
Next, try not to come off too “salesy”. A lot of users are desensitized to sales types emails, and if they feel like they’re being sold to many readers will simply stop there. Your goal might be to sell something, but take some time to connect with your user and make them feel like you’re not just a faceless corporation.
Building on that, don’t be afraid to inject a sense of your personality into your emails. A small joke or something similar can really help to connect with the user and show the person behind the screen.
Last up, make sure to provide a clear call to action in the email. This can be anything from a simple link, to asking them to take an outside action, or just to read your next email. People are more likely to take action if they’re explicitly prompted to do so. If you just include a link without telling your reader “Hey click this” the amount of readers doing so will be significantly less.
4. Tailor Your Emails Design
A good email is not only the text, but in a lot of cases incorporates design elements. Good design helps entice users to take specific actions, and emails are no different. A well designed email is a pleasure to read. Let’s take a look at a few tips to design great emails. A word of note, most email marketing services are going to come with pre-built email templates for different goals. In many cases, using these is a great start, and might only require a little tweaking to make perfect. Don’t be afraid to piggyback off of what they’ve done, and save yourself some time.
Keep It Simple
Emails don’t have a lot of room to display info, and you only have a few seconds to grab a reader’s attention. Nothing is going to be a bigger turnoff than trying to get too fancy or shoving too much info into the small space allotted. Err on the side of caution, and keep your designs simple. Going for a more minimalist approach is a good way to add some style, while still keeping your content the focal point of the email. Less is more in a lot of cases here.
Do Style Your Call To Actions
Whatever your call to action is, make sure it stands out and draws the eye. Giving it a large button that links out is common, but doing something like adding a contrasting text color is also good. You want to make sure your users can easily see what to do next, even if they just skim over the copy.
Do Use Images, But Plan For Them To Not Work
Images are another good way to add some nice visuals, but they won’t always work. Many email clients will not automatically download images, and not all users will choose to do so. That’s not to say you can’t use images in your emails, many do to great effect, but make sure the key points of your email still display if the images are turned off.
Keep Your Emails Consistent
Unless you have good reason to, keeping your emails consistent helps keep the user engaged. This is just a principle of good design, users like things they are familiar with. For example, keeping your colors and and layout consistent between emails is not lazy but just good branding.
5. Follow Up Effectively
A Single email does not a campaign make. If you’re writing an email campaign you need to keep in mind the chain of emails that a reader is getting. An effective campaign nurtures a lead across various emails, and gives you the best chance to get them to take the action of your choice.
Build Off Each Other
A good email chain builds off of the previous email in each new one. Maybe you’re drip feeding a 7 step process, 1 every few days for a week or two. Each email brings the user close to the end goal. You want to keep in mind the previous emails you user has received, and make sure future emails build off that and don’t just recycle the same knowledge. If you hit a user with same thing multiple times there’s a good chance they won’t keep reading your emails. That’s not to say you can’t gently remind them or reiterate an important point, but make sure to do so with enough tact that it doesn’t come off as repeat info.
Timing Is Important
You also want to keep in mind how often you’re sending emails. Depending on your audience, goal, and message, everything from once per day to once a week are popular timings. You might even decide to go more with multiple emails per day, or less with one per month. It all really depends on your unique audience, and is something you want to test to find the sweet spot. No one can tell for certain what will work best, so don’t be afraid to switch it up and measure the results.
You also shouldn’t be afraid to switch the frequency after certain milestones. For example, a new subscriber might get one per day for the first week, and then gradually taper off to only getting one per week after that. This can help keep them engaged early when you’re fresh in their mind, and then continue to nudge them without being too aggressive. Once again, test it out, measure the results, and find the sweet spot for you.
6. Know When To Sell
While building an email list is certainly a dance, there’s got to be a time where you finally decide it’s time to go for the sale, or click, or whatever else your end goal is. Timing is important here, too soon or too late and there’s a good chance you’ll blow the sale.
Help Them Understand The Value
While every situation is unique, a good rule of thumb is to wait until they understand what it truly is you’re trying to offer them. This is also a good place to tie back in the freebie that initially got them started on the list. You can also use this to help sell your future service down the road, can help get them stay excited about what you offer.
Have a Backup Plan
Not everyone is going to buy from you, and that’s okay! The key is to have a follow up plan as you never know when your reader will decide to be a buyer. If you have users that aren’t buying what you’re selling move them to a new list that looks to nurture a longer term relationship, then see if you can sway them in the future. Neglecting segments of your list is a good way to leave money on the table.
Plan The Next Track
It’s also important here to keep in mind what the next step is. For example, if you’re trying to sell something it doesn’t make sense to keep trying to sell to the same reader. Many people will neglect readers that have bought, but that’s a big mistake. Instead, continue to keep in touch with them. Maybe offer them tips on what they just bought, or simply keep them on an updates list. Most email marketing software allows you to setup triggers which can automatically move users after they complete a certain action. This keeps your users engage by always providing them relevant content, and keeps the option open to sell to them again in the future.
7. Test, Track, and Test Again
Last on this list, but something that you should always be doing is tracking and testing. You never know what’s actually working unless you’re able to put numbers against it. That’s why it’s important to keep track of what’s working and what’s not. Luckily, most email marketing software has these sort of statistics baked in, so it’s easy for you to see at glance.
Set Goals
First off, set goals on what you hope to achieve. This can be overall, as well as individual metrics. You might set an overall goal of 3 sales a week, while further refine that to get your open rate to 75%, just as an example. Having goals makes the numbers more meaningful as it gives you something concrete to compare it against. We have an article dedicated to setting SMART goals that I reccommend to help you set actionable and trackable goals.
Don’t Be Afraid To Experiment
It’s okay to try new things and see what works. The key is you’re not just making changes in a vacuum, but comparing them against past performance to see if it’s a viable change. You never really know what’s going to work until you try it. Most software also gives you the ability to create sub-lists off your main list, so you can create an experimental group so you can test on a small subset before trying on your whole readership.
Little Tweaks Make All The Difference
In a lot of cases, small tweaks make the biggest difference, so don’t overlook testing out subtle changes. A simple rewording of your headline might be all it takes to drive more opens. Not all changes have to be big, a few words is enough to warrant a test.
A/B Testing (split)
A popular kind of testing is A/B or split testing. In this test you’ll create two separate groups, and show them each a different version of the email. The message will be the same, but maybe the headline, copy, or design is slightly different between the two. You then compare the results, and use the one that performed better. This is a very popular testing for email marketers, as it allows them to quickly decide which versions are better. In a lot of cases, all the tests you do will end up being a split test as you’ll be comparing the new performance versus the old performance.
Start Your Email Marketing Campaign
While there is certainly more to it, this should hopefully give you a high level overview of some of the considerations when creating your own email marketing campaign. It’s certainly a lot to learn, but it’s definitely worth it long term. Having a large targeted list to market to is a great asset, and why so many businesses are constantly trying to collect emails. If you’re not already doing it, there’s no better time to start than today!