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How to build an Successful email Marketing strategy
Step 1: Know your audience
- Start with your buyer persona like
- Who are your email subscribers?
- Which segment of your subscribers are you targeting
- Where are your subscribers reading your emails? Desktop or Mobile?
- Understand what they want
Step 2: Set your Goal
- Identify the purpose of your efforts like
- What is it that you want to achieve for your organization with email marketing?
- What is the overall goal of the campaign?
- How does this campaign align with my organization’s high-level business objectives
- Identify the metrics to measure the goal. Common email marketing metrics include
- Open Rate: How many subscribers opened your email
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): How many subscribers clicked on a link or offer within the email
- Conversion Rate: How many subscribers clicked on a link within your email and completed the desired action
- List Growth Rate: The rate at which your email subscriber with is growing
- Email ROI: The overall return on investment for your email campaign
- The above goal is:
- Specific: You know exactly what should be done and how to do it.
- Measurable: Your goal should be measurable through a analytics software
- Attainable: You trust that you can improve upon this metric by 1% within the given time frame.
- Relevant: Your goal should be align with organization's overall business objectives.
- Time-bound: Goal must have a start date and end date
Step 3: How to Build Your Email List
- 1) Use lead magnets: Lead Magnet attracts prospects to your email list, usually in the form of a free offer. The offer can take a number of formats, that should be valuable to your prospects, and is given away for free in exchange for an email address. Few types of lead magnets you could create:
- Ebook
- Whitepaper
- Infographic
- Report or Study
- Checklist
- Template
- Webinar or Course or tools
- Keep in mind while Creating a Great Lead Magnet
- Make sure that your lead magnet should be relevant to your prospects.
- Provide practical information that solves a problem and creates a realistic way to achieve the solution.
- Ensure that the asset is easy to consume
- Lead magnets should be delivered in a digital format like PDF, a webpage, a video, or some other format, make it easy for your new lead to obtain and consume it.
- Make sure your offer is aligned with the value that you will provide throughout your relationship, otherwise you risk damaging trust.
- Create lead magnet as a stepping stone to your paid solution
- You offer free content to demonstrate the value that you provide as a company, and those free offers should eventually lead to your product or service.
- Create offers that are relevant to each stage of the buyer’s journey.
- 2) Create an enticing opt-in form: You get a prospect’s information through opt-in form and the data is added in your list
- Create an attractive design and attention-grabbing header
- Information on your form should be relevant and truthful representation of the offer
- Keep the form simple, Ask for only the most essential information: first name and email etc
- Ask your subscribers to opt in to their emails
- Ensure that the flow works, double-check that the form works as intended, the thank you page is live, and your offer is delivered as promised.
Step 4: How to Send Marketing Emails
- 1) Choose an email marketing service
- An email marketing provider (ESP) is a resource required to efficiently create, personalize, and optimize marketing emails that feel and look professional without designers or IT
- A good email marketing provider generally provide following features
- CRM platform with segmentation capabilities
- A good reputation as an email service provider (ESP)
- Easy-to-build forms, landing pages, and CTAs
- Automation
- Simple steps to comply with email regulations
- Ability to split test your emails
- Built-in analytics
- Downloadable reports
- 2) Use email marketing tips
- Copy: The copy in the body of your email should be consistent with your voice and stick to only one topic
- Images: Choose images that are optimized for all devices, eye-catching, and relevant
- CTA: Your call-to-action should lead to a relevant offer and stand out from the rest of the email.
- Timing: Based on a study, Tuesday at 11 AM ET is the best day and time to send your email.
- Responsiveness: 55% of emails are opened on mobile. Your email should be optimized for mobile devices.
- Personalization: Write every email like you’re sending it to a friend. Be personable and address your reader in a familiar tone.
- Subject Line: Use clear, actionable, enticing language that is personalized and aligned with the body of the email.
- 3) Implement email segmentation.
- Segmentation is breaking up your large email list into sub-categories that are according to your subscribers’ unique characteristics, interests, and preferences. We should not send generic email blasts. Without implementing segmentation, we may send wrong content to the wrong people and thus losing subscribers. Below are the steps for Segment Email Lists.
- Create separate lead magnets and opt-in forms for each part of the buyer’s life cycle journey. That way, your contacts are automatically divided into separate lists
- break up your list as per below
- Geographical location
- Buyer's Lifecycle stage
- Awareness, consideration, decision stage
- Industry
- Previous engagement
- Language
- Job Title
- 4) Personalize your email marketing
- Personalized emails have higher open rates. Your email marketing software allows for personalization. Here are a few steps to personalize your emails.
- Add a first name field in your subject line and/or greeting
- Include region-specific information when appropriate
- Content should be relevant to your lead’s lifecycle stage
- Write about relevant and/or personal events, like region-specific holidays or birthdays
- End your emails with a personal signature from a human (not your company)
- Use a relevant call-to-action to an offer that the reader will find useful
- 5) Implement email marketing automation
- Once you’ve created specific email list, you can send automated emails that are highly targeted. There are two ways to do this automation.
- Autoresponders : An autoresponder, also known as a drip campaign, is a series of emails that is sent out automatically once triggered by a certain action. For instance, when someone downloads your ebook.
- Workflows: Workflows is one steps ahead of autoresponders in which email workflows is executed based on the criteria or conditions that you set. Workflows have two key components
- The enrollment criteria, or the action that would qualify a user for the workflow
- The goal, or the action that would take a user out of the workflow
- 6) Use email marketing templates
- Email marketing templates are another great resource to help you with your email marketing. Unless you’re a designer and developer on top of being a skilled marketer, templates will save you a ton of time — they take the design, coding, and UX-definition work out of crafting your emails
Step 5: Email Regulations to follow
- Email regulations are consistent with consumers’ desires to know how and why their information is being used.
- 1) CAN-SPAM Compliance
- CAN-SPAM is an acronym for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing
- it’s a way to protect your subscribers’ right to only receive emails that they’ve requested
- Here are the ways to ensure that your emails are CAN-SPAM compliant
- Include your company name and address in every email
- Place visible unsubscribe links within your emails
- Use real email addresses in the "From" and "Reply to" fields
- Write subject lines that indicate the contents of the email
- 2) GDPR Compliance
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) actually moves us closer to building long-lasting and trusting relationships with our customers.
- GDPR is that it only applies to businesses that operate in the European Union and businesses that market to EU citizens
- Here’s an overview of how you can comply with GDPR laws:
- Use clear language when requesting consent to store personal information
- Only collect contact data that is necessary for and relevant to your business
- Store contact data in a secure manner and only use it for the agreed-upon purpose
- Retain data for justifiable business purposes only
- Delete contact data on request
- Make it easy for contacts to unsubscribe from your list or update their preferences
- Keep company records to prove GDPR compliance
- 3) Avoid Spam Filters
- You can avoid being deduced to spam by
- Getting whitelisted
- It’s a list of approved senders that are allowed to reach the subscriber’s inbox
- To have your new subscriber add your email address to their address book
- Minding your copy
- Avoid using all caps and multiple exclamation points in Email content and subjectline
- Avoid spam trigger words, like "opt in", "click below", and "order"
- Using a reliable email service provider
- Implementing a double opt-in
- Once someone opts in to your email list, send an email asking them to confirm. This ensures that your new subscriber is genuinely interested in your emails and will likely be more engaged
Step 6: Email Marketing Analysis
- 1) A/B test your marketing emails
- A/B testing, or split testing, is a way to see what type of email performs best with your audience by analyzing the results of email A against email B. Here are the step-by-step process for A/B testing your emails
- Select one variable to test at a time, e.g., subject line, CTA, images
- Create two versions of the email: one with and one without the variable
- Allow your emails to be sent out simultaneously for a period of time
- Analyze your results and keep only the version that performed better
- Test a new variable and repeat the process
- 2) Set email marketing KPIs
- There are four key metrics to pay attention to when evaluating the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign
- Deliverability measures the rate at which emails reach your intended subscribers’ inboxes
- Open rate is the percentage of people that open your email once it reaches their inbox
- Clickthrough rate (CTR) is the percentage of people that click on your CTAs
- Unsubscribes measures the number of people who opt out of your email list once they receive an email from you
- 3) Adjust email components to improve results
- You have to do regular experiment and guesswork to figure out which tweaks to your emails will yields good results. Try playing with these variables
- Deliverability
- Ensure that you’re following best practices to avoid spam filters
- Remove inactive people from your email list to keep only engaged subscribers
- Check which emails hard bounced and remove those email addresses from your list
- Open Rate
- Play with the language in your subject line to entice people to click on your email
- Adjust the time and day that you send your email to see what works best
- Clickthrough Rate (CTR)
- Evaluate your offer to ensure that it provides value to your segmented list
- Rewrite your copy to make sure that it’s clear to your reader
- Try different CTAs, e.g., graphic versus Inline copy, bold versus subtle
- Unsubscribes
- Ensure whether the email you sent is aligned with your brand
- Ensure you haven’t performed a bait-and-switch by promising one thing and delivering another
- Make sure your emails are providing value to your audience before trying to upsell
- 4) Use an email marketing report template
- An email marketing report is a spreadsheet where you can record your results in one place to help you make inferences from your KPIs and take action to improve them.
- Metrics
- Total number of emails sent
- Number of emails delivered
- Deliverability Rate
- Bounce Rate
- Open Rate
- Clickthrough Rate
- Unsubscribe Rate
- Data
- Subject line
- Length of the email body
- Offer
- CTA (inline or graphic)
- Email List segment
- Things to do
- Evaluate your offer to ensure that it provides value to your segmented list
- Rewrite your copy to make sure that it’s clear to your reader
- Try different CTAs, e.g., graphic versus Inline copy, bold versus subtle
- Unsubscribes
- Ensure whether the email you sent is aligned with your brand
- Ensure you haven’t performed a bait-and-switch by promising one thing and delivering another
- Make sure your emails are providing value to your audience before trying to upsell
FAQs on Email Marketing Strategy
1. What is the first step in creating a successful email marketing strategy?
- The first step is to know your audience by identifying your target segments, understanding their needs, and tailoring your content accordingly.
2. How do I set realistic goals for my email marketing campaign?
- Start by defining specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that align with your overall business objectives.
3. What are the key metrics to track in email marketing?
- Key metrics include open rate, click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, list growth rate, and email ROI.
4. How can I build a high-quality email list?
- Use lead magnets like eBooks, webinars, or templates, and create compelling opt-in forms to attract and retain subscribers.
5. What is the importance of segmentation in email marketing?
- Segmentation allows you to target specific groups within your email list with relevant content, leading to higher engagement and conversions.
6. How do I personalize my email content effectively?
- Personalization can be achieved by addressing subscribers by name, tailoring content to their interests, and using dynamic content based on their behavior or preferences.
7. What are the best practices for writing email subject lines?
- Keep subject lines clear, concise, and compelling. Use action-oriented language and personalize them when possible.
8. How often should I send marketing emails to my subscribers?
- The frequency depends on your audience and content. Test different schedules, but avoid overwhelming your subscribers with too many emails.
9. What are the key elements of a high-converting email?
- A high-converting email typically includes a compelling subject line, personalized content, a clear CTA, relevant images, and a mobile-responsive design.
10. Why is it important to optimize emails for mobile devices?
- With over 50% of emails being opened on mobile devices, optimizing for mobile ensures your content is accessible and engaging on all screens.
11. What is the role of automation in email marketing?
- Automation helps streamline your campaigns by sending targeted emails based on triggers like user behavior or specific actions, saving time and increasing relevance.
12. How can I avoid my emails being marked as spam?
- Use a reputable email service provider, avoid spammy language, include clear unsubscribe options, and use double opt-ins to ensure consent.
13. What is A/B testing, and how can it improve my email campaigns?
- A/B testing involves sending two versions of an email to see which performs better, allowing you to optimize elements like subject lines, CTAs, and content.
14. How can I measure the ROI of my email marketing efforts?
- Calculate ROI by comparing the revenue generated from your campaigns against the cost of creating and sending the emails.
15. What are the most common challenges in email marketing?
- Common challenges include low open rates, high unsubscribe rates, deliverability issues, and maintaining an engaged subscriber list.
16. How do I create engaging content for my emails?
- Focus on providing value, solving problems, and being relevant to your audience. Use storytelling, tips, and exclusive offers to keep subscribers interested.
17. What is the significance of email regulations like CAN-SPAM and GDPR?
- These regulations ensure that your email marketing practices are ethical and legal, protecting both your brand and your subscribers.
18. How can I improve my email click-through rate (CTR)?
- Improve CTR by making your CTAs clear and enticing, ensuring your content is relevant, and placing links strategically within the email.
19. What role does an email marketing provider (ESP) play in a successful strategy?
- An ESP helps you create, send, and track your emails efficiently, offering tools for segmentation, automation, and compliance with email regulations.
20. Why is it important to regularly clean your email list?
- Regularly cleaning your list by removing inactive subscribers helps improve deliverability rates and ensures your emails are reaching an engaged audience.
