4 Ways To Win Big With Email Marketing

Email marketing can get a yawn from digital marketers who focus on more modern and trending technologies like social media marketing or targeted content marketing. But these folks are missing one of the most powerful arrows in any marketer's quiver. A cost effective solution that delivers stable and successful results.

If you look for such a tool, you will find that companies used to focus solely on email marketing and evolved into more holistic digital marketing suites that have components like varying degrees of customer relationship management (CRM), the reach of social media and marketing campaign automation, and in particular advanced analytics. Email marketing remains a core component of all of these new tiered services because it just works.

However, there are ways that you can improve on standard or standard email marketing practices. By distributing your message to other media such as social networks, live seminars or even SMS channels, for example, you create not only a broader, but also a more consistent campaign.

By contacting customers in two or more ways, you increase the likelihood of getting their attention. Since most other forms of marketing are more expensive and "colorful" than email, prepending an email with another form of communication creates the impression that the email customers who receive it are more valuable.

Here are four more ways you can use email marketing to build a better brand and create new and closer relationships with important customers.

Personalization creates engagement

The pandemic may have had a negative impact on many aspects of a typical business, but one area that will be helped is digital marketing, and that certainly goes for email as well. After all, it's best to get your message across face-to-face as you can tailor the conversation to the exact customer you're speaking to. COVID-19 got rid of this for the most part, but if you are careful, email marketing can be an effective replacement in the short term.

"One of the best ways to make email more effective is by personalizing content. It can be as simple as using the customer name in the subject line. Or, better yet, using customer behavior to send emails, that lead to purchases, "says Frank Tortorici, senior strategist at Marketing Maven Public Relations. "The lowest hanging fruit is the simple abandoned cart email. These emails can easily convert between 10% and 20%, which has the potential to generate significant revenue."

However, he also believes that you need to pay close attention to how your email marketing solution handles personalization. Of course, the more customers look at these emails, the greater their expectations, especially when it comes to personalization. That said, you want smart, dynamic personalization features that take into account situations like sending a discount coupon for an item he just bought at full price.

This is where it is beneficial for your email marketing engine to talk to your other customer touchpoint applications like CRM, help desk, or even your in-store or online point of sale (POS) system. But don't just check to see if the email marketing provider offers integration with your particular version of these tools. Ask questions about what exactly the integration can do. How are cross-correlated data presented? Is it automatic or just a warning that lets implementation fall into your hands?

If it's just passive data collection, it might be worth investigating a custom integration that can respond faster and automatically, especially with regards to the contents of an email you send to a particular customer. Bottom line: the more customers believe you are speaking to them directly, the more likely they are to respond to the email message. The more general it feels, the more likely they are to gloss over it and move on.

Keep things fresh

"It's also important to vary the content that you use in your email marketing programs. It's easy to get used to being emailed about sales or special offers. Unfortunately, emails that are too frequent or too lots of sales offers lead customers to ignore your emails or unsubscribe all together, "says Tortorici.

This means that you no longer have to set up and forget about email campaigns. Not only do marketers who use email need to be careful about keeping the general content up to date, but also include personalized content (see above) that applies to that customer or group of customers and is on the customer journey. Email shouldn't be your only channel, either. When customers see consistent messages across multiple channels, they are more likely to engage when a touchpoint occurs. At the moment it's mostly email.

Interaction is a great tactic here. What makes email such an effective tool is that it is a two-way medium. Sure, you can send things as a non-response, but often it robs you of the ability to interact with a customer directly. Take the opportunity to learn from your customers by using email as an information gathering tool. Online polls are great here, especially if it's a gift for participation. Loyalty or referral programs, one-on-one invitations, and product tutorials (especially tutorials that relate directly to what that customer is doing with your product) are highly effective strategies for using email as an intermediary to give your customer digital face-time.

Let it drip

Carefully crafted automations and trigger-based responses are also very helpful in expanding customer relationships when used in conjunction with email. They are immediate, can often be personalized, and can help automatically sustain sudden spikes throughout the life of your marketing campaign.

This is borne out by data from research firm Statista, which shows that two of the most popular personalization strategies US marketers have used over the past three years continue to trigger notifications and automatic, policy-based targeting:

"When used properly, drip campaigns, event marketing, or trigger emails are great channels when it comes to nurturing leads. In the sales funnel, email marketing is a great, consistent channel Communication that reminds you who you are, what you offer, and how to connect, ”said Nick Mattar, founder and CEO of Digital Detroit, a marketing consulting and training company.

Drip campaigns get their name because they feed your message drop by drop due to an action or trigger. It's included in many popular email and marketing automation suites, including Mailchimp and Salesforce Pardot, largely because it enables a wider range of engagements. For example, you can start with a welcome email every time a customer joins one of your marketing programs. A day or two later, that customer may receive another email with detailed offers or features that they may not know about. Another could provide even more detailed messages that are directly related to what else you know about the customer.

Detailing new content that is directly related to a customer's special needs or interests is one way a drip campaign can improve personalization. A lot of this could just be building the right integrations between your email channel and your other touchpoint areas, especially what they bought (POS), how they use that purchase (CRM) and what kinds of issues they are having that they had (help desk).

Drip campaigns don't always have to be about making a sale. These can be bite-sized information campaigns, concise and illustrated guides on how to get the most out of products and services, and even brief reminders leading to an event or product release. What they should always do, however, is to flow in a regular or at least logical cadence and to accompany the customer on his respective journey.

Go beyond simply opting in

Most reputable companies ask for customer buy-in when collecting email addresses. Granted, to maximize the number of opt-ins, your website may automatically select the "Contact me about promotions and offers" checkbox. But at least you give customers a choice.

Opt-ins are good, but consider giving your customers a few specific options instead of just making a vague choice. You should keep your list of options short. If you get customers to think too much or to take too much time, most will get bored and give up the task. However, we don't recommend that you include all of your ideas in the list below, but it should definitely get you thought-provoking:

• Receive notifications when new training materials are available.
• Provide access to closed content or events that are open to unsubscribed customers.
• Provide feedback through surveys.
• Join a loyalty program and receive regular member notices or discounts.
• Detailed tips on this month's most frequently asked help desk questions.
• Take a daily (or weekly) quiz and collect points to redeem for prizes.
• Receive a weekly (or monthly) newsletter with new information about your product or service.
• Provide access to exclusive discount coupons.
• Communicate special promotions and sales announcements.

It's not just about figuring out what your customers are associating with your product or service, it's also about identifying what they actually want and then reaching out to them directly to help them get it . If you can do that, the customer is more likely to feel like they have a personal relationship with your product and company because they actually do. And that means they are more likely to open future emails too.

The downside? You need to be prepared and disciplined to send these emails regularly, and careful to ensure that you are getting enough tangible benefit from them to get your customers' attention.

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