10 Steps to Making a Successful Email Marketing Campaign

Here is 10 Steps to Making a Successful Email Marketing Campaign. Email marketing is a popular strategy that promotes a company’s or brand’s product or service through highly targeted emails. It is one of the most cost-effective methods and is known to have a high return on investment. For perspective, this strategy is about 40 times more successful than social media advertising, according to McKinsey & Company.

For a successful campaign, you must carefully follow proven techniques to help you communicate effectively, persuade customers into action, and deliver measurable results. Here are the ten most vital steps.

Build a Targeted Email List

Building a list involves attracting prospective customers to subscribe to valuable promotional content. Consent is critical, so always compile your list through opt-ins to ensure compliance with GDPR requirements. Your website is a treasure trove for driving quality leads to your email list. Here is how you can leverage your website:

• Offer something in exchange for a subscription, for example, a whitepaper that explains a problem you can solve through your products or services.
• Use exit-intent pop-ups to recommend visitors subscribe to your emails whenever they try to leave your site.
• Use the giveaway tactic, where participants enter your draw by providing their email addresses.
• Promote your compelling marketing content on social media and your company’s website to encourage more people to subscribe for more.
• Utilize avenues like workshops and webinars to encourage fresh prospects to join your list.

1. Define Your Objectives

What do you seek to gain from running this campaign? Here are some of the objectives you may want to pick and focus on:

• Generating leads to boost sales
• Informing your existing and prospective customers on hot topics around your products and services
• Driving traffic to your website through links that direct them to a landing page
• Improving customer relations through engagement with marketing content
• Boosting customer retention by encouraging repeat purchases

This step requires collective effort between the marketing team, sales team, product or service managers, data analysts, and executive leadership. You can find other experts to collaborate with on Leadar by looking them up using their emails, phone, or profession.

Define and Segment Your Audience

Even if you sell just one product, your customers will buy for different reasons that align with their unique needs. Hence, you must study and analyze your audience and subscriber database to identify these pain points and run a highly targeted campaign. Further, segment them according to their unique attributes such as age, s*x, location, purchase history, etc.

Classifying your leads like this helps you send the right message to the right people. With this strategy, you are also more likely to enjoy higher conversion rates and meet your sales targets. Additionally, having a clear picture of your ideal customer will help you in the later stages of the campaign, where customization and personalization are required.

2. Choose a Suitable Category

Marketing emails vary depending on the campaign objective and the customer’s awareness of the product. Therefore, you must be very selective with the emails you send to your leads. Getting this step right means you can easily connect with them on a deeper level.

Here are some common types of emails you may choose from:

• Bulletins: content includes company updates, industry news, event announcements, etc.
• Welcome messages: introduce fresh subscribers to your brand and inform them about your product or service
• Promotional: inform your list about discounts, price drops, promotions, etc.
• Transactional: confirm orders, provide receipts, etc.
• Milestone: appreciate customers for their role in your accomplishments
• Survey: used to seek reviews and opinions

Leverage Smart Software and Tools

To streamline the whole process, seek stellar software and tools. For example, MailerLite is an automation tool that makes it easy to compile, schedule, send, and track emails. Utilizing these tools enables you to manage your project better. Subsequently, you can scale, extend your reach, and monitor the performance via analytics and insights.

Strategize on the Logistics

After identifying the message you want to convey and to whom, start deliberating on details such as:

• The ideal timeline for the campaign
• Quantity of emails to send
• The most appropriate time to send for maximum conversion
• Other software and tools you might need, perhaps for design or video/audio editing
• Designated responsibilities throughout the project

3. Design an Effective Template

An effective template combines design elements like font, color, photos, and branding to capture the recipient’s attention. So, be sure to use an appealing layout that blends in well and is consistent with your brand. However, creating a viable draft can be time-consuming, especially for the first time. Nevertheless, some email service providers (ESPs) have pre-designed templates you can use to model your newsletter or such communication.

4. Use Compelling Subject Lines

This is the typically concise, eye-catching sentence or phrase that summarizes the subject matter of your email. Cut to the chase and hit the nail on the head. In fact, the shorter the subject line, the better. For example, the line “Limited Offer” for an e-commerce store is intriguing and has a sense of urgency that would motivate the recipient to open the email.

5. Draft Captivating Emails

Like in the subject line, the main message should be brief, direct, personalized, and appealing to persuade the recipient to read the entire text. Also, be sure to add functional hyperlinks to your call-to-action.

However, remember to follow the CAN-SPAM Act regulations that protect consumers against unwanted electronic mail—for example, deceptive subject lines. Proofread your email to edit out spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors for a polished and professional look.

6. Send and Track

Once you have planned your campaign and have the ideals, like the best time and message, it is time to let it go. Track metrics and KPIs such as bounce rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate to evaluate the campaign’s efficiency. Conversely, to optimize your campaign and achieve the best results, you can A/B test with a sample size of the entire population to determine what works best. Once you have the best-fit scenario, use this knowledge to target the rest of your email list.

Also Read: Email Marketing Requires Permission as a Condition

Conclusion

Email marketing is one of the most effective strategies for businesses today because of its high return on investment. However, it takes time and effort to get it right; on the other hand, it may appear spammy and intrusive to your subscribers.