The best news you could ever get about email marketing is that when it doesn’t work it’s your fault. If your natural reaction to being told “you did email marketing wrong” is to turn around and point the finger at all the other reasons why your email marketing didn’t work, this episode is for you! Email marketing works — so you need to discover how to make it work FOR YOU. In this episode, we explore how to make it work for you from 30,000 feet, then land the plane and give you precise steps you can take to put it to work for you TODAY! Clouds and dirt. This is The Donut Shop Podcast and this is episode 6, Email Marketing Success.
How to Optimize Your Email Marketing for Greater Success
When it comes to marketing your business, email is one of the most effective channels you can use.
Not only is email very affordable, but it also has a high return on investment. In fact, for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average business sees a return of $44.
In this article, we’ll share some simple email marketing tests you can run right now to make sure your campaigns are effective and drive the results you want.
But to achieve these kinds of results, you need a well-optimized email marketing strategy. Below are some tips on how to optimize your email marketing for greater success.
Let’s dive in!
What Is Email Marketing and Why Should You Use It?
Email marketing is simply sending targeted emails to a group of people to drive conversions. And email is still one of the best ways to reach out to customers and promote your products or services. Email marketing can be a great way to connect with customers and drive conversions, but only if you do it right.
The most crucial part of email marketing is ensuring your campaigns are effective. The good news is that this isn’t hard to do and doesn’t require much time or money.
Email marketing can range from newsletters and announcements about new products or services to special offers and discounts or even just general updates about what’s going on in your business.
So why is email marketing still so important? Because email is one of the most personal channels available, it allows you to build customer relationships over time. Every email you send is an opportunity to nurture these relationships and turn your recipients into lifelong fans.
And when you send relevant and timely email messages that appeal to your customer’s interests, you can increase conversions and sales.
Marketing through email can be challenging, but if you incorporate these tips into your strategy, you’ll see a boost in open and click-through rates.
Make Your Offers Irresistible and Beautiful
Email design is a significant part of email marketing. If your email doesn’t look professional and well-designed, readers will likely dismiss it as spam. If you’re in their spam folder, you’re not getting read!
That’s why investing in email design templates or graphic designers can make your email stand out from the competition. It’s essential.
You must design your email campaigns for maximum impact if you want them to convert. That means using clear and concise messages, images, and other design elements to draw attention to your offer.
Don’t use too many colors or busy designs; they can be distracting. Take time to get feedback from others before sending out an email campaign so that you know it looks good and is effective.
In addition, images can help explain complex concepts or add visual interest to your email. Be careful not to overload your email with too many photos; it will take too long to load, and people will lose patience quickly.
You have less than five seconds to grab your reader’s attention. If they don’t see a clear value proposition or an enticing offer in that time frame, they will disengage and move on.
Your email should be easy to read and navigate, with clear calls to action and easy-to-find links.
You should also use a standard email template responsive to different screen sizes. Ensuring subscribers can read your email no matter which device they have ensures your deliverability.
Phones are where most people receive and read their email, so it’s imperative to check that your design is mobile-friendly.
The best way to check your email design is by sending yourself a test email. Sending a test will allow you to see what it looks like on various devices and operating systems, including iPhones, Android phones, iPads, and PCs. Many email programs have this functionality built-in, as well.
When it comes to email design, less is more. Keep your email simple and streamlined, and focus on using just a few high-quality images and graphics to enhance your content. Links should be easy to find and clearly defined so that your CTA is visible to subscribers.
With a well-designed email, you can create a professional impression that will encourage readers to take action.
Common Mistakes People Make With Email Marketing Campaigns
One common email marketing mistake is not testing your campaign before you launch it. Not trialing your campaigns can lead to errors in your email that could cost you conversions. Always test your email campaign on a small group of people before you send it to your entire list.
Another mistake is not making your offers irresistible. If you’re not offering something your subscribers want or need, they’re unlikely to convert. Make sure your proposal will appeal to your target audience and give them a reason to buy from you.
Finally, email campaigns can fail if they’re not designed for maximum impact. Your email should be visually appealing and easy to read, with a clear call to action that stands out. Pay attention to the details of your email design, and test different versions to see what works best.
You can create email marketing campaigns that are likely to succeed. But remember, the only way to know for sure is to test your email well! Try different subject lines, calls-to-action, and email designs to see what works best for your business.
Avoiding these common mistakes can set your email marketing campaign up for success. Test your campaign before you launch it, make your offers irresistible, and design your emails for maximum impact. With these tips, you’ll be able to drive conversions and build relationships with your subscribers.
Promising Case Studies From Small Businesses New to Online Sales
Email marketing isn’t just for big businesses. Email marketing can be a great way to connect with customers and drive conversions if you’re a small business new to online sales. Here are three case studies of small businesses that saw success with email marketing:
Queen Valley Mule Ranch is a retailer of mule and donkey saddles, pads, bits, halters, and more. Their online store revenue has grown for more than five consecutive years.
And their annual recurring revenue is 975% higher than before they started implementing cyclical marketing offers and email sales! That’s 1,150 TIMES the yearly recurring revenue after implementing online and email marketing! We love working with them.
2. Warby Parker
Warby Parker is an eyewear company that sells prescription glasses online. Email marketing is a top source of their online revenue.
One of the things that helped Warby Parker succeed with email marketing was its focus on designing beautiful emails. Their emails were always well-designed and eye-catching, which allowed them to stand out from the competition.
Warby Parker sends email newsletters that are full of exciting content. They might share a new product they’re selling or show off a new design for one of their glasses models. And they also used email to drive traffic to their website, where they could make additional sales.
3. Bonobos
Bonobos is an online retailer that sells men’s clothing. They’re known for their excellent customer service, and they use email to provide an additional level of service to their customers.
Bonobos uses email to send subscribers exclusive offers, discounts, and helpful style tips. Emailing this way helps them build relationships with their customers and keeps them returning for more.
Email marketing can be an excellent way for small businesses to connect with customers and drive conversions. If you’re new to online sales, focus on designing beautiful emails and driving traffic to your website.
And if you’re known for your expert customer service, use email to provide an additional level of service to your customers. Email marketing can build relationships with your subscribers and drive conversions.
How Often Should You Send Email Marketing Newsletters?
Email marketing frequency can be difficult to answer because it depends on your goals for your email newsletter and your relationship with your subscribers. If you’re just starting, you may want to send newsletters weekly or every two weeks to give your subscribers regular updates.
As you build stronger relationships with your subscribers, you can email them more frequently, moving to weekly if you started bi-weekly (every two weeks). If you started at once a week, move to twice a week – perhaps a beginning and end-of-week email. The important thing is consistency. Keep your content and brand in front of them at regular intervals.
One of the most critical factors in email marketing success is consistency. When you email your subscribers regularly with valuable content, you stay top of mind and keep them engaged. If you go too long without emailing them, they may forget about you or unsubscribe.
To keep your email marketing efforts on track, try setting a schedule for yourself and stick to it. Try sending a weekly newsletter, two-week update, or monthly email roundup. Whatever frequency you choose, be sure to stick to it! Consistency will help you build a stronger relationship with your subscribers and increase your chances of converting them into customers.
Experiment by testing different frequencies and seeing what works best for you and your subscribers. Try sending several email newsletters at those different intervals and track your results. Once you find the frequency that works best, stick with it!
When planning your email marketing strategy, it’s critical to keep your goals in mind. What are you hoping to achieve with your email campaigns? Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, or generate leads?
Once you know what you want to accomplish, you can tailor your content and offers accordingly.
How to Build Your Email Newsletter List and Get More Subscribers
When it comes to email marketing, people respond best to offers that show them you care. If you want more email newsletter subscribers, start by offering something of value. To get people to sign up for your email newsletter, offer them something they can’t find anywhere else. It could be a discount on your products, exclusive access to content, or helpful tips and advice.
Whatever you offer, make sure it’s something that will appeal to your target audience and give them a reason to subscribe to your email list.
Once you have a few hundred email subscribers, you can start to segment them into different groups based on their interests. This way, you can send more targeted emails relevant to each group. For example, if you have a group of subscribers interested in fashion, you could send them style tips and information about new arrivals.
If you have a group of subscribers who are interested in travel, you could send them destination ideas and travel tips. Segmenting your email list will help you increase your open rates and click-through rates, and it will ultimately lead to more conversions.
If subscribers like your email, they may forward it to their friends before purchasing with you, expanding your reach. Delivering the email to their friends is a great way to get more subscribers and increase your chances of converting them into customers.
Try testing different subject lines, images, calls to action, and offers to see what works best for your audience. Try a variety of offers, designs, and email content, too.
Best Copywriting Practices for Email Marketing Success
When it comes to email marketing, your copy is vital. If your email doesn’t grab the reader’s attention, they will likely delete it without reading it. That’s why it’s crucial to use strong, attention-grabbing headlines and write email content that is interesting and engaging.
Your email subject line is your first chance to capture the reader’s attention, so make sure it stands out. Try using intriguing adjectives or strong verbs in your subject line to get people to open your email. For example, you could use words like “amazing,” “shocking,” or “incredible” in your subject line.
Your email content should be easy to read and scannable. Break up your text with short paragraphs, headings, and lists, and use bolded text and images to draw attention to critical points. You should also keep your tone casual and friendly so that readers feel comfortable opening and reading your emails.
Finally, make sure your email has a strong call to action. Tell readers what you want them to do, and make it easy for them to do it. Use actionable language and include a clear link to your website or landing page.
When it comes time for a sale, be sure to ask nicely! Use persuasive language that emphasizes the benefits of purchasing from you. And always thank the reader for their time at the end of your email.
It’s important to remember that an email is a direct form of communication. You have the opportunity to connect with potential customers on a more personal level, which can help build trust and loyalty.
Your emails should be brief and easy to read so that readers don’t get overwhelmed by information or feel they need to spend hours reading!
How to Test Email Marketing Campaigns Before You Send
Before you launch your email marketing campaign, it’s vital to test it first. Testing will help ensure that your email looks good and is easy to read on all devices. It will also help you avoid potential deliverability issues that could keep your email from reaching the inbox.
Start by sending a test email to yourself and a few friends or colleagues. Ask them to open the email on different devices and give you feedback on the design and content. You should also click all the links in your email to ensure they work properly.
In addition, it’s a good idea to use an email testing tool like Litmus to test your email design. Reviewing the email design will allow you to see how your email will look on different devices, such as an iPad versus an iPhone, or a PC.
Here are a few more things you can test to improve your email marketing results:
– The subject line: A great subject line can make a big difference in whether or not people open your email. Try testing different subject lines to see which ones get the highest open rate.
– The content: The content of your email should be relevant and exciting to your audience. Try testing different types of content to see what gets the most engagement.
– The send time: When you send your email can also affect how many people open it. Try sending emails at different times or additional days of the week to see when your audience is most likely to engage.
– The call to action: The call-to-action (CTA) is one of the most important parts of email marketing. Make sure you test different calls to action to see which ones get the most clicks.
Testing your email marketing strategy will help ensure that your campaigns are as effective as possible. You can maximize your results and drive more conversions by constantly testing and tweaking your email marketing.
Once you’ve tested your email and made sure it looks good and functions properly, you’re ready to launch your campaign! You can be confident that it will reach the inbox and positively impact your readers by taking the time to test your email before you send it.
Making a Valuable Promise in Your Email Is Key
A promise will help set subscriber expectations and is also beneficial when crafting future email content.
When you make a clear promise about what someone can expect to receive from you, you create clear expectations. And as long as you meet those expectations, you will be golden in the eyes of your email subscribers.
Moreover, a promise helps you focus on your email content. It gives you something to aim for with every email you send out. Having a goal can help motivate you to be consistent with the emails you’re writing and stay on a schedule.
If you promise to provide weekly tips on email marketing, then each email you write should be chock-full of actionable advice that your subscribers can use to improve their campaigns.
Having a promise in your email is applicable, no matter your industry. If you promise to send emails with pictures of dirt from around the world every week, the people who sign up for your list will be expecting pictures of dirt from around the world every week.
If you promise pictures of dirt, you know what your following email needs to contain — pictures of dirt.
A promise will not only be beneficial for setting subscriber expectations, but it’s also incredibly helpful in crafting future email content, especially when ideas are hard to come by. It can also give you some guidelines.
The bottom line is this: if you want your email marketing strategy to convert, make a clear promise and then deliver on it with every email you send.
Conclusion
Email marketing is a great way to connect with customers and drive conversions. It can be a powerful tool for online retailers if you do it right. Email marketing has the power to turn your customers into repeat buyers, but only if you know what you’re doing.
If you want to make the most of your email marketing strategy, you need to understand how to create a compelling offer and deliver on that promise every time. Following these best practices can increase your email marketing campaign’s effectiveness.
By using irresistible offers, designing your emails for maximum impact, and testing your campaigns, you can create email marketing strategies that are more likely to convert browsers into buyers.
With a bit of practice and hard work, you can create email marketing campaigns that will likely succeed.
The Donut Shop Podcast is a small business online marketing podcast that covers everything from email marketing to social media. In each episode, we break down the latest tips and tricks so you can easily implement them into your own business.
We know that running a small business is hard enough without worrying about online marketing. That’s why we created this podcast – to make your life a little easier. So tune in and learn how to take your small business online marketing to the next level!
Send Dave and Charissa a message to [email protected].
Email Marketing Success Chapter Markers
- 0:00 Introduction to This Podcast
- 1:28 Welcome to the Donut Shop
- 4:25 Reviews About Previous Podcasts
- 7:11 Give Us Your Thoughts and Questions About Our Podcast
- 8:16 Let’s Talk About Email Marketing Success
- 10:46 You Have to Overcome 3 Obstacles
- 12:36 Email Marketing Success Means You Split Test
- 15:02 Why Do We Split Test?
- 15:37 The Strategy Behind Your Email Marketing is What Makes it a Success
- 18:04 Email Marketing Success Comes With a Promise
- 23:35 Deliver Content to Your Audience on a Consistent Predictable Schedule
- 27:46 Doing Everything Right Leads to Email Marketing Success
- 30:01 Email Marketing is for Everyone
- 31:10 Deliver Actionable and Valuable Content that is Designed to Foster Relationship with Your Audience
- 32:11 Make Your Audience Feel Like You Sent the Email Just to Them by Using a Merge Tag
- 36:30 Just Start Writing – Just Start the Process
Resources Mentioned
- Episode 5: Nurture the Sale Newsletter
- Jeff Walker Resources — Book, Course
