You have a thriving business, a great website and maybe you’re spending hours on social media promoting your products or services. You might think your customer engagement is through the roof, but could you go a little further? Are you reaching the audiences you want?
Do you require more customers to grow?
It could be as easy as setting up a few emails. Yes, emails. They’re more than just spam. In fact, MarketingSherpa has shown that 72% of people prefer to receive promotional content via email. Email marketing is also 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter and we’ll tell you how to make the most of it, plus easy ways to get started!
Great customer service is often more than just selling. It’s the little gestures that will stand you apart from your competitors.
How Can Email Marketing Boost Customer Service?
Maybe you want to wish your customers a happy birthday, notify them of an in-store event, highlight a product, or let them know when something new is arriving? Sadly, you don’t have time to sit in front of a computer and email every one of your contacts.
What if there was a way to set up your marketing with a few clicks of a button and it didn’t require you to have a computer programmer on staff?
Email marketing is often the most underused, yet one of the most effective promotional tools you can use. The return on your investment is often higher than other traditional communications such as brochures and newspaper ads. In fact, according to Emailexpert, for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average ROI is $44.25!
It’s also easy to do, and in the end, it will save you lots of time and hassle. With email automation, you only have to set up an email once and then set a “trigger”, so that when people, for instance, sign up for your email list, they will be sent a nice welcome message and maybe a free offer to entice them in your store.
You can have an automated email that just says hello, thanks them for joining your list, or sends them an email coupon or introductory gift. And unlike email newsletters and one-time campaigns which you may send to many people at once, an automated email campaign is only “triggered” when a particular individual takes a certain action. It’s not Spam that gets sent out haphazardly. It’s a directed campaign, with a defined target audience and a specific objective.
Still not sold on the idea? Does it sound a little cookie-cutter? Will customers like this kind of automated communication?
The answer is yes. Automated emails do work because they engage a new subscriber right from the start. In fact, email marketing has some of the highest rates of engagement because they’re timely, personalized and hyper-relevant to the reader.
A popular retailer even achieved a 525% boost in his click-through rate (CTR) on his website by using email marketing. The same retailer also saw a 220% increase in ‘email opens’ compared to the ones they sent out manually.
So, the question you might be asking yourself right now is how did I not know about this earlier? And how do I get started right away?
Hold on there. There is a difference between getting your email opened and getting your message to ‘stick’ in customer’s minds, or better yet, as an enticement to complete an action or buy a product. There is an art to it, and to make sure that your messages stand out from your competitors, we have a foolproof way to ensure email success, and a few tips on how to set up your automated campaign.
Measure Twice, Cut Once
This age-old construction adage is also applicable to marketing. Before execution, you must plan. Planning is everything and it will determine whether your campaign is successful or not.
Firstly, because of Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL), you must make sure to obtain your subscriber’s consent before sending them any emailed communications. This applies to both current and new subscribers. If you have a mailing list sign up on your site, you must inform them that they may receive promotional materials via email. If they sign up, this is considered consent and you’re good to go. From then on, they can receive your emails.
However, before you put pen to paper, or mouse to screen, you have to know what you want to accomplish with your email marketing. What are your objectives? Are you trying to move users down the path to purchase? Are you trying to reward loyalty or nudge them towards a repeat visit? Do you want to send just one email, or a series of emails?
These are the kinds of things you want to consider right out of the gate. If you don’t know what you want to accomplish, it’s like standing in the dark with a blindfold on, while throwing darts at a dartboard, hoping to land a bulls eye. A disorganized campaign that is not clearly defined will never be as successful as one that is well thought out.
For example, if you’re selling bath products and you sign up a new subscriber, maybe you want them to know about your full line of soaps, shampoos and body washes? One easy way to do that is to establish a series of welcome emails that gradually introduces your full product line. That way, they might be compelled to click through to your website, buy a product online, or visit your store to find out more, especially if you offer a new customer special or incentive.
Once you’re clear on your objective, it’s no problem to map out the emails you will want to send. Remember, you can start with one kind and add more emails to your workflow at a later point.
Wrangle Your Data Before You Dive In
The next step is to make sure you have the right data in place to support your series of emails. If you want to have certain action, or user activities that will trigger an email (like a birthdate, joining a list, or buying a membership in the soap of the month club etc.), make sure you have the right data to support that “trigger”, such as customer’s date of birth or membership renewal date.
Craft Clever and Crowd-Pleasing Content!
This is the most labour intensive part of the process, drafting the perfect email to automate. The good news is you’ll only have to do this once for each type of email you want to send. After that, the genius of automation will take over, while you sit back and relax with a nice martini or glass of wine.
When it comes to creating your email content, relevance is your top priority. Once you have a list of subscribers, you don’t want to deluge your contacts with frivolous emails or ones where the message is not pertinent and/or appreciated.
Emails with personalised subject lines are also more effective. They are 26% more likely to be opened and marketers have found a 760% increase in email revenue from personalised campaigns.
As for choosing the style of writing and format, it all depends on the kind of email you want to send. Automated emails can be used for a variety of messages such as welcome emails, birthday emails, product updates, membership renewals etc. You can even use them to generate sales leads! (For more in-depth examples and email content tips, read our other blog)
Ready, Set, Automate!
Okay, so you’ve determined what emails you want to send, you have them written and you’ve spent the time to make sure they’re relevant and engaging. The hard part is over. Now you can enter them into a professional commercial email service provider, or email campaign tool, which will offer some level of automation.
Stock Up on Stats
After you’ve launched your automated emails, don’t just set it and then forget it. Like a roasting turkey, you should regularly check on its status and make sure that things are cooking up the way you want.
Look at your reports and really take the time to understand the numbers. Statistics are not just vague data thrown together. These figures will help you determine if your email marketing is working and if you need to make any changes. Do you have the right number of emails in your workflows? Should you change the style or tone? You can determine this by looking at your reporting. See if there is a drop in your open rate or click-throughs. Then try out a few changes and see how it affects engagement.
Call it a Wrap
Or eat a wrap to celebrate! You’ve done the hard work and put your best ideas into your email marketing campaign. Now you can take a well-deserved break, comfortable in the knowledge that half your marketing is taken care of through automation. You can concentrate on other areas of your business. Maybe you can finally get started on that marketing video you’ve always wanted to try?
With email marketing, you won’t have to spend precious hours crafting email after email. And of all the opportunities to grow your business, email marketing remains one of the most impactful and one of the best investments you will ever make. Not only that, it’s an opportunity to provide more value to your clients, and in an increasingly competitive environment, it will help you stay ahead of the game and first in your customer’s minds.
Hungry for more? Check out our list of 9 emails every modern marketer should be sending.
Eager to Start, but Need Help Crafting your Campaign?
If this Catches Your Attention, We Have More In Store… Call Original Ginger to Learn About Our Range of Services and More Tips that Can Boost Your Marketing Without Breaking the Bank! Call 778.298.1966 or Toll Free at 1.855.298.8650 or complete our online form.
*Stats Credit to Marketing Sherpa 2013 Email Marketing Report and Campaign Monitor’s 2016 Report, Email Marketing Stats You Need to Know.
