Email Marketing

What Is Email Marketing and How Can You Incorporate It into Your Marketing Strategy?

October 2021

What Is Email Marketing?

As its name suggests, this technique is based on a sending emails to a list of current and/or potential customers. Email marketing is a mixture of communication and direct marketing.

 

Though its decline has long been predicted, this tried and true marketing technique remains just as strong today! In terms of return on investment, email marketing recruitment continues to be one of the most profitable and effective actions an advertiser take.

 

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One of the reasons that email marketing works so well is because your message quickly reaches the people on your contact list at no cost to you. Many people have added both their personal account and their work account to their mobile devices so emails land directly into the hands of your target audience.

 

Since nearly half of all emails are opened on a smartphone, your message must be designed intentionally and formatted to fit mobile devices. If not, your message will ‘die’ before it even gets into the hands of the consumer.

 

Nowadays, it's common to hear that email marketing has evolved into mobile email marketing. There is truth to this so be sure that your email marketing campaigns work just as well on mobile devices as they do on desktops.

 

Although email marketing is traditionally thought of as a conversion-oriented tool, in reality it can fulfill many functions and adapt to a multitude of situations. Here are just a few examples:

  • Customer acquisition emails that are designed to attract new customers to your brand.
  • Administrative emails, like those that send the user downloadable content or to thank them for subscribing.
  • Loyalty emails, which are used to generate repeat purchases.
  • Newsletters that keep the current and potential clients in contact with your brand and communicate news (policy changes, product launches, deals, etc.).

 

Email Marketing Stats

Although there are many benefits when it comes to email marketing, advertisers and marketing directors typically want to hear about the metrics and figures. A report carried out by ADigital Investigación on the use and perception of email marketing revealed some very interesting information.

  • Unsurprisingly, internet use has become a daily activity in the life of many, many people. 100% of those interviewed confirmed using the internet daily - primarily due to the high number of mobile devices in existence. Men between the ages of 35 and 44 are somewhat more active but there really is no notable difference between ages or sexes.
  • 80% of users check their email and social media multiple times a day. Furthermore, the use of multimedia content, instant messaging services, and news sources, is also very present.
  • With a whopping 74% of users, Gmail is without a doubt the preferred email service. However, Hotmail is still the most used for subscribing to email marketing content.
  • In general, internet users have a pretty positive perception of email marketing, especially regarding product offers or discounts. The primary negative aspect would simply be the quantity of emails a user receives in a day.
  • Consumers have established the optimal frequency for receiving marketing emails to be between 1 and 3 emails per week.
  • Emails should be direct, simple, and have a short, engaging message. Terms like “offer” and “promotion” can greatly increase your open rate.
  • Email marketing continues to yield a high ROI (return on investment), as the average return is $38 USD for every $1 USD invested.
  • 48% of all emails are opened on a smartphone.

     

The 4 Basics of Email Marketing to Keep in Mind

 

1. SMART Goals and Contact Strategy

It's worth going back to basics to set SMART goals. Email marketing is one of the techniques marketers use when they need to increase sales and conversions. But, it's not just about contacting everyone and anyone as quickly as possible. It's important to take the time to set goals for each email. This is where the SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed) come in.

 

SMART goals allow you to define clear KPIs, contact strategies for each campaign, and schedule the frequency with which emails will be sent to subscribers or contacts and in response to which actions.

 

2. The 3 Vs to Get Registrations Via Email

There are many techniques to grow your subscriber base and it is vital to make the most of them and get email addresses from new signups.

 

Keep the 3Vs in mind for this.

 

Visibility. It may seem quite obvious, but make sure the subscription methods and CTAs are very easy to find. Some potential locations are your home page, product or landing pages, social media profiles, transaction confirmation pages, in transactional emails, etc.

 

Value. Why should someone subscribe? List the benefits in the email you send.

 

Velocity. Make email registration a quick and easy. Create a simple form where the person can leave their email and with a single click. Do not take visitors to another landing page, where they can then subscribe, otherwise you complicate the process and you can lose potential contacts along the way.

 

3. Identify the Right Metrics

If you have clear objectives, then these should guide you to decide which metrics to track.

Email marketing metrics can be divided into two types: process metrics and performance metrics. Here are a few of each type.

  • Process metrics. These indicate trends over time, but do not necessarily indicate that the campaign has been successful. Examples include:
    • Accepted rate. The percentage of emails delivered compared to the number of emails sent.
    • Bounce rate. The percentage of undelivered emails.
    • Open rate. The percentage of opened emails.
    • Click-through rate (CTR). El porcentaje de destinatarios que han hecho clic en alguno de los enlaces que contenía el email.
    • Click-to-open rate. This is the percentage of recipients who have clicked on any of the links in the email divided by the number of emails opened. Then, that result is multiplied by 100.
  • Performance metrics. These measure the objectives of a company or brand and are a better indicator of the success of an email marketing campaign. Some examples are:
    • New subscribers or those who register for one of your events for a fee.
    • Conversion rate. The percentage of recipients who complete an action after reading your email.
    • Cost per acquisition. The average amount required to acquire or register a customer.
    • Return per email. The amount of revenue earned during a campaign divided by the number of emails delivered, opened or clicked.
    • Return per customer. The average or median revenue generated from all contacts, or those who convert.
    • Average order value.
    • Lifetime value. The money a subscriber spends with you during their "lifetime" in your contact database.

       

4. The 3 Vs of Unsubscribing

The 3 Vs apply not only to registration acquisition, but also to the unsubscribe process.

  • Visibility. Do not put "unsubscribe" in a tiny font. Make the option visible so that recipients can easily unsubscribe.
  • Value. Provide unsubscribers with an easy-to-use preferences process. This will allow recipients to change their email address, alter mailing frequency, or content preferences. It lets them update their data quickly. You can also offer to contact them in other ways, such as by SMS or direct mail.
  • Velocity. Again, it should be quick and easy to unsubscribe. It should be optimized for mobile and not require people to log in and or waiting two weeks.

Email Retargeting or Email Remarketing

Email retargeting is based on recording the behavior of your users through cookies in order to offer them email campaigns that are truly tailored to their needs.

 

These are the basic steps of an email retargeting plan.

  1. A user visits your website and fills in the form to subscribe to your mailing list.

  2. Their name and contact details are automatically added to your email database.

  3. You create a series of personalized emails to convert the interested user into a customer.

  4. You send a first introductory email and measure the responses. Did the user open the email? Did they click on any of the links? Did they visit the page?

  5. Depending on the results of step 4, you can now create personalized emails for any situation and continue to interact with your lead every step of the way to conversion.

  6. Based on the following interactions, you can classify users into categories to offer them specially tailored email series.

  7. Step by step and email by email, users consume your content until they are ready to become customers.

From there, the possibilities are practically endless. Here are seven ideas to customize your email retargeting campaigns and make your email marketing more effective.

  1. Personalize your campaigns based on the searches made by the user in Google and other search engines.

  2. Personalization based on the products they have viewed, the actions they have performed or those they have left halfway through (e.g. shopping cart abandonment).

  3. Create differentiated campaigns according to the channel through which users reach your website.

  4. Specifically target users who are active and interact with your emails, perhaps offer them some kind of reward or special deal.

  5. Target users who have visited a site that is affiliated with yours and is focused on similar topics.

  6. Create a targeted campaign for individuals who have interacted with your brand's online games and applications.

  7. Focus on users who consume content that's similar to your brand's.

 

Email Marketing: How to Connect With Your Target Audience

 

Add Value

Nobody (or almost nobody) gives something for nothing. When a user subscribes to your mailing list, they expect to get a reward that is valuable to them, like an answer to a question they have, the solution to a problem, information, or even just entertainment.

The more value you bring to your subscribers, the more they will trust you and the more likely they will be to do something for you, like buying your products.

When designing your email content, ask yourself a simple question: how are you going to provide value to your email marketing audience? To start off on the right track, you can offer them guides, ebooks, or other valuable content as an incentive to subscribe to your mailing list.

 

Segment and Customize

Sending the wrong message to the wrong person can be a disaster when it comes to connecting with your audience. When a subscriber receives irrelevant messages, they may feel that you are wasting their time and they start to ignore your messages, unsubscribe or, worse, mark your emails as spam.

How to solve this? Start by getting to know your audience in order to establish segments. Age, city they live in, marital status, interests, etc. Use the most relevant parameters for your brand and divide your email marketing audience into groups. Creating personalized content for each group takes more time than sending mass emails, but it is a worthwhile investment.
 

 

Welcome New Users

The welcome email can be the beginning of a beautiful friendship...or the end. First impressions count, so you have to be on target with the first message you send to a new subscriber after they sign up.

To connect with your audience and get your relationship off to a good start, be sure to include at least these points.

  • A thank you for joining your list - everyone likes to feel important and valued!
  • A introduction to your company.
  • An explanation of the type of content they will receive in the emails.
  • Some extra content of value (of course, if you have promised an ebook or guide to users in exchange for their email, don't forget to include it!)

     

Listen to Your Subscribers

All relationships have two sides, so if you want to connect with your audience, you will have to learn to listen to them. Encourage them to send you feedback and always respond to their queries to build a relationship of trust. Of course, their comments will help you to fine-tune your strategy, so you'll gain from it too.

 

Benefits of Working With an Email Marketing Agency Like Cyberclick

Despite not having the expertise or necessary resources, 75% of businesses take on the management of email marketing internally. More than half of them don’t carry out any kind of tests before launching an email campaign. This is an essential component in order to see if you’re choosing the right contact base, if your copy is well-written, and if you're choosing the ads with the highest engagement.

 

In order to figure out what users need, experts recommend putting yourself in their shoes and carrying out a test before launching your campaign. This way, you can increase your open rate and number of clicks.

 

If companies and advertisers work with a specialized email marketing agency, such as Cyberclick, they will optimize their processes, improve results, and receive the following benefits.

  • Initial consultation. This will help clarify objectives around communication and customer acquisition. It's important that experts within the marketing world asses what strategy would be best to follow.
  • Creation of campaigns. Help with ad designs for email marketing, landing pages, and forms, all designed to increase both CTRs and LTRs. Using our experience, we can chose the content best suited to increase your conversion rate.
  • A/B Testing. No one should commit to investing in advertising without testing ads and measuring the market reaction first. Performance marketing agencies guarantee certain results but never forget the all important testing stage. In this stage, they test different types of ad designs and messages in order to find the best one. They can also measure the market response throughout the campaign and the quality of traffic received on the website. For this to be effective, they need to be able to work with your company. By sharing signup/sales data, information can be cross-checked and conclusions can be made.
  • Campaign analysis. It’s important to find an agency that shares metrics as transparently and in as much detail as possible. Likewise, it’s important to itemize the databases used in the A/B testing stage.
  • Defining the costs and viability of an email marketing strategy in both the medium term and the long term. After the testing stage, you should be able to see if the investment in the recently launched campaign is appropriate or if it should be adjusted. This is the stage where you would launch a large scale acquisition campaign.
  • Diffusion. Agencies usually have their own (or a third party) exclusive, high quality database networks that offer the best results based on the type of campaign and the desired segmentation. Here at Cyberclick, we already know which databases get good results. Therefore, we can commit to yielding a high number of registrations/signups, establishing a level of quality, and taking care of advertiser’s optimal CPAs.
  • Creativity and innovation. The internet is constantly changing and evolving time. For this reason, businesses should work with marketing professionals to manage their email campaigns. Marketers can work to incorporate new trends into older campaigns and choose the optimal course of action for newer ones. As a general rule of thumb, even if a campaign is working well, it can always work better!

 

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