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With the vast influence of social media, email has no more use in online business marketing, right?
Wrong.
Any marketing specialist who feeds you this concept either doesn’t know the goldmine that is email marketing or is just withholding it from you.
Not only is email marketing still relevant, but it also boasts the kind of customer patronage that you can’t find from social media.
Just think: email providers filter the messages that get into people’s Inbox. It takes a loyal customer to find your email, click on it, and spend a few minutes reading your message.
In social media, people can browse past your posts without a second thought. Even when they tap Like or Post a comment, they’re quicker to forget content that they just happened to browse through than the ones they consciously subscribe to and receive in their Inbox.
This branch of marketing takes skill and patience to master. Luckily, these 5 elements of a successful email marketing campaign will keep you on track:
1. Timing
For advertising to work, you must say the right thing at the right time. When you do it on an electronic mail platform, this means hitting Send on the right schedule. The best time to do it is when people are likely to open your message and read it rather than click on Delete automatically.
Consider the timezone of your target market. Other demographics to think about are their age, work, and gender. When your emails are sent, are they on their way to work? Did they just come home from school? Will they be Snapchatting with their friends? All these factors can spell the difference between an effective and unopened email.
2. Frequency
If you think that flooding people with emails increases your chance of being listened to, think again.
People are wary of receiving a bunch of promotional messages. Plus, email providers have built-in detectors for classifying emails into Spam. If you don’t want to end up in that folder, send promotional emails twice a week at maximum. Sometimes, even sending one newsletter every month is more effective. People won’t get annoyed and they’ll look forward to what you have in store for them for that month.
3. Subject Lines
Because people receive a ton of emails every day, they will only open the ones that catch their eye.
Be careful not to oversell on this aspect though. If your subject line goes, “This Beauty Secret Will Get You Clearer Skin Overnight”, make sure to tell them a lesser-known beauty regimen and not something that they can pick up from any magazine. Otherwise, people will feel cheated and will be less likely to open your email next time.
Your best chance is to hire a virtual assistant who has email writing skills. This job is for professionals because generic lines have no place in a successful email campaign.
Remember: it’s the first line that you get to tell a reader so it’s the deciding factor on whether they’ll open your email or not.
4. Visual and Textual Content
- Is your email personalized or is it just a bunch of generic words about your company?
- Do you talk about how your new product can help people or merely discuss its main ingredients?
- When people finish reading your email, do they know what link will help them purchase or what button gives them a discount?
- Does your email consist of long paragraphs without any related images?
- Can your message have more impact with an accompanying visual?
All these questions will help you check if your content is customer-centric, relevant, and clear both textually and visually.
There should be a balance between the images and copy of your content if you want people to keep reading through the end.
5. Device Optimization
When you send out your email campaigns, do you imagine readers open it on their desktops? If you do, this kind of limited visualization can get you in trouble.
People don’t exclusively open emails on their desktops anymore. In fact, they’re more likely to check their Inbox on their smartphones or other mobile devices. Make sure that whatever device they use to access your email, your message will fluidly fit their screens.
Considering the 5 elements of a successful email marketing campaign, what practices will your business stop or continue?
About the Author
Catherine vanVonno, the author, is the President and Executive Director of 20Four7VA, a global Virtual Assistant (VA) Service Provider. She holds a doctorate degree in Applied Statistics, Research Design, and Program Evaluation from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and has over 10 years of experience in facilitating evidence-based strategic planning, product development, brand management, legislative communications, and medical policy. She is married and has four children. You can reach her at communications@20four7va.com.
http://20four7va.com/ | twitter.com/20Four7VA
