Post Covid-19, email marketing will be key in reaching our core customers.

We are living in strange times. The past year has been a test for all. While some have failed, others have maintained. The pandemic has caused a need for more business owners to interact with their core clients online. The need for paper promotional items such as flyers and one-pagers may have slowed down. Digital interactions have become the driving force for most business owners to keep their heads above the rising waters. We are living in the true digital age and email marketing is still the most effective way to communicate with customers. Creating email campaigns that will drive conversion rates and increase sales is no easy task.

What can I do to create an effective email marketing campaign?

In order to create an effective email campaign, you have to understand what it is and what it consists of. An email marketing campaign consists of a strategy where you plan to distribute specific content via email that will accomplish a specific goal for the organization, leading to increased sales, a greater ROI, or to drive conversation, to name a few. When creating a campaign, it is important to give the receiver the option to opt in to get your content and that it will be of value to them.

What is the purpose of creating an email marketing campaign?

Although there are many reasons to create an email marketing campaign, most companies would create campaigns for these reasons:

Traffic Generation - Emails are becoming a preferred method of consumers receiving information from businesses. Emails are instant, personal, and convenient. This can be an effective tool for promoting high-value content that leads to your blog and/or website.

Brand Awareness - People often are not ready to purchase a product and service the moment they are shared. The customer who opts-in and joins your mailing list will allow you to stay top of mind. This will allow you to provide high-value content that will be relevant to their business or interest.

Nurture Those Leads - Staying relevant and top of mind will allow you to identify those leads who have the highest probability of making a purchase. You can create specific content geared towards driving these high-probability customers to close the deal.

Revenue Generation - This is where the magic happens. Creating campaigns for existing customers with the intention to promote, upsell, or cross-sell products or services is crucial to increased revenue.

What is needed to create an effective email campaign?

It is very important to understand who your target audience is and whom you are emailing. We sometimes think that everyone whom we email promotions can benefit from them. Someone who is looking for a plumber will not benefit from an email campaign targeted at baristas.  So understanding the demographic of whom we will be targeting is very important, if not the most important aspect to creating an effective campaign.

Next, you want to ensure that goals are set with each campaign. Campaigns should be intentional and have a clear definition of what the expected outcome will be. By creating goals, it will eliminate the headache of guesswork and confusion later on once the data comes through. I personally like to create an overall objective with micro-goals to ensure the success of the objective.

Once you have defined your goals and objectives, you want to create an outline of how the email will be structured. By having a structure of your email campaigns, you can create templates that can be used for other campaigns. Templates are helpful because you don't have to start from scratch each time, you can literally move images or text around and you will have a new campaign set up in minutes.

Once you have your template set, you want to craft an eye-catching subject line. A great subject line will get your emails opened faster. I would suggest that you try to make the subject personable by including the target's name. You want the subject line to be less than 50 characters.

Lastly, be sure to include a call to action in the body of the email. The call to action acts as a guide to what you want the receiver's next steps to be. Do you want them to click a link to your website, then provide a link and point them to it. Are you upselling or cross-selling a product or service, then make sure the CTA emphasizes the importance and need for the upgrade.

Now you are ready to begin testing your campaign.

Now that you have identified your target, created a structured template, have an eye-catching subject line, and a great call to action, you are ready to begin testing your email campaign. When testing the campaign, you want to make sure that it is responsive and can work across multiple screen sizes and email clients.  Each day mobile technology is becoming more advanced and the majority of us, read, reply, ignore emails on our mobile devices.

I want to leave you with this last note if you are a business owner looking to convert sales from your email mailing list. I would be happy to help devise an effective email campaign for you. Please do not hesitate to reach out.

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