As a 2015 survey by Reuters predicted, email has grown in importance as a top communication tool for work. As such, it only stands to reason that more effort should be put into discovering how to run effective email marketing campaigns.
This might prove to be a real difficulty, especially with an overwhelmingly diverse range of available tools such as mail merge templates, and so on. This is why this article has been written to serve as a guide for running a successful email marketing campaign. Below are some helpful tips.
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Pick Your Target Audience
In the same way as your products and/or services are not for everyone and you have to pick the right audience for them in the same way your email marketing campaign should not be for everyone. You need to identify your target audience by figuring out who exactly would be best reached via an email marketing campaign.
After you have identified your target audience, the next step is to build a mailing list consisting of your target audience. There are different ways to do this whether it is through posting links to subscribe to value-adding newsletters via social media platforms or converting your website visitors to subscribers via pop-up prompts.
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Set Specific Goals
According to Lifewire, over 293 billion emails are sent out every day. What this means is that your target audience is already receiving their fair share of emails, whether from colleagues or from other brands offering a product or service they may or may not need. It is therefore important that you have specific goals. With specific goals, you are not sending random emails that would most likely get ignored.
Your goals shape even the types of emails you send. For example, if your goal is to welcome new customers and re-engage old customers, you should send relational emails that make the customers feel valued because of the content of the email which may be a weekly newsletter, a relevant piece of information they need, or a free gift. If your goal is to boost engagement, you should send promotional emails that introduce them to special offers or sales.
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Create Your Campaign
After you have decided on your target audience and set your goals, the next step is creating the actual campaign.
To create your campaign, begin with the subject line. Your subject line has to be catchy enough to grab the attention of the reader and make them want to read further. Also, keep it minimalist and devoid of wordiness.
For the body of the email, ensure that your message is clear. The reader should be able to easily identify what is being offered and how the offer is beneficial to them.
Preview the email and check for errors using these parameters. When you are sure that the email is good to be sent out to your audience, go ahead and send it.
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Evaluate Your Campaign
Do not be quick to jump right into another email marketing campaign without evaluating the results of the previous campaign. Use the metrics provided by your email service provider to evaluate the success of your campaign. These metrics include click rates, bounce rates, etc. You can use these metrics to plan for your next campaign and make adjustments where necessary.
Email marketing is an integral part of business communication and when done correctly, it can be a key way to keep returning customers, get new customers, achieve brand positioning, and build brand loyalty.
Interesting related article: “What is Online Marketing?“