Email is quite important (when done right)

Email marketing has been around for a long time, yet it continues to be quite successful. According to our 2018 Industry Report, 59% of marketers believe email provides more ROI than any other digital medium.

But here’s the kicker: despite having such enormous potential, many people are still obtaining mediocre returns from their email marketing. Because email marketing has such a low barrier to entry (it’s cheap, quick to send, and easy to design in most email platforms, for example), marketers often set their programs on autopilot and fail to improve their email approach over time.

Email has the potential to deliver unrivaled ROI for your company, but you must concentrate on the correct things to get there. But what exactly are they?

Customize the mailbox experience

The truth is that the company that provides a better, more personal, and more human experience will always win—especially when it comes to motivating consumer loyalty and conversion. According to Infosys, 86% of customers believe customization influences their purchasing choices. Personalization works because you place the emphasis of your message where it belongs: on the subscriber, not on your brand.

Here’s an email customization example from our buddy Jay Baer. Both of these emails effectively want the same thing: an NPS score. The first email he received was after staying at the MGM Grand. There is a first name in there, but it is otherwise rather impersonal.

The second came from a neighborhood food truck, which his wife had ordered from. It makes the same fundamental request, but it is far more personal. They include her initial name, a headshot of the chef, and even the exact foods she requested. While Jay did not answer to MGM’s email, Allison did respond to the food truck.

When possible, segment

Every marketer believes the same lie: If my emails aren’t doing well, it’s because my target audience is too busy. Sure, no one is clamoring for more email, but I’m willing to bet there are a few businesses you consistently notice.

This is because they only show you material, offers, and invites that are relevant to you. Relevancy generates time and attention, and segmentation is the means to that end.

Here are a few simple techniques to begin segmenting:

• How they signed up
• Location
• Purchase history
• Birthdays and anniversaries
• Response results
• Most engaged
• Least engaged

But what if you don’t have the data you need to segment effectively? Simply inquire! Most individuals are prepared to provide personal information in exchange for offers suited to their preferences.

Use automation to scale your efforts

Although automation is the most efficient technique to grow your email marketing efforts, few marketers use it in their email campaigns. If you’re not sure where to begin with email automation, these three sorts of emails can help you get started:

1. A welcome email or sequence of emails. Welcome emails are crucial, so if you haven’t previously sent one, now is the time. Your subscribers anticipate them, it’s one of the most-opened emails you’ll ever send, it boosts long-term brand loyalty—the list goes on and on!

A word of advice: Make sure to mention how your subscriber wound up on your list in your welcome email. Keeping that connection going from registration to mailbox helps generate context and positions your business for a stronger, longer-lasting engagement with subscribers.

2. Emails with dates. Along with a welcome message following register, it’s critical to automate messages depending on crucial occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. Remember that creating relevance entails remembering what is essential to your subscriber, not simply your brand. Furthermore, these emails are really effective. According to ClickZ, birthday emails with the same offer may increase conversion rates by 60% over non-birthday emails with the same offer.

3. Emails depending on behavior. Let us now discuss behavior-based automation. You may automate emails depending on activity outside the inbox (such as viewing a certain portion of your website) or within the inbox (such as clicking a link to a specific sort of content). Because you already know they’ll be interested, these emails allow you to tailor the offers and information you deliver to specific subscribers.