It’s almost impossible to imagine, but there was a time not too long ago when email marketing was viewed within the conventional marketing world as a fad that would evaporate from the landscape since people would grow weary of reading and clicking.
Email Marketing is Here to Stay
Well, as reported by Marketing Sherpa, 60% of today’s digitally-savvy marketing professionals cite email marketing as the most effective digital marketing channel – which explains why, as noted by Forrester, there were a whopping 838 billion marketing emails sent in 2013. And according to Exact Target, 91% of consumers check their email at least once a day. So much for predictions and prognosticators!
However, not everyone is reaping the rewards of email marketing. Millions of businesses are underachieving – or not getting any meaningful or measurable results at all. And while lack of resources, expertise and technology are prime suspects in these kinds of bad news marketing stories, in our experience the root cause is, more often than not, a matter of strategy.
Below, we highlight 4 key ways that businesses can avoid unsubscribes – and generate followers, fans, shares and of course, sales and profits – with an email marketing strategy that works:
4 Essentials of a Good Email Marketing Strategy:
1. Improve List Quality
Many businesses capture all of their leads in a single database. While this is convenient, it’s categorically not strategic – because not all leads are created equal! One lead may not resonate and respond to the same marketing messages as another lead.
It’s both vital and valuable to segment leads into their respective buyer persona groups, which ultimately improves list quality and leads to more focused, targeted and engaging communication. Or in other words: fewer unsubscribes!
2. Integrate the Customer Journey
Just as all leads aren’t created equal, not all leads are at the same stage of the customer journey. Some are closer to the beginning and are conducting initial research on potential solutions and businesses. Other are nearer the mid-way point and have identified what they need to do, but they aren’t sure who they should pick to help them. And still others are closer to the end and evaluating an ever-shortening list of solutions.
Businesses should analyze various data sets to help identify where leads are, and then target them accordingly with messages and offers that appeal to their frame of mind, and stage of the customer journey.
3. Be Relevant and Personal
Yes, customers are inundated with emails from various businesses. But contrary to what some businesses believe, they aren’t anti-email. They simply want and demand that emails are relevant and personal. Relevant means that they want emails to appeal to their self-interest – such as a problem they want to solve, an experience or benefit they want to enjoy, and so on.
Personal means that they want emails to engage them as individuals. To this end, a study reported on MarketingLand.com found that personalized emails deliver 600% higher transaction rates!
4. Automate, Automate and Automate
Manually creating email marketing lists and sending them out is not just tedious and inefficient, it’s totally unnecessary. There are a number of excellent email marketing systems that integrate with content marketing and web development platforms. HubSpot is a prime example, and it’s what we use here at Leap Clixx.
The Bottom Line
Email marketing isn’t a fad – it’s only going to get bigger and more important as businesses look for more cost effective ways to engage and enlarge their community.
The above tips will help you optimize your email marketing strategy, so instead of being overrun with unsubscribes, you’ll be cheering and celebrating click-throughs!
Discover more ways to generate leads from your website as well in our free eBook.
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