Email marketing is believed to be the most cost-effective method of engaging with customers and promoting products. The average ROI of an email campaign is $38 for every $1 spent.
But the question is, does every brand generate such a high ROI? No, unless they create tailored campaigns that meet the subscribers’ needs.
Here are five email marketing hacks that marketing executives use to generate the best results.
1- Improve Your Email’s User Experience
With tons of emails landing in people’s inboxes, it is difficult to grab their attention and convert them. To get your subscribers to act upon your emails, you need to communicate its proposition clearly.
Here are some ways to improve the overall experience.
- Use SMTP relay for improving email deliverability. This ensures all your emails land in customers’ inbox. You would not want your subscribers to scan their spam box to find the relevant information they want.
Ensure that the subject line indicates what the recipient can expect in the email.
For example, if your email contains a limited time discount, the subject line should highlight this. You can write something like, “ get a discount only for today” or “buy today and save 10%.”
- Use images, graphics, and colors to add life to emails.
- Your email copy has a lot to do with the experience it offers. Make sure to use the right tone to build trust with your subscribers.
- Design for scanning. Not everyone will read your email word by word. Make it easy for those users by highlighting the key points or sentences. For example, this email from Headspace emphasizes the important details with bold words. They have also highlighted the key offering (six months for $20) at the top of the email.
2- Collect as Much Data About Your Subscribers as Possible
Collecting high-quality data allows you to personalize the customer experience. Personalized campaigns improve the impact of every email you send, thereby increasing the chances of conversion.
Here are some ways to collect high-quality data about your subscribers:
- Add the right fields in your signup forms. It could be anything that defines your ideal customers, such as gender, location, occupation, age, etc.
- Ask customers directly. That’s probably the best way to understand their interests For example, Spotify allows customers to decide what kind of emails they wish to receive. They even explain what you can expect from each type of notification.
- Check what a customer does on your website. The products they search for and the blogs they read helps identify their preferences.
- If you have been running email campaigns, check what type of messages your subscribers respond to. This will help you fine-tune the emails you send to customers and increase engagement.
3- Promote Someone Else’s Content That Compliments Yours’
The primary reason customers subscribe to your blog is that they want to receive great content right on their inbox. The best way to ensure they get what they are expecting is by sharing the right resources, irrespective of who has published it (until they are your direct competitors).
However, to make sense, it is also essential that the content you share compliments your product or blog posts. For example, if you sell fashion accessories, you can share content written by fashion influencers on topics related to your product.
Here’s a real-life example of how a brand can share someone else’s content to engage their subscribers. Vero shared Zapier’s content with its subscribers.
Being a customer messaging platform, Vero shared tips for building an email list (published by Zapier). They went on to say after you outgrown your subscribers, it’s time to send emails to them. Vero then offered their content about how to send the perfect email.
3- Leverage Reciprocity to Generate More Sales
Reciprocity is one of the most common psychology principles used by marketing executives to long-lasting relationships with customers. Reciprocity is all about doing a favor to someone, making them feel obliged to return the favor. Marketing executives use reciprocity to build
There are three best ways to use reciprocity to increase conversion rate.
- Send something for free, even when the customer hasn’t asked for it. It could be anything like freebies, a free trial, or free shipping.
- Offer personalized promo codes. For example, you can allow them to enter their name in the coupon area to get a discount.
- Give your existing customers an upgrade for free. This is great as it enables you to upsell and increase the overall revenue.
For example, Moz sends emails with free access to their SEO training courses, which would otherwise cost $149. This is a great approach since once a user completes this program, it will probably need an SEO tool, and Moz obviously offers one.
5- Encourage Engagement Across Inactive Subscribers
Inactive subscribers are low-hanging fruit. All you need to do is send the right emails to rengage with them.
Here are some great ways to engage inactive subscribers:
- Give the driving seat to your subscribers. Let them decide what and how often they want to receive emails.
- Ask why they aren’t engaging and if they wish to continue receiving emails. For example, when I wasn’t opening SEMrush’s emails for a few days, they sent me an email asking about it. The subject line read, “are we still friends? Please say we are!” That made me open the email instantly. If you see, they have customized the CTA to match the email’s content. It says, “I’m still with you,” which is a great way to make the email unique and engaging.
- Send a special discount coupon, along with a message highlighting it’s been a while since they last visited your site and that you miss them.
- Wish them on their birthday and offer a discount. It helps build a personal relationship with them. For example, you can send emails stating, it’s your birthday week, celebrate by taking 20% off on your next purchase.
- Test different subject lines and email copy to determine what works best in engaging inactive subscribers. Over time, improve them to get the best possible results.
Final Thoughts
Email marketing, when used efficiently, can bring great ROI for your business. While experimenting with new tactics is important, you must use tried and tested approaches as well to generate the best results. The five strategies mentioned in the article are proven to improve the performance of your email campaigns. Happy email marketing!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alon Ghelber
Alon is a Tel Aviv-based Cheif Marketing Officer who supports b2b tech startups in capturing customers’ (and VCs’) attention through marketing based on data-driven storytelling.