What if I told you that marketing is not universal anymore? Is the newest trend for expanding your business is by making targeted connections with clients individually?
And that the new normal of being professional is by going personal? Well, email marketing does exactly that, and more.
Capable Email Marketers and experienced entrepreneurs use this marketing tactic to build rapport with their potential clients and customers. It’s not rocket science; there are rules of engagement you can follow in a good email.
This little blog will tell you what email marketing is, discuss the technical side of it, and equip you with all the tricks to be successful at it.
What is Email Marketing, anyway?
If you’ve been using the internet for a while, then I’m pretty sure you’ve been on the receiving end of some sort of email marketing. Remember those advertisements about products, services, and newsletters that jam your spam box?
Yeah, those are called ‘’Cold’’ emails. To put it simply, email marketing is a marketing strategy used by brands and businesses to promote their products and services, and to build connections. They do this by sending customized emails targeting a specific group of people.
This specific group of people might share a common interest the business can tend to.
Brands and businesses pique the interest of people by sending them customized emails advertising their products and services. Email marketing is one of the most cost-efficient yet effective ways of driving sales and continuing long-term relationships with clients.
Now, let’s dig into how it works, shall we?
Exploring the Technical Side of Emails – How it Works?
Suppose you’ve got a new place, and now you’re thinking of throwing a housewarming party. What’s the first thing you do? You make a list of the guests that you’ll be inviting.
Email marketing is exactly that in the beginning. You make a list of email addresses of people who might be interested in your business. And how do you know who these people are?
Well, here’s where it gets interesting.
Websites use these shortcuts, where they keep records of tiny bits of data provided by viewers that reflect their tendencies and preferences.
These data are called ‘’cookies.” Cookies are initially designed to tailor the website so that it fits the user’s needs and preferences. They remember your virtual patterns and habits.
Cookies primarily keep track of what you do on a certain website.
For example, if you’re checking out a new pair of shoes or reading a blog article on how email marketing works, the cookies on that website will record that data and later use it for recommending you similar posts or products,
So, don’t be surprised if you get an email that says “Great deal on sneakers! Get 25% off!” soon after visiting that website where you saw those sneakers. Basically, cookies teach a website what its visitors want based on their browsing history.
Apart from this sneaky way, there’s also a direct way that cookies and email marketing work together to make sure the right product reaches the right customer.
More often than not, online commercial pages come with the option of creating a customized login ID for every user. The ID is created using the credentials provided by the user and is linked to their email address.
This, on one hand, helps the user navigate through the website and purchase products with more ease, and on the other, makes it easier for the website to reach out to the users regarding offers, updates, and deals on their products and services.
Some websites even come with the option to let the user decide whether they want to be updated about the company’s products and services or not.
Websites also segment their audiences to shortlist the types of emails and who they’re being sent to. They use certain tools to do that.
The next thing that the websites do is craft those emails that are going to be sent out to potential customers. This is where real brainwork is needed.
How Can You Build Strong Rapport with Your Audiences Through Email Marketing?
You see, email marketing is not just limited to sales pitches. To reach and connect with individual customers, you’ll need to format emails so that they look like they were written specifically for them. Here, the structure, tone, and language of the emails are crucial.
Let’s discuss how these emails help you stand out from the litter and get noticed by your audiences!
Some Degree of Pre-Plan is An Absolute Must!
Even before you start writing, keep a few things in mind. Be mindful about who the email will be sent to. If they’re your loyal customers or new potential ones.
Then, decide what you want them to do with the information you provide in your email. Whether you want them to buy something, click somewhere, or sign up for something, etc. Make sure to keep your content relevant and relatable.
Be Direct about What You’re Pitching
Most people are too busy to read the entire email. So, you gotta be very specific and direct about the subject line. Keep it short and compact (50 words at max). Try to avoid all caps like “NEW OFFER!” because that makes the email look extremely spammy.
Instead, be more curative. It could be something like “Hey, [Name], we’ve got a new deal for you,” to intrigue the reader to open the email.
After the First One, Do Regular Follow-Ups
The emails you send can be of various types. They could be welcome emails to the new visitors of your website. Or newsletters containing exciting offers and updates for old subscribers.
They can contain images of products or posters of new deals and offers. This is where you need to get creative and craft a good copy and hit “Send.”
But your job is not all done once you send your emails. In fact, it all begins here. Once you’ve sent out your first bunch of emails to your first group of customers (or potential customers), you’ll need to follow up with more.
Put some effort into maintaining regularity and frequency. Don’t go spamming their inboxes every other week, though. Be vigilant about when the right time to send out another follow-up email is.
For example, you’ve sent an email welcoming a customer to your website. Wait till there’s a relevant event (e.g., Black Friday Sale) before you check up on them. Try to remain as relevant as possible.
A/B Testing is Important when Sending Out Emails
Remember those statistics your website collected about the patterns and preferences of its visitors? Use those to continue refining and improving your emails.
Make an average of the total amount of time a customer usually spends on your website. Use that data to determine whether the majority of customers like reading long and detailed email advertisements or short and simple ones.
You can also try out a couple of different subject lines to see which one has a higher opening rate. This trial is called A/B testing.
Also, if you notice that people aren’t clicking on your call-to-action button, you can redesign it to stand out and pop up more frequently. Whatever you do, there will always be room for improvement.
Proper Email Layout is a Must!
Another thing that all websites are focusing on these days is mobile compatibility. People are always on their phones, even at work. That’s why most opens are on Smartphones.
If your email’s layout is not mobile-friendly, it is likely to annoy the recipient and cause them to not read it at all. If you’re using images, use high-quality ones.
But make sure not to overdo it because that might slow down the loading and cause the reader to lose their patience halfway.
Variety is the Spice of Life – Even for Email Marketers!
People like to communicate, even with companies. This can become a potential strength for your business if you make your advertisements interactive.
You could include polls, quizzes, or GIFs to make your content fun. Make sure to include all the essentials like an unsubscribe button, your physical address for legal confirmation, and tokens for personalization. The trick to boosting your business using email marketing is to start simple.
You need to be constantly testing and improving with the data you collect.
“When” you send the Email to Someone, it Is Important!
One of the most important aspects of email marketing is timing. You need to categorize your emails so that they find the right audiences at the right time.
Most people open emails during working hours (9AM-5PM local time). If you want your target audiences to open your emails and read the whole thing, you must time it well.
If you’re targeting to get reach from customers who live in a particular time zone, then time it according to that.
You Have to be Mindful of the Law when Sending Emails
Email marketing also comes with certain rules and regulations that every business is bound to follow. There are regional and international laws designed for the protection of internet users that prevent websites from sending explicit content.
Two of the most prominent laws are the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act.
These laws prevent websites from accessing the users’ personal data and sending them email advertisements without their consent.
The laws are different in different countries, but the basic rule is to provide the user(s) with an option for checking “yes” in a box to agree to receive emails from a specific website.
It’s crucial to abide by the rules because if you break them, you’d have to pay (literally) for it, no matter which country your business operates in.
For instance, if you’re emailing someone within the EU, you must stick to the GDPR law, or otherwise you might be fined up to €20 million, or 4% of your yearly income. For the USA, the fines can be as much as $50,120 for an email considered uncalled for, under the CAN-SPAM act.
Let’s Sum Everything Up!
Email marketing is pretty much like a direct conversation with your customer, where they’ll be replying through a CTA (call-to-action).
It’s basically making a list, sending out authentic and personalized emails, and keeping a record of which of your moves worked and repeating them.
If you can get the hang of it, email marketing can be the cheapest and yet the most powerful way to keep your customers tied to your business.