Emails are one of the top activities on mobile devices. One of the foundational aspects of a marketing plan, brands use emails and email campaigns to promote their products and services. Whether you are a founder of a startup or a cmo of an established organization in health/wellness, education/learning, talent or internet space, how do you ensure your team is doing all it can so your promotional messages are opened and read by your clients instead of being sent in the trash? Here are 9 best practices that will help you succeed.
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9 engaging email marketing best practices for customer acquisition and retention
1. 9
Engaging Email Marketing Best
Practices
To Help You
Acquire & Retain Customers
Ruchira Agrawal, Principal Marketing Consultant
Twitter: @RuchiraAgrawal
Email: ruchira@rightaudiencemarketing.com
www.rightaudiencemarketing.com
2. What is Email Marketing?
• An essential part of overall marketing plan,
when a company sends out a promotional
message about their product or service to a
group of people (preferably prospective
clients) using electronic email, that is known
as email marketing.
3. Facts about Email Marketing
• 77% of consumers prefer to receive permission-based
marketing communication though email
• (SOURCE: Marketing land & Marketo)
• All age groups prefer email communication
• Email has three times as many user accounts a FB
and Twitter combined - 2.9 Billion emails accounts.
(SOURCE: Kissmetrics)
4. What does Email Marketing do for my
business
1. It helps in lead generation
2. It helps convert prospects into paying clients
3. It builds trust with your customers
4. It helps in customer retention
5. It helps build customer loyalty
6. It helps create brand recognition
7. It increases sales and revenue
6. To: your client
Use opt-in email list
Your prospective or existing clients
must give you the permission.
Unsolicited emails from harvested
lists is unprofessional, intrusive and
will land you in trash.
Use database efficiently
Email addresses, names, job
positions, company names are real
people who are your potential or
existing buyers. Don’t spam.
Connect.
Segment and target your list
To keep your email relevant, be
clear about your goals, message
and who you will send them to.
Divide your list based on your
buyer persona so you know can
craft your message.
7. From: you
Use personal email from a real
human being
General email address such as
contact@ or info@ not only seem
impersonal and cold but also get
sent to trash.
You are building customer
relationships
Email is simply a method of
communication, what you are
doing is building long term
relationships
Accurate information
Relationships are built on trust.
Avoid misleading information by
being transparent and clearly
stating your address, company
name, domain name, phone and
other important information.
8. Subject : what gets your email opened
Keep it short,
simple, descriptive,
timely and useful
(Mail chimp suggests 50 words or
less)
Address by first
name if possible
(Hello Ruchira....)
Incentivize your
prospective client
(Win Amazon's kindle)
Localization
matters
(Mail chimp suggests including city
name)
9. Message Copy: what gets your client
interested
Right message for Right people
Customer centric Sales and Marketing is
about your clients – What are you
providing that will add value to them?
What are their needs? How does your
product or service meet these? What
makes your promotion interesting and
valuable to them?
Make your message intelligent
Once you know your client make your
message focused and relevant so it
resonates with your target recipient.
That will get them to not only read but
also take action. Boring emails get sent
to trash. Tie the message with your title.
Formatting your email
Is your copy readable and eye-catching?
Presentation matters in catching the
attention of your clients. Create the
right mix with short paragraphs, images,
bullet points etc. Stick to 2 typeface and
fonts. Keep your email 500-650 pixels
wide.
10. Call To Action: words that urge action
• Repeat 3 times through the
copy keep above the fold &
use color creatively
• Call now
• Sign up or Subscribe
• Fill out a form
• Shop now
Your email has a
purpose – to
educate, promote
and sell your brand,
product and
service.
What would you
like your customers
do once they read
your email?
11. Responsive Design: adaptibility
• Some tips
• Single column over
multiple
• Larger text size in title
and body
• Short sentences
Is your email mobile
and table ready?
With more and more
people checking their
emails on devices
other than their
laptop, it is imperative
your email is designed
to look attractive and
appealing on them.
12. Social: what allows them to become
brand advocates
•Facebook
•LinkedIn
•Twitter
etc.
Your customer find
your promotion
irresistible.
Not only do they
want to try your
product or service,
they want to tell
their family and
friends about it.
13. Brand Consistency: creates brand
recognition
• Information about your company, products
and services should reflect consistency across
all channels, both offline and online. Your
emails should be no different.
• Ensure brand properties – logo, images,
product/service information is consistent all
around in their look,feel and messaging.
14. Optimize, Track, Analyze: improves
performance
• Open rate and Click through rate (CTR) are a
good way to see who is interested. If someone
has clicked through several times, they
become attractive leads to pursue.
• A/B split testing, tweaking various aspects of
your email – subject, copy, times of the day,
days of the week – and analyzing the results
are a good way to improve performance.
15. Your Assignment
• Think like your client and ask these questions -
• How would you like to be treated by a
company when they contact you?
• What kind of email subject line would make
you open an email?
• What kind of copy will make you want to take
action?
16. Marketing Tip
“Think building relationships, not blasting
clients with promotional messages” –
Ruchira Agrawal
Twitter: @RuchiraAgrawal
Email: ruchira@rightaudiencemarketing.com
www.rightaudiencemarketing.com