Effective E-Mail Marketing Step-by-Step

E-Mail Marketing is still an integral part of most successful marketing campaigns. It is an important communication tool, builds customer relationships and can help increase your ROI. But as in many other marketing fields if used incorrectly it annoys your target audience and can seriously backfire.

There are some very important points to consider while building your e-mail marketing campaign. The following 10 tips are designed to help you get your campaign on track.

1. Use your campaign to start a dialog

Start communicating with your prospects. Do not send out pure marketing pitches but aim to enhance your message with relevant information and ask your (future) customers to participate in discussions. Social media integration does not hurt either as you can divert the conversation to platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Google+. 

2. Don’t just concentrate on the Opening Rate

Of course statistics like the opening rate of your e-mails are important. But focus the overall evaluation of your e-mail campaign not just on this aspect. Look instead into where your website hits originate, the number and frequency of visits, content shared on social networks and so on.

3. Fragmentation

Try and take into account the behavior of your target audience. Who is opening your mails, who shares content, who is buying your product or service? Use this data to segment your audience even more and utilize it to specifically target certain parts of your data base in future campaigns.

4. Concentrate on your Message

Always remember that you want to convey a message with your campaign. Don’t forget to customize this message to the profile and interests of your customers.  I also advise you to tailor different messages for different segments of your audience.

5.  Automate wherever possible

By largely automating your campaigns you will save time, which can be invested in your strategy and quality content. Try to link parts of your campaign to certain triggers (for example reactions of costumers, comments and so on)

6. It’s all in the Mix

Try out different styles and techniques. Send out your mails on different days to different customers and include surveys where appropriate. Like this you can gauge the reaction in real-time and adjust your e-mail campaign accordingly where necessary

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7. Make sure that your mails are deliverable

The best campaign is useless if your message doesn’t reach the customer. Just check you junk folder and you will know how many mails do not reach you. This is why you have to test your mails before you initiate your e-mail campaign. Avoid Spam-Trigger words such as “free”, “click here”, “unique opportunity and so on. Have a look at this list: Spam-Trigger-Words-List (Thanks Karen!)

8. Testing is the Alpha and the Omega

In order to achieve optimal results with your campaign, it is essential to check it thoroughly: are all elements displayed correctly? Do all the links work? Does the automatic segmentation work properly? Also check if the mail reaches its destination - ideally, you have a ready test group from which you get immediate feedback.

9. Analyze the Results

For this you don’t necessarily need complicated charts and graphics. Use whenever possible the analysis capabilities of your Software and choose a easily readable and concise format that facilitates the analysis. Incorporate your findings into your campaign to achieve even better results in the future.

10. Integrate Social Media

By adding social share buttons to your mail, you give your customers the opportunity to transport the communicated content like text, pictures, videos, events etc to other platforms and let them spread the word for you.

Did I forget anything? Please share it in the comment section below. Thanks!