The first question that may come to your mind is this: is email marketing even relevant in digital marketing today? The short answer is yes.
Despite the emergence of influencer marketing and social media marketing, email marketing remains a tried-and-true method for reaching and engaging with your audience. It is cost-effective, highly targeted, and can offer a high ROI (return on investment) of USD$36 for every USD$1 spent. Your brand can use email marketing for an array of needs, which we will delve deeper into later.
If your brand is thinking of capitalising on email marketing for your business needs, this beginner’s guide will help you nail down the essentials and get you started on creating your first successful email campaign.
What can email marketing do for my brand?
Before you begin learning the ropes of email marketing, you should first understand what email marketing can do for your business.
Some of the functions of email marketing include:
- Generating leads: By integrating email marketing with your e-commerce website, you can gain new sales leads in exchange for offering a first-timer discount for your products and/or services. This stage marks the beginning of your relationship with your potential customer, and can eventually generate successful lead conversions.
- Foster relationships: Sliding into your customer’s inbox can be a way to deliver a more personalised message, which your customer will appreciate. Complement this strategy with data analytics that reveal their shopping habits, likes or dislikes and demographics, and you can target email campaigns to specific clusters of customers to build your relationship.
- Grow brand awareness: Even if your customer is not ready to make a purchase at this point in time, having a consistent email marketing strategy can keep your brand at the top of their minds until they are ready to do so.
… And the list goes on! But we digress. Included in this article are 5 simple steps that your brand can take to kickstart your first email marketing campaign.
Step 1: Building Your Email List
The first step is to define your audience by creating a list of subscribers who have expressed interest in your products or services. You can create a buyer’s persona based on their demographics (ie. age, gender, occupation etc.), interests and buyer’s behaviour.
If you already have an e-commerce website, great! Simply create a sign-up form on your website, and incentivise your sales leads to register to the emailer list by offering exclusive rewards and discounts.
Step 2: Select an Email Marketing Platform
Choosing the right email marketing platform is essential. There are many options available in the market – such as Mailchimp and GetResponse – with a variety of features and respective pricing. Alternatively, your brand can engage an all-in-one creative agency like I Concept that does everything for you: from writing the sales copy, designing the electronic direct mailer (EDM), to coding it to be more dynamic and visually engaging.
Step 3: Craft Engaging Content
The success of your email marketing campaigns hinges on the quality and relevance of your content. Emails can be deemed as spam or junk by your customers, should they feel that your content does not appeal to their interests or needs.
Your email marketing campaign should therefore cater to your audience’s needs, and can be categorised by some of the following thematic content:
- Welcome emails: Set the tone right by sending a welcome email to your customers, and include a voucher or two as a ‘thank you’ for deciding to register for your brand’s mailer list.
- Seasonal promotions: Share attractive, ongoing deals with your customers.
- Newsletters: Keep your subscribers informed about the newest trends in your industry and any company updates.
No matter the purpose of your email marketing, you should always ensure that the copywriting is concise with a call-to-action and speaks to the hearts of your customers, and that the visuals are enticing and showcase the best that your brand can offer.
Step 4: Optimise for Mobile Devices
1.7 billion users, or 65% of email readers, check their emails on their mobile phones. Hence, it is absolutely crucial to ensure your emails are mobile-friendly. By using mobile-responsive design, clear and short subject lines that fit for smaller dimensions, and optimising visuals to load faster, you can ensure higher email open rates.
Step 5: Analyse and Refine
So you have followed Steps 1 through 4, but now what? In order to gain meaningful insights into your email marketing success (or lack thereof), you should track its performance using analytical tools. Take special notice of the open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates to make informed decisions and adjust your strategy as needed.
Email Marketing and More With I Concept
Email marketing remains a powerful tool for connecting directly with your customers, generating new leads, increasing brand loyalty and creating sales opportunities. These fundamentals will equip you with the basic knowledge to formulate your first email marketing campaign that drives effective results.
For a more holistic deep dive into the world of digital marketing, I Concept Singapore is your choice creative agency! We offer a full suite of services which spans from digital marketing (including email marketing) to branding and even ecommerce development and design.
Don’t be shy, say hi to us here to learn more about our offerings today!
