Email isn’t dead. Leverage it!
Did you know that for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return is $44.25 according to the folks over at EmailExpert!?!? Forty four dollars!
If you didn’t know that, now would be a great time to take a closer look at what you’re doing (or not) with your email marketing campaign.
And so we must ask…do you have an email marketing plan?
Is it working?
Email is Here to Stay
In the age of social media and constant streams of information, email still isn’t dead. And if you do it right, you can still leverage it to generate quality sales leads and opportunities for ecommerce owners. IF…you do it right.
According to SalesForce, 69.7% of US internet users consider email as the preferred method of communicating with businesses.
Last year, email marketing was cited as the most effective digital marketing channel for customer retention in the United States, according to Hubspot’s collection of statistics. AND they also cite that 59% of B2B marketers say email is the most effective channel for generating revenue.
Optimize Your Email Campaigns
So…what are some quick and essential ways to optimize your email campaign delivery and statistics? Make sure your lists are functional!
Here are some basic tips for optimizing your lists…
- Ask first. You did get permission to email all the people on your list, right? Of course you did. You would never break the law and create a mailing list with email addresses you acquired through questionable means. If that was your M.O. in the past, dump it and start on a clean slate. Use sign up boxes on your website. Capture new emails by enticing people with premium content like white papers or ebooks.
- Clean it up! Make sure your hard and soft bounces are being monitored, adjusted or removed as needed. Are some of those bounces due to a misspelled name or an accidental typo? Get in there and check them out because the recipient certainly can’t open and read your email if it’s not even being delivered.
- Run AB tests. Make sure you’re keeping track of which subject lines and which words are making delivery problematic. Spam filters are a real thing and you definitely don’t want all your hard work to get caught up in them. Test a few options each time. MailChimp, Campaign Monitor andSalesForce all offer AB testing tools to help you get it just right. Try different keywords. Anything goes!
- Check your subject lines. Besides just getting past spam filters, you need to make sure those subject lines are short, sweet and ENGAGING! Use relevant words and address the audience. Are you offering a solution to a problem? Then say it! Offering a time sensitive offer? Give them a sense of urgency up front so they know they need to click NOW. Make them want to open your email and find out more. For more tips on creating engaging subject lines, check out this list from HubSpot.
- Let them reply! Just like any relationship, email correspondence is a two way street. Your recipients may have more questions or need something specific. So don’t leave them hanging. Set it up so they can just hit “reply” and the email actually goes to someone in your company OR be sure to include a valid email address or phone number in the body of the email so they can follow up with your sales team or customer service.
- Use a clear call to action. Don’t just send an email to send an email. Send an email to engage the reader…get them to take action. Want them to sign up for something? Give them a big “Sign up” button! Or even better…as an e-commerce shop, you probably want them to BUY something! So give them a direct link to that item! Don’t make them search for it…because they won’t. Use buttons or highlighted text or whatever you want…but make it a clear call to action that the reader can find without having to make any additional effort.
And of course, you want to make sure that anyone who clicks through from one of your emails can effectively reach your site and complete a purchase.With the right tools, glitches on your site are easily detected and fixed so your business up-time is…all the time. Go ahead and check it out for yourself. Run a quick report now (it’s free), or sign up (also free!) for the service and a full report.
There are so many more ways to optimize e-commerce email marketing campaigns to improve sales and drive business to your online store …this is just the tip of the iceberg. What methods have you tried and found useful, fruitful or productive? Share your favorite email marketing tips with us…
