In today’s digital age, email still represents an excellent and viable strategy for marketing your business. However, due to email’s high reach, great flexibility, minimal risk, and it’s low barrier to entry, more businesses than ever are also getting into the email marketing game. Due to this increased volume, marketers can no longer rely on the outdated and ineffective tactics of early email marketing to draw in customers such as mass email campaigns of one-size-fits-all emails sent repeatedly to the point of spam. In our modern digital age, customers appreciate an email that is personal and transactional. Customers also welcome email that is appropriately timed and that they have consented to. By using these four strategies, you’ll increase customer engagement in your email campaigns and ultimately, improve your bottom line.
Permission
Due to questionable marketing practices in the early period of email marketing, customers are now more wary of email spam. Customers are more careful about to whom they give their email address and are less forgiving to any company that abuses the privilege of using that customer’s email address. As a result, permission-based email marketing should be a must-practice concept in your business and marketing strategy. An excellent manner in which to engage with your customers and provide an excellent experience is to explicitly ask for their email twice. This double opt-in strategy builds customer confidence in your business as the customer can see that you’re treating their data and time with the due care and respect that it deserves. Additionally, do not forget to make unsubscribing from your emails as simple and transparent as possible. While it may be painful to lose a customer, making the process as simple as possible will leave the customer with a good impression of your business and will make it far more likely that the customer will sign up to your emails again in the future. Don’t make the experience frustrating, and customers will be more likely to come back to you.
Personalization
The one-size-fits-all email is no longer welcome in customer’s inboxes. By sending out generic emails, your business can feel impersonal and ultimately alienate your potential customer. People enjoy feeling special and catered to, customers even more so. Therefore, you should aim to provide as much personalization to your emails to customers as possible. A simple starting point is the inclusion of their name in your email correspondence. An email starting with “Dear [Customers name]” will drive more engagement than “Dear Loyal Customer”. However, if you really want to stand out from the competition, we recommend increasing personalization in other ways as well. Send customers occasion-based emails on their birthdays, anniversaries, or other applicable date milestones. Also, tailor the content of the email more by providing product recommendations in the email based on products they’ve either viewed or purchased before from your site. Steps such as this, show your customers that you care about their individual needs and increases the probability of customers engaging with your email.
Transactional
Also known as “triggered” emails, transactional emails are sent to a customer when they interact with your site in some fashion. You should definitely consider the use of transactional emails as transactional emails are shown to have higher opening rates than traditional marketing emails. The power in the transactional email is that customers expect them as the customer’s actions cause these emails to be sent. Because the customer knows their actions caused the email to be sent, they are far more likely to open them. Examples of transactional emails are welcome emails, order confirmations, shipping notices, and even password resets. Due to their higher opening rates, transactional emails are extremely valuable in any customers inbox and you should be using these emails as opportunities to engage with customers, build a rapport, and establish repeat business.
Timing
The manner in which customers receive their emails has changed dramatically in the past several years. Gone is the concept that customers receive emails from a static point, at their computer. With the rise of smartphones and other such connected devices, the time at which customers receive your emails has become more important. Often overlooked, the time you send emails affects opening rates. Your business should be able to analyze opening rates of emails sent, whether you do this privately or through a business that provides that service. Consider hiring an SEO agency to help you in this task. Take the time to analyze at what time customers are most likely to open marketing emails that you send. It could be entirely possible that your customers typically open emails in the morning, during breakfast.
To sum up, treat customers email addresses with respect and care. Customers will experience and appreciate the extra care and due diligence that you give them by using powerful and simple email marketing. As a result, your emails will be more effective and stand out from the crowd. While these steps can seem daunting and require a significant investment, it’s well worth the time.
