A Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing

By 2022, 347.3 billion emails are projected to be sent every single day, and by 2023 there will be 4.3 billion email users – that is half the world’s population! Despite many new forms of communication and marketing platforms popping up recently, email marketing has always remained strong and it definitely isn’t a channel you want to ignore. If anything, email marketing is growing, and by creating strong email marketing campaigns for your business, you will be situated in a great position. It can be overwhelming creating an email marketing campaign from scratch and you may be wondering how to get started! This guide should be able to help you get going.

Firstly, let’s go through what email marketing can be used for. You can use email marketing to:

• Build brand awareness by keeping prospects engaged and informed.
• Nurture sales by providing relevant content to your leads and pushing them to convert. Did you know that abandon cart emails have a 69% higher conversion rate than a single email?
• Build relationships through personalised and meaningful connections.
• Promote content by marketing your products and services to consumers.

Whether you are using email to market directly to consumers, or to gather new leads for your sales team, email marketing can work for you. So, now you know how email marketing can help your business, how do you get started? We’ve put together a handy guide below to help you…

1. Establish an email plan

Firstly, you need to define your target audience and decide what you want the campaign to achieve. It is then a good idea to research some industry-specific metrics such as open rates and click through rates so that you can create goals, and have a benchmark to compare your results.

Next, make sure you have an easy way for prospects to join your mailing list, don’t forget it can take a while to build a mailing list, so don’t worry if it is small to start off with! Finally, create an email schedule, do you want to send a bi-weekly newsletter or perhaps you just want to share product announcements and sales messaging? It is important to create a consistent email schedule that you can plan out ahead of time.

2. Choose an email marketing platform

With so many different email marketing providers out there that cater for different goals and budgets, it can feel overwhelming. If you are wondering how to choose an email marketing provider, try considering these key factors; the size of your audience lists, your email marketing budget, the audience segmentation options that are included, CRM integrations, ease of use and functionality. The most popular email marketing platforms include:

• Mailchimp
• Salesforce Pardot
• Drip
• HubSpot
• Sendinblue
• DotDigital

3. Creating a great marketing email

There are many things to consider when putting together a marketing email. Unlike when you email a colleague or friend, you need to think carefully about your wording, the subject line and your goals. So, let’s break down what to consider…

• Subject line: A punchy subject line such as a question or stat works really well at achieving a high open-rate. Make sure it is highly relevant to the email content. 
• Copy: Stick to a consistent tone of voice. Think about your brand identity and how it is portrayed in the email, make sure this lines up with your other marketing channels.
• Images: Choose eye catching, on-brand images and headers and don’t forget to optimise for mobile view!
• CTA: Every email needs a call to action, whether that be to read a blog post, sign-up to an event, download a brochure or use a discount code.
• Personalisation: Don’t forget to add in merge fields where appropriate in your email to add a personal touch

4. Segmentation

Every prospect who receives an email will be at a different point in their customer journey, therefore some are much more likely to convert than others. So, it is no good pushing out heavy sales messaging to all your prospects, as you will end up with a large number of unsubscribes. Segmenting your email lists out by engagement is a great way to tailor relevant content to your subscribers. There are so many ways to segment your data but make sure you are tailored and focused with your email marketing approach to see the best results.

5. Have you got permission?

Let’s be honest, these days customers don’t give out their personal information lightly. Make sure you understand the laws around GDPR and data protection when it comes to email marketing before starting your campaign. Remember you are a guest in their inbox! If your business uses email marketing in the right way it can be an amazing tool used for both relationship-building and profit-building. 

For help with all things email marketing, get in touch with us today and we will be happy to help out!