Email marketing was first started by Ray Tomlinson in 1978. He sent the first email then and it was no special message but a series of letters and numbers that looked like a password but its significance was profound. Gary Thuerk sent the first commercial email years later and that was the beginning of Email marketing. The email only reached few hundred people but that was enough to declare Gary as the “Father of Spam”.
Currently it still feels spammy but a well crafted mail can turn the reader to a client in due time.
Does Email Marketing work?
It may sound cliché but some people still ask this question. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to sell your brand. In 2015, a study but DMA discovered that for every $1 on email marketing, there is an average of $38 return of investment. When shoppers are ready to buy something, they often look for emails from their favorite stores.
People still receive many emails all the time and it can be challenging to stand out in such full inboxes. Therefore, Mail Chimp provides you with tools that will help you stand out and develop effective emails for your marketing campaign.
How to Get an Email List.
The more you maintain an engaged subscriber list, the higher your ROI. Your list should make up of people who want to receive your messages. Building a clean list from the scratch takes more work though.
To build an email list:
- Create a form on your website. When a visitor comes to your site for the first time and gets hooked, they will want to stay and get to know more about your brand To make this happen, create a form for newsletters signup. A pop question will be there for the person to input his or her data. m for newsletter signups and install a pop-up to collect customer data from your visitors.
- Use a good old-fashioned signup sheet. No matter the brand, be it old clothes store or an event, when you are around people who love what you do, it is important to provide a place for them to sign up and know more.
- Drive signups through social media. Even if you don’t have a substantial email list but have a huge social media following, you can use that medium. Share your signups form on your social media handles so that your followers can hop on it.
To add more subscribers to an existing list
Host a contest or offer a discount. It is always necessary to offer an incentive or free gift so people can sign up for your email list. They work. For instance, you can offer a prize for lucky new subscribers or a discount code for first purchases.
Make your emails easy to share. If you write something beautiful, compelling and valuable, people will want to share it. MailChimp allows you to use features like share buttons and social media post builders. It helps to circulate snippets of your mail.
Build a landing page through Mailchimp. Landing pages offer one more way to grow your email list. Using your best imagery and content, landing pages give people a clear call to action and drive email signups way, way up.
CAN I BUY AN EMAIL LIST?
It is not advisable especially if you are using a Mailchimp. It won’t allow you make use of a purchased email list.
Purchased email lists are ineffective. This is what happens when you buy an email list; the emails sent will be identified as spam and so many of the contacts will choose to unsubscribe. Sometimes, email spam filters will flag down the campaign if anyone with same IP has sent spam messages before. Anytime a mail is sent using Mailchimp, your email is usually delivered through a server which prevents other user’s email from going through if you have sent a spam message.
These are three rules you must adhere to in email marketing.
Don’t use third-party lists. It inures purchased or rented mailing lists, as well as from other sources like a public website.
Get permission. Everyone who is on your list should have chosen to opt in to receive emails from you. They should be the one to grant permission.
Include an unsubscribe link. Always give people the chance to unsubscribe if they want to. It is important to include the unsubscribe link so people who want to opt out will feel free to do so.
3 strategies for better email marketing campaigns
When you follow these strategies there are more chances of it working especially if you are consistent.
Let’s get started.
- Personalize your messages
Personalizing your email doesn’t mean you should send individual email to every subscriber on your list, it means using a customer data to create a personalized message.
One company that has leveraged on Personalization is Amazon.
All of Amazon’s emails are personalized.
It’s not “Dear valued customer”, but “Dear Victor.
They don’t say “You might like these”(random opinion) they say “You might like these’ because they have a purchasing history.
For Amazon, email marketing is not just a marketing channel, it is their key to customer experience.
Segment your subscribers
Segmentation is another method that works. This is why it works; it is because when you segment your database, your email campaign is able to reach more of your targeted audience.
For instance, if you want to host a networking event for small business owners that are within a 20 mile radius, how do you plan to get a turn up?
Segmentation is the answer. The best way is to create a segment of people who list themselves as small business owners that lives within 20 miles of your event and invite them via email.
Send mobile friendly emails
In 2012, 27% of all marketing emails were opened on a mobile device. By 2014, that number skyrocketed to 42%. Currently, it is as high as 61%. When you send a mail to a subscriber via mobile device and they can’t access it because it is not mobile friendly, they would eventually opt out. You don’t want to lose subscribers, do you?
If you haven’t had an active email campaign before, you could try one. The ROI is something you need your brand to grow.