As with any other type of marketing campaign, with email marketing, you will have to define your goals to gauge the success of your campaigns and tweak them where necessary.
Some of these goals you may think are obvious, but they are critical to your success and it is surprising how many people miss them.
There are also goals that are not so obvious, and you may not have considered them before.
There is plenty of email marketing advice available online, and you will also find some valuable tips below.
If you are currently running an email marketing campaign or looking to start one soon, here are some of the goals you can incorporate into your campaign to help you get started and make the most of your email marketing efforts.
Identify the purpose of your emails
You may think this is obvious, but you may be surprised at how many companies send emails to their subscriber list just for the sake of sending an email.
If your email has no defined purpose, then it is often a waste of time sending it.
Whether you are looking to increase awareness of new products or services, highlight promotions or special offers, or increase sales, ensure there is intent with the emails you send.
This focus will allow you to better tailor your email copy to reach your stated aims.
Improve your open rates
The average open rates for email marketing vary between different industries, but overall the average is around 17%, so this is the benchmark for which you should be aiming.
You will need a trial-and-error approach to help improve your open rates, and you will want to play around with your titles and make them as eye-catching as possible.
Allow preview text, so people know the purpose of the email and make it personal by addressing it to the recipient.
If possible, try not to use a generic email address to send your email marketing emails, which can help make the recipient feel like a person has sent it directly to them.
Increase the CTR (Click Through Rate)
It is all well and good to have people open the emails you send, but if they take no further action, the email has failed.
You will want to entice people to click on your email links, which can help drive traffic to your website and increase sales for your business.
There are a variety of ways to do so. Some of these include time-bound offers, a discount link or with engaging copy.
Improve your conversion rates
You will want your email campaign to convert, whether you are looking to attract traffic to your site, generate sales, or entice users to contact you for more information.
If your campaign does not convert when people click on the link in your email, you will need to investigate why this might be the case.
It may be your pricing, the usability of your website, or one of many other reasons.
An email marketing campaign that does not convert can waste a lot of time and money for your business, so conversions will be an important goal you need to set.
A return on your investment
Your email marketing campaign’s ultimate goal will be when you see a return on your investment, which justifies the effort and expense.
If you do not see a reasonable return on your investment of time and money, you will need to take a good look at your marketing campaign and see what things you can change.
You may also wish to consult with a specialist email marketing agency that can help you with your campaigns and ensure you see a good return on your efforts.
Try to connect with your subscribers
You will need to connect with your subscribers and ensure that the email and information you send resonates with them and gives them value.
You can try segmenting your subscriber list and break it down into different categories, such as:
- Location
- Age
- Sex
- Interests
When you are writing the copy for your email, you will want to create it to read like it is intended solely for the recipient and is not being sent to everyone on your subscriber list.
Having a connection with your subscribers can drastically increase your email marketing campaigns’ performance, so it is something not to overlook.
Measuring your results
Using the available technology, you can have an incredible insight into your email marketing campaigns’ success that can let you know when you are doing things well.
You will want to monitor your email campaigns closely to ensure their effectiveness so you can see whether your goals have been achieved and you get a return on your investment.
Email marketing is still one of the most lucrative marketing techniques in the digital world we live in. Campaigns take some time and testing to get right.
So, do not give up on this type of marketing if you fail to achieve your targets the first time around. Keep tweaking your campaigns until you get the results you’re looking for.