Our inboxes are constantly bombarded with promotions and offers. So it’s no wonder people are asking if email marketing should still be part of a strategy. And the answer is… of course!
With an average ROI of $42 for every $1 invested, email marketing is an excellent tool for generating engagement. Since your target audience has to opt-in to receive communications, you are also speaking to a pre-qualified customer base.
Email marketing has evolved a lot over the last few years. The time when companies sent thousands of identical promotional emails is long gone. Here are a few tips to help you tailor your strategy and increase your brand’s email ROI.
Keep your data up to date
Customer data is crucial for successful email marketing. Although some companies focus on obtaining the largest number of email addresses possible, you should be prioritizing quality over quantity. That means ensuring your data is always up to date.
Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (C-28) has been in place to reduce the harmful effects of spam and related threats. The law requires that consumers provide express or implied consent before you can send them electronic messages. You must therefore ensure that everyone you send emails to has provided their consent.
You can also require customers to double opt-in. When a client adds their email to your distribution list, they will automatically receive an email asking them to confirm their consent to receive email communication from you. This ensure you have valid email addresses. Companies that use the double opt-in process report higher ROIs.
Every year, a number of customers will change email addresses or opt out of receiving emails from you. Be sure to remove all inactive and invalid addresses from your list. These have no value for your company and, worse, can affect delivery of your email campaigns. Before you delete inactive email addresses, put together a campaign to try and re-engage customers. This is also a great opportunity to ask clients if their information is up to date.
Use data to personalize emails
A healthy database will not only help to raise the delivery rate of your campaigns, it can also make them more pertinent. Emails with personalized subject lines are much more likely to be opened.
To personalize your email campaigns, start by segmenting your database. Depending on your campaign goals, create groups based on engagement, geographical location, type of product/service purchased, frequency/recency of purchase, and more.
Segmenting your audience will also help you to adapt your message. Use client data to personalize email content, and purchasing behaviour to personalize offers. Most tools available on the market will enable you to connect various data sources to better personalize your campaigns.
Test your campaigns
Remember: The days when companies sent out thousands of identical promotional emails are over. That’s why you must now be innovative and pertinent in your email offers, content, and messaging.
Traditional A/B tests let you send different campaigns to sub groups in order to determine which campaign generates the best results.
You can test elements such as:
- subject line
- images
- personalization
- calls to action
- commercial offer
Before setting up your A/B test, be sure to outline your hypotheses and define your objectives. This will help you measure the right indicators. If the goal of your campaign is to elevate sales, for example, be sure you’re not just measuring open and click rates but also conversion rates and sales generated for every variable tested.
Don’t make too many modifications at once, since you will never be able to pinpoint what element performs best. Keep in mind that small changes can make a big difference when it comes to results.
Automate your email campaigns
It can become difficult to manage different campaigns and segment versions. Thankfully, marketing automation lets you create and automatically send various email versions to customers. Start by analysing the information you have available and identifying the various stages of your customer relationships.
Begin with simple campaigns before sending more complex ones. So long as you ensure your data is well structured, the email possibilities are endless: welcome email, post-transaction email with satisfaction survey or request for product review, reengagement campaigns, birthday emails, and more.
That’s just the start!
Email marketing is still very relevant today. But like any other marketing initiative, it requires time and effort. Plan your campaigns, take advantage of automation, test, and maximize the use of your data to personalize messages as well as improve future campaigns.
Get emailing!
Need advice or want to learn more about your email marketing approach? We specialize in the design, implementation and optimization of customer relationship management and loyalty strategies. Contact us to learn more about our strategic and operational support services for businesses.
