Dive into Email Marketing, but Look Before You Leap September 20, 2018, | Posted by Samantha

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More and more, brands of all sizes have been looking into starting email marketing efforts, and it’s not surprising; email is one of the best-performing channels, with an ROI of $44 per every $1 spent. Turning leads or potential customers into purchases and conversions is easy to accomplish with email, but it does take a little knowledge heading into the waters to make the best moves starting out. Site Impact’s experts all agree: a good base of information and strategy before you start email marketing efforts goes a long way. So here are some tips for getting started and hitting the ground running.

Build your list intelligently

The starting point for any email marketing efforts is the recipient list. The best designs and copy in the world won’t matter if you have few people or even no one to send to, so the first priority is to start building your recipient list. The best way to build up a list from scratch is to offer those who sign up a tangible, valuable benefit for doing so: a limited-time promotional offer, a small freebie (such as an ebook), something that gives them an incentive for providing you their information. For companies of all sizes this is a method that works: it’s even helpful for those brands that have physical locations just as much as it is for those based solely in the digital space. A multi-front approach of gathering subscribers across platforms (on the website, on social media, in person) will work the best.

Of course, you can also reach out to companies that have their own databases of consumer information already compiled for a boost in reach. Site Impact has thousands upon thousands of selects to choose from, for example--people who have signed up to receive information about products and services relevant to their interests. Be careful when selecting a company to partner with to grow your reach, however; make sure to ask questions about how they keep their lists current, what they do to ensure all email addresses on their lists are valid and updated, etc. Invest in quality, and take the time to make sure you’re getting what you need.

Keep things simple to start

One of the great things about email marketing is that design and copy of all levels of sophistication can work in the medium. For brands just starting out, the best approach is to start simple; simple designs and copy are less expensive and easier to test than more complicated ones, and they get the point across just as well. Once your brand is in the swing of things a little more, with a few campaigns under your belt, you can start to increase the complexity by looking more into things like consumer psychology, color dynamics, and bells and whistles like animated featured, embedded video, and more.

The same principle applies to the copy you use in the emails you send out. The first campaigns should have straightforward, professional--if friendly--content, without a whole lot of use of slang, unless your brand has already established a particular brand tone. As time progresses and you have a more comfortable feel for your recipients, you can become less formal and incorporate jokes; but starting out, it’s important to nail the basics and generate confidence in your brand.

Measure from the beginning

You should be measuring engagement metrics from the very first campaign you send out, which means including the framework for those metrics before you send out your first campaign. Email tools provide all you need to begin measuring the number of opens, the click through rate, and more right from the first time you send out an email. Over time you’ll have a better idea of what metrics are the most relevant to your company; one report by Salesforce shows that it can take 6 to 8 contact points before people are ready to buy. If you keep track of engagement, you’ll have an idea of how people progress through the sales funnel.

Jumping into email marketing can give any brand a boost when it comes to engagement with customers and driving more conversions. These are just the most basic things for companies to consider before they leap into the waters of email marketing, but they’re the cornerstones of building a consistent, branded presence in your customers’ inboxes, and a starting point for your future endeavors. If it still seems daunting, consider partnering with a dedicated email marketing agency to help you get things rolling with style. Contact Site Impact to find out how we can start your brand’s email marketing efforts on the right track.