What is the definition of email marketing?
Email marketing is the process by which you collect email addresses from potential clients and then utilize strategies and structure in order to connect with and nurture subscribers in order to generate revenue.
How does email marketing work?
Email marketing works by building an email list of subscribers who have permissively chosen to receive your communication and then continuing to build that relationship with those subscribers until they become clients.
Why is email marketing important?
Email marketing is important for two main reasons.
First, it’s the direct line to your client or prospect. There's a lot of social media platforms out there and a lot of people spend time building their social media presence. The challenge with social media is you don't know when you're going to be in front of your prospect. It's like a billboard on the side of the highway. You hope the right person drives by at the right time and sees it – very different from email which allows you to get a message directly to your prospect. With email marketing, you don't have to worry about whether they're going to look up and see it. You know you're going to get it directly to them.
The second important thing about email marketing is that you own your email lists and no one can ever get between you and your lists. Again, that’s different from social media where somebody else owns the platform. You’re just visiting the platform. It's like building your house on rented land. With social media platforms, the algorithm can change and you suddenly lose access to the audience you had. People stop seeing your messages and there's not usually anything you can do to change that.
That's very different from your email list because your email list is something that you always own. No one can ever get between you and your ability to reach your audience via email. When you own the list, you always own the list and you can always send a message directly to them.
How much does it cost to do email marketing?
In its most basic form, email marketing only costs your time and your energy. Platforms will have fees for use, typically based on number of subscribers.
What are some programs or applications I can use to do email marketing?
Sorting out which platform makes the most sense for you depends on what kind of service you need.
For people only doing email marketing – without the need for a shopping cart, online sales, affiliate program, etc – I recommend ActiveCampaign. For those who need more broad services or transactional emails, I suggest Simplero.
The key with any platform is to hone in on what you use the platform for and what your needs are both in the immediate and next 2-3 years. Often, people make the mistake of getting too much or too little platform without properly estimating what they need or will need. Speaker 1:
What is an email marketing strategy?
An email marketing strategy is your game plan. It's your intentional plan for utilizing email marketing in a way that's going to generate the results that you want to generate in your business.
How do I develop an email marketing strategy?
The best thing to do is hire an expert to guide you. In order to develop your email marketing strategy, you have to consider several things:
- How often are you emailing your list?
- Can you pick an interval and then stick with it?
- How will you use automated email?
- What are the results you want to achieve with your email?
- Do you want subscribers to know, like and trust you?
- Do you want to turn subscribers into clients?
- If you want to convert them to clients, how will you develop trust and take them on that journey?
An expert is the best way to get a return on investment on your email market strategy.
How do you use an email marketing strategy?
A great email marketing strategy must be well thought out and designed to generate the results you want to achieve. Additionally, it must have a structure that makes sense for you and your business to ensure you can adhere to the strategy.
In other words, be clear about what goals you want to achieve and utilize a structure that works for how you work. Otherwise you won’t be successful if you’re trying to implement a style and structure that doesn’t match how you work.
Where can I find email marketing services?
Hire an expert such as myself to help you determine what you need, develop a plan, locate the best email marketing tools, and help you achieve your email marketing goals.
What are some email marketing tips?
The best way for me to think about email marketing tips is to walk through my eMail with H.E.A.R.T. structure.
H.E.A.R.T. is an acronym:
H – HOW
Pay attention to how people get on your email list. People aren’t often careful about this and it can erode the know, like, and trust factor. They know you, but they don’t like and trust you because they may feel taken advantage of. Trust is key to turning people into clients.
E – ENGAGING CONTENT
I’m often asked “What should I say in my emails?” Put out content that makes sense, resonates with your audience, pertains to their existing problems, and explains how you can help solve those problems. This can look like many things – blogs, invitations to your speaking events, podcast recordings, tools and tips lists, applications recommendations, client stories etc.
A – AUTHENTIC VOICE
Speaking from your authentic voice helps you connect with your audience. Just be comfortable stepping into you and who you are. If you’re trying to position yourself into what you think people want you to be, it creates a disconnect your audience will feel.
Write to your audience in a personal way as if they are a close friend. Be genuine. Let your authentic care for them be expressed. Don’t be afraid to share aspects of your personality with them to demonstrate your authentic self.
R – REGULARITY
I’m often asked “How often should I email?” The most important thing is consistency. Pick an interval that works for YOU. I recommend at least twice a month — you pick the schedule that fits best for you.
There are 2 challenges to only emailing monthly that both lead to emails being ignored or unsubscribed:
- the feeling that you need to pack the email with excessive content that ultimately overwhelms the reader
- so much time passes between monthly emails that people forget they’re on your list or who you are and they
T – TECHNOLOGY
Be conscious of the platform you’re using. Be sure it meets your needs. Consider mobile devices. Track your metrics, including open and click through rates. These help you understand how your audience is responding and what they are reaching to so you know where you have room to grow or what is working well.
How should I use email marketing for my online store?
You can use email marketing in your online store in a couple different ways.
As soon as possible, capture names and emails of online store visitors so if they leave without a purchase, you can stay connected and encourage them to return. Marketing automation can be a good tool for this.
Another way is to send an email to subscriber lists emails related to specific products or product groups. You can use a Call To Action to gather email addresses in this method.
What are open rates?
Open rate is the percentage of people that you sent the email to who actually open the email. F example, if you send your email to a thousand people and 250 of those people open the email, then you have a 25% open rate. The average open rate is 12 to 15%.
What are click through rates?
Click through rates are the number of people you've sent the email to who have clicked on a link in the message. An average click through rate is 4%.
What is split testing?
Split testing is often used for landing pages or for email subject lines. It’s a way to look at which one is going to generate the better result. So in the instance of using split testing for subject lines, you can put in two different subject lines for an email but all other content is identical and send each to half your subscribers. You then examine which email campaign had better results to determine efficacy.
What are email newsletters?
Email newsletters are a regularly scheduled communication sent to subscribers containing a variety of information that the author believes is relevant to recipients.
Find email newsletters to be ineffective for the following reasons:
- They’re usually sent monthly, which isn’t an effective interval
- People tend to “pack” them with information that becomes overwhelming to the recipient
- Subscribers think they’ll come back to them to read in more depth, but rarely do
Instead of, for example, sending a monthly newsletter with four sections, I suggest sending a weekly email with each week representing one of the sections you would have had in your monthly newsletter. That way you have more frequent contact with your subscribers and aren’t overwhelming them with content.