In recent years, emailing has proven to be an effective marketing tool. With the acceleration of digital transformation and the volume of messages we receive throughout the day, email is often the medium with the greatest potential to capture consumers’ attention.

To this day, email marketing is the best way for small and medium-sized businesses to attract and retain customers. According to statistics, 81% of SMEs consider email marketing their primary channel for acquiring customers, and 80% consider it their best channel for retaining them.

In this article, we have gathered 6 simple steps to help you deliver high-quality email marketing and maximize the potential of your campaign to get more attention, engagement, leads and sales.

• Step #1 – Define the goal of your email campaign
• Step #2 – Build a subscriber list
• Step #3 – Define your campaign’s target
• Step #4 – Use an email marketing tool
• Step #5 – Create your email campaign content (copywriting – design)
• Step #6 – Analyze your email campaign results

Step 1 – Define the goal of your email campaign

Every marketing strategy starts with setting goals; in other words, what do you want to achieve with your email marketing campaign? Here are some examples of the most common goals:

• Attract new subscribers

Explain what your company is about and what your values are. This way you start building a relationship: the aim is for it to feel personal so that you can create emotional connections.

• Nurture existing subscribers

Give your audience useful information they can only get this way and that you know will be of great value to them.

• Increase engagement

with your page’s content and with your company. This could simply mean promoting an article or a webinar, or trying to make a sale.

• Segment your audience

So that you can send specific information to the different types of customer profiles on your list.

When creating your email marketing campaigns, you can also keep in mind that these goals can be linked to the conversion goals you already have in your sales funnel.

Step 2 – Build a subscriber list

Every brand needs to build a contact list to run any email marketing campaign, and the most effective way to do this is to convert your website visitors into subscribers.

Unfortunately, it is not that easy: in most cases, users leave web pages before subscribing to newsletters.

One way around this problem is to use pop-ups that appear on the visitor’s screen when their mouse pointer moves to leave the site.

Statistics suggest that between 10% and 15% of visitors who are about to leave can be “saved” with this strategy. Of course, pop-ups must be clear and easy to dismiss, so that the user experience stays optimal and your website is associated with good navigation.

Step 3 – Define your campaign’s target

Now that you have the email addresses of people who want to receive information about your products or services, and you have confirmed that they are real, valid addresses, it is time to subdivide your list.

To deliver personalized content, you need to understand your target well.

• What are their needs?
• What are their expectations and behaviors?
• What are their concerns?
• What are their interests?
• Are they new, active or inactive subscribers?
• Are they potential, recent, new, regular or lapsed customers?

One idea is to segment the audience by creating forms that include questions such as age, gender, occupation, location, education level or any other question that helps you group people.

Step 4 – Use an email marketing tool

Can you imagine having to send 500 emails manually every day? It would be an exhausting process requiring a lot of human resources at the same time.

There are many platforms you can use to run your campaign. Acumbamail, Mailchimp, GetResponse and Benchmark Email are among the most recommended and best known.

To run effective email marketing campaigns, a tool should offer the following:

• Easy-to-build campaigns, automations, templates and workflows (the Mailchimp view is shown below).
• The ability to integrate with the tools you already use, such as WordPress, Zapier, etc.
• Ways to segment your audience.
• In-depth results for each campaign.

Step 5 – Create your email campaign content (copywriting – design)

Once you have defined the key points such as your goals, your audience and the email marketing tool to use, it is time to get to the heart of the matter: creating an attractive, high-performing email. Some of the elements that should appear in the body of the email are:

• A hook: the main function of an email’s subject line is to give a preview of its content, but in digital marketing it must also be appealing and witty. Ideally, keep it short: between 40 and 50 characters.
• Personalized copy: copy is creative text that aims to convince readers to keep reading and, ultimately, to buy the service or product offered. Of course, the tone of the copy will vary from case to case. However, some general tips include addressing readers by name and providing valuable content.
• A call to action: also known as a CTA, the call to action prompts the reader to click a button that takes them to your website. In an email marketing campaign, these buttons are usually placed near the beginning, middle and end. The CTA should be short and very clear.

Step 6 – Analyze your campaign results

A good habit is to measure your campaign’s results or statistics continuously. Whatever tool you used (Acumbamail, Mailchimp, GetResponse, Benchmark Email) or any external tool you decided to use, it should provide analysis of the email campaign’s progress. The key metrics are:

1. Delivery rate: the number of emails delivered divided by the number of emails sent. It measures the quality of your email database.
2. Open rate: the number of emails opened divided by the number of emails sent. It measures your reputation. If your open rate is low, your contacts may see you as a spammy advertiser.
3. Unsubscribe rate: the number of unsubscribes divided by the number of emails sent.
4. Click-to-open rate: the number of clicks divided by the number of emails opened. It gives a concrete measure of your campaign’s appeal and the relevance of your message.

There are more and more ways to communicate but, against all expectations, people continue to use email marketing massively. Sending emails as part of a digital marketing strategy can therefore be an excellent way to build real connections with subscribers and, above all, to enhance your brand or company.