Email marketing messages are still one of the most effective ways to reach your audience. Despite the rise of social media, industry wide reports show that email marketing is dollar for dollar one of the most effective ways to move your leads from warm leads to buyers who are ready to purchase from you. If you’re currently using email marketing and are less than impressed with the results, it’s time to do an audit of your messages and your strategy. By making a few important tweaks to your campaigns and messages you can get all that there is to get out of email marketing practices.
1. Make sure that you have a complete follow up sequence once new people join your list.
Email marketing is all about building relationships and there’s no better time to do that than right when someone new joins your list. You should be sure to have at least seven follow up messages for new subscribers. Seven messages give your audience enough familiarity with you to be memorable. It will also give you the opportunity to show off your value as a source of information.
2. Work on your subject lines.
Your open rate is one of the biggest indicators that your email marketing messages are getting through to your intended audience. The biggest way to affect your open rate is to make sure your subject lines are engaging and interesting. For example, if you send out a weekly newsletter use a subject line that hints at the content of the newsletter rather than “Newsletter #22.”
3. Give a bonus now and then.
Keep your email list members on their toes by sending out a special bonus now and then. Be sure to emphasize this in the subject line in order to get them to click open. Not only will it endear you to your list members, but it will also train them to open your emails more regularly. By sending occasional bonuses – like special discounts, reports and ebooks, you can increase your open rates and clickthroughs.
4. Be consistent.
Sending regular messages helps your audience get to know you. They’ll come to expect your messages and you’ll be able to get better open and response rates. There’s nothing worse than sending a message out once and then dropping out of sight for several months. When you do decide to send more messages after a break like that, your audience may not remember who you are or why they signed up for your list. An autoresponder sequence can help with staying consistent but after the sequence is done, you need to have a plan to follow up regularly.
5. Ask them what they’d like to read.
Giving your audience exactly what they want to read is a key part of getting them to open and respond to your messages. Conducting a survey will give you important insight into the type of information your audience wants to read. Use the results of the survey to help you create stellar content and special bonuses that speak directly to the needs of your audience.