Email marketing is one of the most misunderstood parts of a digital marketing campaign, but when used right it can increase brand awareness and help you cultivate a long-term customer base. A successful email marketing campaign uses an already-established list of interested parties and sends them direct emails about sales, promotions, and new product launches. We’re Wren Interactive, a full-service digital marketing agency based in Mandeville, Louisiana, and email marketing is one of the many services we offer.
An email campaign can be combined with social media marketing, website design and optimization, and search engine optimization to build a comprehensive long-term digital strategy for your company. Read on to discover everything you need to know about launching your first email marketing campaign.
6 Steps to Prepare for Your First Email Marketing Campaign
Create Your List
Unlike most digital marketing strategies, an email marketing campaign takes more preparation before you can get the most out of it. That’s because you’re targeting already-interested parties rather than the audience that sees your ad on major platforms like Twitter. Before sending out a mass emailing, you need to get people to sign up for it through promotion on your other platforms or by inviting them to opt in when making a purchase from your company.
When signing up for the email list is a low-effort affair, fewer people are likely to opt out. That’s why many companies program the “subscribe to our email list” button to be pre-checked, meaning most customers won’t take the extra step to unclick it and sign up automatically.
Create Engaging Copy
This is where having veteran copywriters working for you is a big advantage, because most people click in or out of an email in seconds, and you have just that long to hook them. The first step is the headline, where you need to give your recipients something intriguing to prevent them from sending the message to the trash. Teasing a sale or a new product announcement while not giving them everything they need to know is the best way to hook them immediately.
Once you have people’s attention, keeping it is best done by answering the questions immediately and giving them an opportunity to take action. If you’re promoting a sale, give the core details and then redirect people to your website where they can make a purchase. If you’re hyping a new product line, give them what they need to know to anticipate its launch and let them know how they can get more information as the release date approaches.
Focus on the Visuals
The easiest way to catch your audience’s attention as soon as they open an email is to have images that tell a story without relying on copy. The product should be prominently displayed in the image, ideally in a way that illustrates the appeal and evokes an emotion in the viewer. This is why many marketing agencies work with models and influencers to include a person in the ad who will be enjoying the product and demonstrating its use.
Images are a critical part of email marketing campaigns, but it’s important not to overwhelm your ad with them. The key to keeping your audience’s attention is simplicity, and you want to move them from the image to reading your copy smoothly. The ideal page layout will be a catchy headline, an image that evokes a strong positive emotion, followed by the copy that gives them the detail and shows them how to make a purchase or learn more.
Understand Your Chain of Events
Before sending your emails into the wild, it’s important to understand your user experience and troubleshoot any difficulties before your customers encounter them. At Wren Interactive, we run all our ad campaigns through our testers and incorporate constructive feedback to ensure your customers get the ideal version, not the beta. This way we know that our subject lines and copy are hitting the right notes and getting your point across.
One of the most common undoings of email marketing campaigns is a landing page that frustrates the customer after they click. This is why it’s important to make sure your website is optimized and easy to use. With mobile purchases increasingly common, we can give your site a tune-up and make sure it’s intuitive for both desktop and mobile users.
Create Your Content
The most successful email lists include promotions and information about future products but also include a hook to keep people checking back regularly. This is where original content like blog posts and guest articles can boost your marketing campaign and help you stand out in a crowded market. Our team of content creators make it easy to keep your website and email list stocked with original content to keep your product line in the minds of members regularly, rather than only when you have news to share.
Cultivating relationships with other brands in the same sphere but who aren’t direct competitors makes it easier to build a library of original content. The best brands have partnerships for guest blogs on websites that appeal to the same lifestyle as theirs, and this attracts a crossover audience. The best time to start building these relationships is early, so put your company out there and offer promotional space on your blog and list for companies that might do the same for your brand.
Create Sub-Lists
Everyone who signs up for your email list should receive core emails, including promotions, sales, product announcements, and blog posts. However, many big companies find success in creating sub-lists that tailor the content received to the person’s interests and past purchases. This is best set up through email surveys where people get an email asking them quick questions about what they want to see from the company’s content.
These email surveys should not take more than a few minutes, because the goal is to get as many responses as possible for demographic purposes. Bigger companies also use statistical software to analyze the purchases of their customers and create sub-lists for advertisements based on those. At Wren Interactive, you’ll have access to the best statistical software for analysis, and we can take your product data and turn it into a larger marketing plan.
Email Marketing: More Relevant than Ever
Too many companies have ignored the benefits of email marketing and are missing out on a goldmine of loyal customers returning to their website. A combination of a well-curated list, engaging copy and images, and a strong landing page are the best way to cultivate brand loyalty and make your brand a regular part of the customer’s day. A full-service digital marketing agency can ensure your brand gets the most out of your first email marketing campaign.
Contact Wren Interactive in Mandeville, Louisiana for more information on our services or to set up a consultation and see what we can do for your brand today.
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