How to Develop a Strategic Marketing Plan for Email
Wikimedia, Danilo94
As you well know, email marketing is the most straightforward way to keep your brand front of mind for your target audience. Regular email newsletters, whether weekly or monthly, allow your contacts to learn of the deals and news about your business that can affect them, providing an incentive for them to act.
Keeping in mind that the goal is to incentivize your audience to act, with a call, a click, or a purchase, there are three tips that can increase your conversions and the rates that your contacts act on your email info.
Grow your Email Marketing Contact List
Your existing e-mail marketing contact list is a valuable asset, but like any asset, you need it to grow in value to continue to benefit your bottom line. Well, growing your contact list for your email marketing plans is a simple way to increase your reach and improve your conversion rates. Grow your contact list by:
- Adding a “Join my Mailing List” Link to your website home page and landing pages.
- Promote your email plan through your social media profiles and pages.
- Tip: Offer a Downloadable article or white paper or even email-only discounts to your new registrants to entice them to sign up.
A/B Testing for Better Open and Click-Thru Rates for your E-mail Marketing
When you send an email newsletter, there are several elements that can affect your resulting Open and Click-Thru Rates (CTR), which respectively affect the success of your email marketing plan. Therefore, improving those Open and CTR’s is crucial to garnering real results for your email efforts.
A/B testing means altering one version of your email to try and obtain a different (better) response from your recipients. Split your email list in half and try testing the following points to see if you get more clicks or opens:
- Moving one of your “clickable” graphics around in the layout of your email to make it easier to access.
- Change the email subject line that your recipients will see in their inboxes.
- Reformat the paragraphs of your content to see if it drives more interest.
Segment our Contact Lists to Build More Targeted Emails
When you segment an email marketing contact list, you divide it by some common factors like:
- Geotarget or region
- Age
- Gender
- Past sales data
- Type of client
Once you segment your e-mail marketing contact list, you can tailor emails to speak directly to that segment’s needs. No more generalizing your email marketing, get specific and sell what each of your segment’s needs, directly to them.
Email marketing is a powerful tool for any business, but between building the content, managing lists, testing, and them monitoring the results, it can also be a cumbersome process. Put your email marketing into the hands of a marketing consultant that has a successful track record using email to drive sales.
You can relax knowing that your email marketing plan will be managed without taking the necessary focus from your everyday business!