In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, one channel has stood the test of time: email marketing.
Why? Unmatched ROI.
With an average of $36 returned for every dollar spent, there’s little wonder why this channel remains the darling of content marketing.
The secret sauce? The ability to forge personal connections with your audience directly through their inbox.
Already 99% of consumers check their email every single day – and there are plenty of us that are checking multiple times a day (or several times an hour🙋🏻♀️). So, sending emails is a simple way to connect with your audience without them having to do much extra work.
Email also releases you from the pressure of having to “beat the algorithm” of today’s many social media platforms.
As great as this all sounds, there is a catch. Inboxes are attention battlegrounds. Cluttered with plenty of other emails your audience is too busy to read, the trick will be enticing your subscribers to open your email.
A compelling subject line will be essential. Yet, as crucial as subject lines may be in email marketing, they’re only the beginning.
Because your goal isn’t just to get your emails opened. The goal is to engage your audience, drive action, build trust in you and the work you do, and build lasting relationships that will have them come to you time and time again.
Here are a few other strategies that’ll help you boost your email marketing:
Personalization
We’re well beyond the one-size-fits-all era. Consumers, like you and I, want to be seen as the unique and special individuals we are. We have different needs and wants and we want to be sure the people coming into our inboxes see those differences. More than that, we’re busy and we no longer have the patience to read content that has little to do with our lives or interests or our wants and needs.
While name-dropping remains a smart email marketing tactic, you’ll need to go further today. True personalization involves crafting content that resonates with on an individual level. By delivering personalized content, you can drive 30% more email opens and 50% more click-throughs.
This starts with segmenting your audience. If you’re new to personalization, consider the 2 to 3 common factors that you can use to group your audience. This could be job roles, industry, business type or maturity level, purchasing behaviors or even how they interact with your brand.
With these groups in hand, use your email marketing tool to tag and segment your audience, breaking them into individual groups.
Simplicity wins
In a world in love with aesthetics, simplicity can often be a hard sell. This is especially true when it’s never been easier to create and send visually rich emails.
But here’s the thing: we don’t want a lot of fanfare in our inbox. According to HubSpot, image-rich emails suffer from a 21% lower click-through rate compared to plain text counterparts.
Making matters worse? Heavily designed emails run the risk of triggering spam filters. They can also alienate audiences with accessibility needs.
Keep your lists clean
Bigger isn’t always better. Especially if bigger means less engaged.
In email marketing, an unengaged subscriber list can do far more harm than good. It can skew your open rates and inaccurately reflect the impact of your content.
It can also mess with your email deliverability. Today’s email systems (e.g., Outlook, Gmail) are working hard to filter spam out of the inbox. Open rates are key parameters used to identify spam. So, if your emails have low open rates, these systems will classify them as spam and send them to the junk folder – and out of sight of the very people who want to hear from you.
Want to avoid the junk folder? Then regularly scrub your email lists of any unengaged subscribers. You can remove unengaged readers right off your list. Or you can send them a “last chance” email and ask if they’d like to keep getting your emails. If they reply, great. If they don’t, take them off the list.
Don’t send it and forget it
Your emails shouldn’t live and die in the inbox. Email is ripe for repurposing into content for so many other platforms – blogs (ahem, like we’ve done here), social media (see here and here), video and so much more.
Not only does repurposing content help you maximize the ROI of your content efforts, it can go a long way in reinforcing your message and expanding your reach.
Email marketing may be the OG of digital marketing, but it remains an effective way to connect with your audience, build trust and grow your business. However, email marketing in 2024 demands innovation, personalization and strategic finesse.
Need help with your email marketing strategy or help creating consistent email content? Reach out to learn how we can help.
