Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing efforts, and the best thing about it is that it’s relatively easy for you to do. At first glance, email marketing might not seem too novel, because this kind of marketing has been around for years. However, a solid email marketing strategy can keep customers coming back and give a hefty boost to your sales.
If you’re new to email marketing for small business owners, then you’re in luck; Contrado’s own Email Marketing Executive, Kaity, offers her favourite tips to get customers excited about seeing your brand in their inbox.
Create Your Email List
One of the first things you’ll need to do to create your email marketing strategy is find people to email. Seems obvious, right? If you already have email addresses from your customers that have opted into email marketing, then you can simply enter them into your email marketing platform. If you’re starting from scratch, you can collect email addresses in a number of ways.
One of the best ways is to offer customers an incentive to give their email address. This can be as simple as offering a discount code towards their next purchase. If your business has a special niche, you can leverage that here. For example, if you’re an artist, you could offer a free digital print download to entice them.
Another easy way is to offer customers the option to opt in to email marketing when they checkout. They’ll need to enter their email to get updates on their order anyway, so add a checkbox that they can tick to get future offers and communication from you.
Your Subject Line
Now it’s time to start working on your content, starting with the subject line. This is where you’re going to grab their attention. Your subject line is how people decide whether to open your email, so this is your chance to make it compelling. Whatever the most interesting component of your email is, write it in the subject. To avoid your subject getting truncated in their inbox, use nine words or less.
Here are some examples that will spark curiosity:
- We heard you. Organic fabric is here.
- Sitewide Sale – 3 DAYS ONLY
- You won’t believe this artists’ new medium
- 50% Off This Best Seller
Kaity’s tip: Numbers are great for engagement, so including them in your subject line is a sure-fire way to get clicks. And if you want to stand out in a crowd of other marketing emails, try using a really short subject line.
Content is Key
As a general rule, you want to order your content in a hierarchy of most important to least important. Why? Because many people won’t read to the bottom of the email. You only have a few seconds to hook them.
With this in mind, you can choose what content to send in your email. Your emails can be regarding new product releases, promotions and discounts, information, or maybe even a monthly newsletter.
We’re naturally visual creatures, so including images in your email is a must. Use bright images that stand out and draw the eye in. Remember that most people view emails on their phones, so crop the photos closely to make your subject appear as big as possible.
Kaity’s tip: It’s helpful to keep the format of your emails consistent for each one you send. Use a similar order of titles, paragraphs, and visuals so readers know what to expect.
Make it Personal
Just because everyone on your email list has subscribed to you doesn’t mean they’re all interested in the same things. Part of your email marketing strategy should be segmenting your email list and sending emails to certain groups of people based on their buying habits and behaviours. For example, local customers might love to hear about an event you’re hosting around town so they can visit, but this won’t be as relevant to customers who live further away.
How Often and When to Send
Frequency and timing will be another big part of your email marketing strategy. The name of the game here isn’t to stuff their inboxes, but rather less is more. Once a week is the maximum, otherwise you might see an increase in the number of unsubscribers. Shoot for once every two weeks, so that your brand stays fresh in their minds without feeling like spam.
Kaity’s tip: Sending emails in the middle of the day keeps them towards the top of your audience’s inbox. If you send the email while everyone is asleep, it might get buried in their inbox.
Don’t Forget the Call to Action
This is another thing that might seem like a no-brainer, but we want to make sure you don’t forget it. You’ve written a great email, now get your customers from the email to your website or store. Your call to action will be whatever you want your subscribers to do, like buy a product or read a new blog post.
Kaity’s tip: Use buttons as links for your call to action. They stand out, and your subscribers will know exactly where to click.
Analyze it All
The email marketing tool or platform you use might have built-in analytics that will help guide some of your email marketing strategy, so definitely take advantage of them. Look at the percentage of people that open your email and the click through rate to your call to action – use this to inform your strategy going forward. Are readers not really responding to a certain type of subject line or feature? Try something different next time. You can also use Google Analytics to get more information on your readers’ habits.
Kaity’s tip: Try new things and see how your audience responds. This gives you insight into your audience and why types of content perform well.
Promote Products in Your Emails
There you have it, folks! Now that you know how to build your email marketing strategy, you can start your journey.
Add some intrigue to your emails by promoting your products. With Contrado, you can dropship through Shopify and sell hundreds of incredible products that feature your original designs. Use your art to design apparel, accessories, and homeware that’s all handmade to order. You’ll make money with each product you sell, and we’ll handle the delivery. You can even integrate email marketing tools right into your Shopify store. Click the banner below to get started!
