As many people do, you may think that the era of email marketing is long gone, but I’m here to tell you quite the opposite. The practice of email marketing is still alive and, not to mention, thriving.
According to Statista, there are currently 4 billion active email users, and email marketing is a rewarding way to get the word out about your product to these 4 billion potential clients. Through it, you can spread awareness, create leads, find customers, and up your conversion rates at a low price.
So what do you need to know before stepping into the world of email marketing?
Why do we need bulk email marketing at all?
Sending out bulk emails for your marketing is a tactic that businesses have used for years. And for a good reason! Bulk emailing has always been a reliable tactic to generate leads and bring in more clients.
It saves time to create general mailing lists and send out the same email to all of them than to find specific people you think could be potential future customers and send unique emails to them instead!
But despite the pros, they are not all sunshine and roses. One should always be careful about sending out bulk mail. Even one mistake can cost you, multiple future clients. So there are specific rules you should remember when crafting the perfect email.
The Dos and Don’ts of Bulk Email Marketing,
The Dos
- Figure out your target audience
- Use the technology to your advantage
- Craft your subject line carefully
- Create a well designed UX
- A/B test your CTA(s)
1. DO: Figure out your target audience,
No matter what your product is, chances are there’s an audience for it, but if you want to make use of that information, you’re going to have to figure out who that target audience is first!
Use social media and specific keyword searches to figure your audience out if you need to. Also, applications like Google Analytics are pretty helpful!
Once you figure out who you’re selling to, you can devise specific marketing strategies to improve your clickthrough rate.
2. DO: Use the technology to your advantage,
One of the best ways of creating a successful email marketing campaign is to use the available technological tools to your advantage.
These include;
- The aforementioned Google Analytics, to fine-tune your marketing strategies,
- Keyword finders, to make your emails more alluring to that audience,
- Subject line testers, like Omnisend, to make sure your emails don’t end up in their spam folders.
These tools help you to improve your marketing strategies and emails. Without them, you’ll find your emails lacking the oomph they need.
3. DO: Craft your subject line carefully,
While crafting your subject line, keeping the CURVE in mind is essential.
- C = curiosity
- U = urgency
- R = relevancy
- V = value
- E = emotion
By stimulating any of these with the subject line, there are high chances of increased open rates and click-through rates. It can go even further and can drive more traffic and increase conversions.
According to Hubspot, email subject lines that create a sense of urgency can generate a 22% higher open rate. If it isn’t enticing, chances are that users won’t open it at all. That is if they ever even reach their inboxes!
Email service providers and clients have only gotten more and more strict regarding what counts as “spam mail”. Specific words in your subject line can have your email be immediately diverted to the user’s spam folder, never to be seen by them.
4. DO: Create a well designed UX,
A valuable email user experience is what makes the customer journey easier. Massive paragraphs in your emails can dissuade users from actually reading it through or even ever getting to the CTA (Call-To-Action). No one likes run-on text. To make emails readable, one must know the importance of structure and navigation.
Segmenting your email can be an easy and quick fix that allows you to keep all that information in there while not boring the user.
5. DO: A/B test your CTA(s),
Your CTA is arguably the most essential part of the entire email. It’s how customers reach your product’s page, so it needs to be the most prominent and visible button on the page!
If your CTA isn’t noticeable, the entire process may as well have been for naught. A/B test with different text, colors, sizes, and fonts! Analyze and figure out what makes it pop before you ever come close to sending out those emails. You can A/B test your subject lines as well.
The Don’ts
- Bombard your users with content
- Sell subscriber email addresses or purchase email lists
- Try to work using outdated email lists
- Forget to optimize your emails for all devices
- Use unclear content in your emails
1. DON’T: Bombard your users with content,
Short and sweet. That should be your motto when writing up the content for your email campaign. Users don’t need to know everything about every product or service that you offer.
As long as you highlight the critical points and make it sound like you have the product they’re looking for, they’ll end up looking for more details on their own.
2. DON’T: Sell subscriber email addresses or purchase email lists,
While purchasing email lists is often a fast way to up the number of conversions and possible customers you’re getting, it violates the rules of consent under GDPR. It can also harm your email deliverability and IP reputation.
In the end, it just isn’t worth it to sell or buy these lists if they end up being the things that ruin your business. While the traditional way is slower, it’s also less risky, and any email addresses you do get are sure to be active.
3. DON’T: Try to work using outdated email lists,
Don’t send to a list that you dug up from 10 years ago and expect to land in the inbox. Even if you think your email campaign will interest them, it’s better to ditch that old email list.
The older an email list is, the higher the number of inactive addresses it’ll have on it, so to use them is a waste of time. They are a fast way to end up in the spam folder (or worse, rack up some hefty fines). Keep your lists clean, and composed of users who have completed your opt-in.
4. DON’T: Forget to optimize your emails for all devices,
Emails Clients are also no longer just an application on your PCs. Nowadays, a vast number of users prefer to check their emails on their cell phones. Due to this, we must also adapt and make sure any marketing emails sent out are compatible with these devices.
Not optimizing your emails means you don’t get access to a huge market, so there is no reason to skip the process. It may take a bit more time, but the results speak for themselves.
5. DON’T: Use unclear content in your emails
Clarity is just as essential as its relevance. Keep the language simple so that your clients understand the message you wish to communicate. It is important as your email is likely to be read by different people including students, senior citizens, businessmen, or different industry people.
Conclusion
If you choose to entirely opt-out of email marketing, you’ll find yourself struggling to make much progress, especially compared to your competitors that still use these tactics.
Email marketing is still one of the most prolific forms of marketing out there. Few other marketing tactics have the versatility, ease, and cost-effectiveness of email marketing, which is why we made it way easier to manage bulk emailing in our products, such as Pie Register!
Pie Register offers multiple add ons such as Mailchimp and Bulk Email that’ll help you manage your marketing strategies concerning bulk emails! And with a straightforward interface as well as supporting documents to help wherever you get confused, you’ll find that email marketing has never been easier to handle.
We hope this article managed to answer any questions you had about email marketing and give you an initial push into the field. If you have any other questions, don’t be afraid to contact us, and we wish you a great many conversions!