Maintaining good communication with your customers is one underlying method of ensuring your business’ success. For many years, companies of all shapes and sizes have been using emails as the primary mode of connecting with people. The returns on email marketing are massive, justifying why 87% of marketers use it to promote their content.
Even though email marketing continues to be in demand, only a strong strategy can bring in customer engagement as predicted. Instead of a standard email, you need to add a more personal touch to engage with each customer. At the same time, you must be proficient with the ways you can use technology to simplify your approach while deriving the maximum outcome from each recipient.
9 ways to use email marketing to engage more customers
The first and foremost step here is to develop a roadmap of how you intend to attain your business goals. This is where you explore different approaches toward reaching your target audience and gaining their support for your goals. The best way to do so is identifying your objectives and figuring out the types of email content for each of them.
Newsletters, event invitations and more are a few popular formats in email marketing that generate interest among customers. A modern take on this is affiliate email marketing which sees the inclusion of promotional links for different products and services. With automated systems in affiliate email marketing, business owners can earn a steady income. Once you have a structure in mind concerning the best-suited strategy for your company and its customers, you can use the same for a long time with tweaks every now and then.
Writing interesting subject lines will go a long way in captivating the attention of your customers. It’s the first thing they read when the email lands in their inbox and therefore, must make readers curious so that they automatically open it. A well-drafted subject line must pique the interest of regular and potential customers.
When writing subject lines or the brief text which shows in the email list, it's vital to understand what exactly engages the customers based on their likes, purchase history and marketing trends. You can use personalization, humor or FOMO to create a state of relevance and engagement with the content. Make sure to keep it informative and factual and not misleading as it can hamper your brand’s reputation.
The next step after the subject line and headings is the complete email you send to your customers. The more engaging your email is, the greater your chances of turning your email marketing strategies into a success. Observe and consider factors such as demographics, trends, interests, behaviors and more to develop more targeted emails that will surely be a hit for your customers.
The focus here is to provide content of value to customers in the form of how-to guides, offers, promotional content, and other information along with visual aid in images and videos. Take a step further by making the content easy to read and scan and with a clear call to action. The email must motivate your customer to subscribe to your newsletter, go on the link provided, or make a purchase. The content and language you use in the emails must align with your brand image and voice while being respectful of the audience.
Long gone are those days when companies could send general emails to their entire audience and gain results. In today’s time, people want companies to put in extra effort to tailor content as per their likes and interests. Dividing your audience into smaller groups based on gender, age, location, purchase history and more will simplify this personalization process.
Segmented and targeted messages will surely increase customer engagement and boost conversions. It’s a tough step that may not be successful in one try only but needs constant monitoring of customer details and behaviors so that you’re able to create relevant emails. Additionally, use data analytics and feedback to constantly improve your offerings and resonate better with the audience.
The feedback you receive from your customers will be helpful in all aspects of marketing, not just email marketing. It’s also an incredible method to build credibility with new customers in your company. All you need to do is to send a follow back email after the purchase is made and the order is delivered understanding the customer’s perspective on the entire shopping experience and the product.
For example, if a customer orders a handbag from you, their feedback will be needed on the delivery experience, online shopping journey and product quality. You can also offer rewards in the form of discounts to regular customers who not only purchase frequently but also give feedback. Emails asking for responses from people are bound to be received actively by customers and more often than not, people are up to letting companies know their experience with them.
You need to optimize the send timings for your emails to get the maximum impact and responses from customers. When you send these emails at an opportune time, there are higher chances of people opening, reading and responding to them. To always get these sending times right, you need to update yourself on your customers’ habits constantly.
Factors like time zones and work schedules influence the time when customers check their emails. Advanced email marketing software can help you reach your audience’s inboxes at the time they are active. Once you have all the factors in check, you can automate your complete email marketing strategy to send different emails at different days and times throughout the week and also monitor metrics.
A/B testing is an interesting way of understanding what type of emails exactly click with your customers. It is a process that involves sending two different versions of the same email to smaller segments of your customer base. The reactions to both versions are then examined based on conversions and click-through rates. You get an intimate idea of which version you need to use based on the performance.
A/B testing is an important process that companies, especially those in their nascent stages, must undertake. It helps in making decisions based on valid data concerning your email marketing campaigns. You are clearer about elements like design, images, subject lines, and templates that directly determine the format of your emails. Over time, you can use this method to refine your approach and deliver more effective email marketing campaigns.
In this advanced world, automating is the key to achieving business goals faster and saving time wherever possible. Similarly, automating emails can help you save time and resources while delivering suitable emails to people. You can build your software to automatically identify triggers such as cart abandonment and send follow-up messages to those who are even minutely interested in your offerings.
The greatest benefit of automating your entire email marketing mechanism is that it helps you focus on other areas of your business. The software is equipped with an intelligent system where it constantly monitors the behaviors, actions and active times of your audience. All you need to do is set up the features you want and incorporate them at all stages of the buyer’s journey. When you’re constantly in touch with your customers, you’re ensuring that your products and brand aren’t easily forgotten and that drives more customer engagement.
When you constantly advertise your products through emails, there will be a significant chunk of people who are genuinely interested in your products and services. These people don’t hesitate to share their contact details with you and become members of your high-value mailing list. When you have a group that’s loyal to your brand, you can use this group to reach out further to the audience.
The people on your high-value mailing list trust you, which is why you need to avoid misleading emails, spam, or other shady practices. The exclusive offers and rights you give to them must also be of high value, like contests, coupon/referral codes, event invites, and more. Building this list is a time-consuming task but once you identify the people who are invested in your brand, then you are automatically boosting customer engagement through your email marketing tactics.
Foster customer engagement with email marketing
Email marketing will always be a powerful tool for businesses. Of the nine practices discussed above, automating your email marketing strategy is the best and most futuristic step to tread on. When you constantly optimize your email campaigns and build relationships with your audience, you drive more traffic and sales and eventually, are closer to achieving your business goals. When you prioritize your customers, everything else will eventually follow.
By B Naomi Grace
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