You may have heard of email marketing before, but you may not know what it involves.
When I first learned about it, I felt lost. I was confused. There were all these new terms. Additionally, whenever I sent one to my inbox as a test, it would show up in the junk folder. Honestly, I just wanted a straightforward answer about it.
I decided to write this post to answer questions that I was too nervous to ask and questions that paint a realistic picture of email marketing.
Navigation
1: Definition of email marketing
3: Email marketing vs. Social media marketing
9: Best email marketing software
1. What is email marketing?
Email marketing is a form of digital marketing that uses email channels to reach and follow up with customers and prospects. Some examples include:
- Newsletters
- Promotions of sales
- Industry-related news
- Service/product updates
It is a highly effective strategy to gain new customers and prospects because of its high return on investment (ROI) potential. According to Smart Insights, the most effective marketing channel is email marketing. Additionally, it’s still the best way to build trust. Think about it: on social media, an algorithm determines so much of who you reach and how. With email, the person who opted in to your emails has decided how they want to know what you have to say. When they see an email from you, there’s no surprise (unless you put it in the subject line!).
Email marketing can accomplish important goals and objectives, including:
- Increase brand, service or event awareness
- Increase sales
- Improve content marketing efforts
- Connect subscribers to other communication tactics, such as a membership club
2. Is it spam?
When done correctly, email marketing is not spam. To begin with, anyone who signs up for your emails has to request (i.e., give you permission) them in order to receive them. As well, they also have the power to opt-out. On the other hand, spam doesn’t require permission. A company can buy an email list and blast out messages (i.e., spam) to a large number of people with the hope that someone will express interest. This action has legal consequences in countries around the world, including Canada. Steer clear of spamming people and buying email lists.
Further reading: Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation
3. Doesn’t social media marketing accomplish the same things as email marketing?
The short answer is not always. Here’s the long answer:
Social media marketing is used most often to promote and market content across social media channels. Like email marketing, content can be tailored to customers. Social media channels have many ways for you to generate leads and increase brand awareness, especially because you can engage with customers directly. However, social media marketing has its limitations.
Social media platforms are not exactly built to drive sales in a substantial way. Instead, they are built to drive engagement. All of those buttons you see on the platforms – like, retweet, love, comment etc. – are all ways for people to interact with each other. That’s why no one ever logs off!
On the other hand, email marketing is built to drive sales. Newsletters, promotions and deals arrive directly to people’s inboxes without any distractions (except maybe the number of emails they have). For example, to purchase a product, all you have to do is click a button. According to Optinmonster, there is 4400% ROI with email marketing, meaning that every $1 spent equals a $44 return. It’s hard to beat that!
Unlike social media marketing, email marketing is not really built to drive engagement. Email clients (i.e., the program you use to send and receive emails) don’t come with tools and functions to maximize engagement beyond a reply or a click of a button.
This is why social media marketing doesn’t always accomplish the same things as email marketing. Despite this, let me be clear – one kind of marketing is not better than the other. In fact, email marketing and social media marketing work best when they are used together.
Tip: Identify what your business goals are first to figure out how you want to focus your marketing efforts.
4. Newsletters are a form of email marketing. Do I really need one?
The answer to this question depends on what your business goals are. For example, if you’re looking to do any or all of the following, a newsletter is a great way to go:
- Drive sales
- Increase membership
- Build brand presence
- Increase website traffic
With the ROI I mentioned earlier, it’s not a bad idea to try it out. If you can create content that is visually appealing and specific to your customer base on a consistent basis, you’ll have engaged and loyal customers in no time.
Tip: Start simple. Don’t try to over-design your newsletter. Quality over quantity! Make sure the content is relevant and engaging to your target audience first.
5. What do I do if I don’t have an email list?
If you don’t have an email list, I don’t recommend designing a newsletter or using email marketing tactics just yet. It’s important to spend time building your list organically so that the trust between you and your customers is solid. Here are a few tips to get started:
- Start now: The sooner your start building your list, the faster you’ll build your list. Don’t wait for the right time. Any time is the right time.
- Figure out who you know already: Look through your existing customer list to determine who you can add. This is okay to do because you already know them and they already know you.
- Optimize your blog: Revive your blog so that your customers know that you can provide valuable content and an enjoyable reading experience.
- Share your work: Get people to share your content online using social media marketing
- Add incentives to your newsletter: Create lead magnets that show your customers your business value and provide something for free. Lead magnets are things you offer for free in exchange for their email address. They’re things relevant to your customer and easy to access. Lead magnets can be:
- Sheet of tips and tricks
- Webinars
- Free trials
- Useful infographics
Further reading: OptinMonster’s Lead Magnet Guide
6. What do you put in a newsletter?
The best way I can answer this question is to first tell you what a newsletter can do. A newsletter can:
- Spark creativity
- Start a conversation
- Inspire action
- Show personal connection
With this in mind, anything can go into a newsletter as long as it’s relevant and specific to your customers. In other words, email newsletters should provide value to your customers that they can’t get on your blog, your website or on social media. Your customers should look forward to receiving your newsletters.
So, what goes into a newsletter?
Here’s a few things that can go in there:
- Updates on products or services
- A round-up of news items specific to your industry
- Interactive elements, such as video and .gifs
- Promotional items or exclusive deals
- Letter from senior executives
- Calls to action
Remember: tailor the structure and content of your newsletter to your target audience. This is especially important because people skim emails a lot more than they read them in full.
Tip: Use newsletter templates that are consistent in visuals, tone (avoid coming across too sales-y), style and voice so that your customer knows it’s your brand when they see your newsletter.
7. How often should I be sending out emails?
Sending out monthly emails is a good benchmark to use. However, it really does depend on your target audience. Some businesses give people the option of signing up for daily, weekly or monthly emails. Others only send out emails on a quarterly basis. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you send out emails consistently. In other words, you want to send them out often, but not so often that people start unsubscribing or marking your emails as spam.
Tip: Test out different frequencies and see how your target audience responds to inform what you should do.
8. What do all these email analytics mean?
Generally, these are analytics you use to understand how your email performed. While they’re all worth learning, there are a few I suggest learning about first:
Click-through rate (CTR)
CTR is the rate at which users are clicking specific links in the email. This is calculated by dividing the number of users who clicked on a specific link by the number of total users who viewed the email (this is often referred to as impressions) multiplied by 100. In other words, number of clicks divided by number of impressions multiplied by 100. CTR is usually expressed as a percentage. For example, if your email has 100 impressions and one click, that’s a 1% CTR.
What it tells you: CTR tells you how effective your email has been in generating interest and moving customers closer to completing the desired action.
- High CTR: Suggests that people are viewing your email and engaging with it by clicking links, buttons etc.
- Low CTR: Suggests people are not viewing your email and therefore not clicking on anything
Further reading: Campaign Monitor’s Average Click and Read Rates Blog Post
Bounce rate:
Bounce rate is the rate at which emails don’t successfully reach those on your email list (i.e., bounce). Usually, the sender (you) receives a Non-Delivery Report (NDR) for the email. Bounce rates are calculated by the number of email bounces divided by total number of emails sent multiplied by 100. They are usually expressed as a percentage. For example, if send 100 emails and received 10 NDRs, that’s a 10% bounce rate.
What it tells you: Bounce rates tell you how successfully your emails are being sent.
- High bounce rate: A high bounce rate is generally anything over 2%. However, this number will vary based on your email list size, industry etc. Nonetheless, a high bounce rate means that you have a big problem in getting your emails to your target audience that you need to resolve.
- Low bounce rate: Suggests people are receiving your emails successfully. A low bounce rate is usually under 2%, but it varies by industry, email list size etc.
Further reading: Campaign Monitor’s Bounce Rate 101 Blog Post
Open rate:
Open rate is the rate at which your email recipients are opening your email(s). They are calculated by dividing the total number of emails opened by the total number of emails delivered multiplied by 100. They are usually expressed by a percentage. For example, if your sent 100 emails and 20 of them were opened, that’s a 20% open rate.
What it tells you: Open rates tell you several things, including the perception of your brand, the trust between your brand and the customer and even whether you’re sending your emails to the right people.
- High open rate: The average open rate is 15%-25%. This number suggests that people are engaging with your email enough to open it on a consistent basis. However, it varies according to the industry you work in.
- Low open rate: Anything under the average rate is considered low. A low percentage suggests that people are not engaging with your brand enough to open the email and may not be interested. However, it varies according to the industry you work in.
Conversion rate:
This is the rate at which your email recipients complete the desired action after reading your email. The desired action is generally whatever your main call-to-action is in your email. Conversion rates are usually calculated by dividing the number of email recipients who completed the desired action by the total number of emails successfully delivered multiplied by 100. For example, if you sent 100 emails successfully and 10 people completed the desired action, that’s a 10% conversion rate.
- High conversion rate: Average rates vary by industry. A high percentage means people are very engaged with your brand and offerings enough to want to complete the desired action. You’re doing something right if this rate is high.
- Low open rate: Average rates vary by industry. A low percentage means people are not very engaged with your brand and offerings enough to want to complete the desired action. It could suggest something about the value you offer, the length of the email, the subject line etc. A low rate doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing something wrong. It may mean that you should try different approaches.
Further reading: Campaign Marketing’s Email Marketing Benchmarks Guide
9. In your opinion, what’s the best email marketing software?
I’ll be honest – I don’t have a favourite. It’s more important for me to make sure I can adapt to different software as opposed to picking a favourite and sticking with it. But you don’t have to!
You should choose the software service that accomplishes your goals and gives you ease of use. Some services that you should look into are:
- MailChimp
- Moosend
- Constant Contact
- Drip
Further reading: Sprout Social’s List of Free Email Marketing Tools
Tip: Sign up for your competitor’s newsletter and see what works for them. It might also work for you!
10. Should I outsource my email marketing efforts?
If you have the time and resources to dedicate to the email marketing process, which includes designing, writing, editing, testing and tweaking your emails within your company, then do so. However, if you have other priorities that might delay that process, then you should definitely outsource. You can either hire someone to do this in-house or get a freelance writer who knows how email marketing works for your industry.
Ready to get started? Let’s get in touch.