Here is what we will be covering
- Create interactive email campaigns
- Track results in real-time
- Create dynamic sign up forms
- Design attractive email templates
- Trigger emails based on user actions
- Send messages based on subscribers time zones
- Send out discount and loyalty cards for immediate reclaim
On any given day, most of our email inboxes are bombarded with automated email newsletters. That has very little to do with our lives – thus, marking them all as unread, moving them to spam, or unsubscribing altogether.
But now and then, we receive a newsletter that is oh so good – not only do we read it but also forward it and recommend it to our peers.
Brands across the globe gravitate towards email marketing for its ease of use and impressive ROI. Although email marketing has been in existence for long, its results are quite astonishing.
According to Internet Live Stats, almost 2.8 million emails are sent every second.
Imagine the number of irrelevant emails that are sent out that eventually end up in the trash.
While email marketing used to be a relatively impersonal communication process and sending out bulk messages, modern-day tools have created a far more customer-focused landscape where emails can be targeted based on the recipient’s behavior.
So, apart from sending out invites, impersonal emails, and bulk messages, what else can you do with email marketing?
Seven things that will improve your email marketing
- Create interactive email campaigns
A lot of them think emails are just an avenue to send a bunch of text and maybe a few images inside an email body. But why? The Internet is, after all, an interactive place.
Add interactive content to your email that allows your users to do important things such as –
- RSVP to an event
- Conduct a survey or a poll to receive valuable feedback
- Donate to a cause or an event
Tools such as Typeform, Mindmeister, and Mapme help add interactive content to your emails easily to benefit both your customers and your organization.
Not only will this help boost engagement and generate leads, but it also leads to a more interactive and seamless experience for your audience.
Customers are more likely to open emails when they add value to their everyday life.
2. Track results in real-time
Email marketing is fundamentally a game of numbers. If you are sending out emails in large volumes over the course of days or weeks, it is always imperative to track them to know the results, either to fine-tune the emails or change the campaign entirely.
By integrating a CRM software into your emails, such as Zoho or Mailchimp, you can track your campaigns based on the number of clicks, time spent on each email, and so on in real-time to keep your finger on the pulse of your email marketing campaign.
You can track new and lost subscribers, check if your emails are being opened, or see if your emails are being shared or not as soon as your users carry these actions.
Not just this, you can also analyze the nitty-gritty of your delivery rate like how many emails bounce or how many report them as spam.
3. Create dynamic sign-up forms
Email marketing begins with collecting email addresses, which means you need a dependable and interactive way to capture a user’s attention and ask them for their information.
Some businesses and marketers are downright pushy with constant emails.
Steer clear of such methods and include dynamic sign-up forms that can be triggered depending on your users’ various actions would naturally perform on your site.
This method allows you to create targeted messages that are only delivered to users who perform certain tasks, providing you with a discreet way to invite new users to join your email list.
If integrating sign-up forms is difficult and expensive, you can also use QR Codes, created using an online QR Code generator like Beaconstac, so customers can easily scan it and include their information with a single scan.
Rather than an obnoxious pop-up that appears on your site every few seconds, you can create these engaging sign-up forms using QR Codes, or a CRM that only displays on the screen when a user performs a specific task, visits a particular page, or scroll far enough down after clicking on your email.
4. Design attractive email templates
If you have noticed emails from companies in the recent past, you might have seen how much pizazz is being put into modern email marketing.
Emails are now carefully formatted to divert the user’s attention through eye-catching graphics, careful layouts, and attractive fonts. Designing a snazzy email template is as difficult as formatting and laying out a webpage.
But, by integrating a CRM software, it becomes extremely easy to create attractive email campaigns without any help from a graphic designer. There are hundreds of email templates to choose from, which helps put together a beautiful and engaging email.
5. Utilize behavioral email marketing for specific targeting
Not all consumers are the same. Your emails shouldn’t be the same either.
Email lists typically consist of different kinds of people with different behavior and interests. Marketers must research this and create content that matches those interests, otherwise known as segmentation.
When you create segments or groups, there is increased engagement, higher conversion rates, and stronger customer loyalty.
Send targeted emails based on the user’s reaction to your emails, open rate, and the amount of time spent on your email.
6. Send emails based on the subscribers time zone
Sending emails at a particular time is very important to obtain a high conversion rate.
Timing is such an essential factor of a campaign that there are several studies about the best time and day of the week to send emails.
For instance, Experian offers research that indicates that subscribers are quite active at night. The study suggests that sending an email between 8 pm – 12 am results in the best response rates.
But, because of the diverse time zones and subscribers spread across the world, 8 pm in New York will be 9 am in Tokyo. Time zones play a significant role in email marketing.
Switching to a CRM helps you send emails to your subscribers based on the time they live in. This means that the email that is sent from New York at 8 pm will arrive in everyone’s inboxes at 8 pm – regardless of their time zone.
7. Send out loyalty coupons for immediate reclaim
Sending out loyalty coupons and discount cards in emails is not a new trend.
Several businesses and marketers send out loyalty cards with no context, pretext, and information on when to redeem, and how to redeem them to their subscribers, which ultimately leads to them unsubscribing you or marking you as spam.
Loyalty cards that are generalized and sent out to subscribers are normally not even opened. And also, if they do, they are highly unlikely to be redeemed.
Use tools that help in immediate reclaim of loyalty coupons such as QR Code coupons that help subscribers scan the QR Code or click on the link if a QR Code is not utilized.
Suggest saving the coupon to a dashboard on your website upon clicking, so your subscribers don’t lose it and can redeem it as and when they want.
Wrapping up,
If you’ve just been relying on an old school, static email management software, it’s time to step into the new email marketing era. A little bit of automation goes a long way.
Integrating email marketing with CRMs and implementing other relevant technology tools that allow you to automate helps with maximum efficiency and customer satisfaction.
One of the best things about email marketing is it’s a low-risk channel to study when you’re getting your feet wet.
Start building an essential email list, set up your first scheduled campaign right away, and slowly iterate until you have a holistic strategy. There’s no better time than now to get started!