Email marketing Definition and how to design an effective strategy is based on the massive sending of emails to a list of contacts. Email marketing is a mix of communication and direct marketing.
Its decline has long been predicted, but this veteran marketing technique is as relevant today as it was years ago. Recruitment or loyalty email marketing continues to be one of the most profitable and effective actions for advertisers in terms of return.
Potential customers are easily and effectively reached. Not only to inboxes but directly to the customer’s hand thanks to mobile devices. Many users have personal and professional email configured on their smartphones or tablet.
About half of the emails are opened from mobile and this forces us to make their designs responsive. To think about email marketing today is to think in mobile format, if we don’t do it that way, our message will be dead even before reaching the consumer’s hands.
Hence, it is often said that the evolution of email marketing is mobile email marketing.
Definition: What is email marketing?
Email marketing is a communication tool with the user that allows us to send messages to their email, adapting the content to different recipients to achieve a variety of marketing objectives.
Although email marketing is traditionally thought of as a conversion-oriented channel, in reality, this tool can fulfill many functions and adapt to many situations. These are just some examples:
- Recruitment emails , to attract new customers to our brand (similar to “cold door” strategies).
- Newsletters or informative bulletins to keep the user in contact with the brand and communicate news (changes in policies, product launches…).
- Administrative emails , for example, to send the user downloadable content or thank them for subscribing.
- Loyalty emails , in which we seek to generate repeated purchases.
Email marketing in numbers
We can talk about the benefits and wonders of email marketing, but advertisers and marketing managers want to hear metrics and figures.
It is interesting to see the results of the digital Research report on the use and perception of email marketing in 2015.
- Accessing the internet has become a daily activity , 100% of those surveyed say they connect daily, as a result of the high penetration of mobile devices. Men between 35 and 44 years old are somewhat more active, but there are hardly any differences by sex and age.
- 80% of users check their email several times a day and social networks . Following are the consumption of multimedia content, instant messaging services and the consumption of news media.
- Gmail , with 74%, is the preferred email service provider for users, but Hotmail is the most used to subscribe to email marketing content .
- Internet users have a very positive perception in general about email marketing , especially when it comes to product offers. The negative aspect would be the large number of emails received.
- Consumers establish the optimal frequency of receiving emails at 1 a week , and it can be a maximum of 3 depending on the case.
- The mail must be direct, simple and frank, have a short and clear subject and the presence of the terms “offer” and “promotion” can favor the opening.
- The contents of travel, hotel and tourism offers are the ones that most favor subscription to bulletins or newsletters.
Other sources also give us these good numbers:
- The email marketing channel continues to have a high ROI (return on investment), since on average it returns 38 dollars for every dollar invested.
- 48% of email openings are done from smartphones.
The 4 fundamentals of email marketing that you must keep in mind
1) SMART goals and a contact strategy
It pays to go back to basics to set SMART goals. Email marketing is one of the techniques that marketers use when they need to get out of a tight spot and increase sales and conversions.
But as the saying goes, the one who goes the fastest does not arrive first, but the one who knows where he is going. And marketers must take their time to establish the objectives of each email. This is where the SMART technique comes in:
- specific
- Measurable (Measurable)
- Achievable (doable)
- realistic
- timed (time)
SMART goals will allow you to define clear KPIs, contact strategies for each scheduled email or campaign, and how often emails are sent to subscribers or contact bases and in response to what events.
2) The 3 Vs to get registrations via email
There are many techniques to grow your subscriber base and it is vital that you make the most of your own means and get contact emails thanks to new registrations.
Note the 3Vs for this.
- Visibility . It’s pretty obvious, but make sure the signup method and CTAs are obvious. Some potential locations are on the home page, on product or landing pages, on social media profiles, on transaction confirmation pages, in transactional emails, and more.
- Value . Why should someone subscribe? List the benefits in the email you send.
- Speed . It causes the registration of the email to be a quick act. Put a simple form where the person leaves their email and with a single click on a button the quick response to what the consumer wants will be given. Do not first put a button that takes you to another landing, where the subscription is made, otherwise you complicate the process and you can lose potential contacts along the way.
3) Identify the right metrics
If you have clear goals, then these should reveal the right metrics to track.
Email marketing metrics can be divided into two types: process and result metrics.
A few of each type:
- Process Metrics . These types of give trend indicators over time, but by themselves they do not necessarily indicate that the campaign has been successful. Some examples are:
- acceptedrate . The percentage of emails delivered compared to the number sent.
- Bouncerate . The percentage of undelivered emails.
- Openrate . The percentage of opened emails.
- Click through rate (CTR). The percentage of recipients who have clicked on any of the links contained in the email.
- Click-to-open rate (CTOR). It is the percentage of recipients who have clicked on one of the links contained in the email divided by the number of opened emails, and the result is multiplied by 100. This way, the quality of the content and the level of engagement can be evaluated.
- Results Metrics . They measure the objectives of a company or brand and are a better indicator of the success of an email marketing campaign. Some examples are:
- New subscribers or registration rate .
- Conversion rate . The percentage of recipients who sign up based on the purpose of the email.
- Value of an email address . Average lifespan of an email. You use this kpi to determine how much money you are willing to spend on getting a new customer.
- Cost per acquisition . The average amount required to acquire a record or customer.
- Return by email . The amount of revenue earned during a campaign divided by the number of emails delivered, opened, or clicked.
- Return per customer . The average or median revenue generated across all members of the contact base or those who convert.
- Average order value .
- lifetime value . The money a subscriber gets to spend with you over their lifetime in your contact base.
4) The 3 Vs of unsubscribing
The 3 Vs apply not only to the capture of registrations but also to the processes of unsubscribing or unsubscribing.
- Visibility . Don’t put it in lowercase font. Make the option look good so recipients can easily unsubscribe.
- Value . It offers people who want to unsubscribe an easy-to-use preferences process. This will allow recipients to change their registration address, alter mailing frequency or content preferences. This allows them to update their data quickly. You can also offer to contact them through other means, such as SMS or direct mail.
- Speed . Once again, it should be quick to unsubscribe. Optimized for mobile, without the need to log in and without waiting two weeks.
Email retargeting or email remarketing
Email retargeting is based on recording the behavior of your users through cookies to offer them email campaigns that are truly tailored to their needs.
These are the basic steps of an email retargeting plan :
- 1) A user visits your website and fills out the form to subscribe to your mailing list.
- 2) Their name and contact details are automatically added to your email tool.
- 3) You create a series of personalized emails to convert the interested user into a customer.
- 4) You send a first introductory email and measure the responses: has the user opened the email? Have you clicked on any of the links? Have you visited the page?
- 5) Depending on the results of step 4, you can now create personalized emails for any situation and continue to engage with your prospect every step of the way to conversion.
- 6) Based on the following interactions, you can classify users into categories to offer them specially tailored email series.
- 7) Step by step and email by email, users consume your content until they are ready to become customers.
From this generic process, the possibilities are practically endless. Here are seven ideas to personalize your email retargeting campaigns and make your email marketing really effective:
- 1) Personalize your campaigns based on the searches made by the user on Google and other search engines.
- 2) Personalization based on the products they have seen, the actions they have taken or the ones they have left unfinished (for example, abandoning a shopping cart).
- 3) Create differentiated campaigns according to the channel through which users have reached your website.
- 4) Specifically target users who are active and engaging with your emails, perhaps to offer them some sort of reward or special offer.
- 5) Target users who have visited a site affiliated with yours and that is focused on similar topics.
- 6) Create a specific campaign for individuals who have interacted with online games and applications of your brand.
- 7) Focus on users who consume similar content as your brand’s customers.
Video player – remarketing – Click to play video
Keys to attract customers with email remarketing.
Email Marketing: how to really connect with your agency
1) Add value
No one (or almost no one) gives something for nothing. When a user subscribes to your mailing list, he expects to get a reward that is valuable to him: the answer to a question, the solution to a problem, information, or even just entertainment.
The more value you bring to your subscribers, the more they will trust you, and the more likely they will want to do something for you… like, buy your products.
So when designing the content of your emails, ask yourself a very simple question: how are you going to add value to your email marketing audience? To get off to a good start, you can offer them guides, ebooks, or other valuable content as an incentive to subscribe to your mailing list.
2) Segment and personalize
Sending the wrong message to the wrong person can be a disaster for connecting with your audience. When a subscriber receives un-relevant messages, they may feel like you’re wasting their time and start ignoring your messages, unsubscribing, or worse, mark your emails as spam.
How to solve it? Start by knowing your audience so you can establish segments. Age, the city they live in, marital status, interests… use the most relevant parameters for your brand and divide your email marketing audience into groups. Creating custom content for each group takes more time than sending mass emails, but it’s a worthwhile investment.
3) Welcome new users
The welcome email can be the beginning of a beautiful friendship… or the end. First impressions count, so you have to sharpen your shot to hit the first message you send to a new user after subscribing.
To connect with your audience and start your relationship off right, make sure to include at least these points:
- Thank you for joining your list. Everyone likes to feel important and valued!
- A presentation of your company.
- An explanation of the type of content they will receive in the emails.
- Some valuable extra content (of course, if you’ve promised users an ebook or guide in exchange for their email, don’t forget to include it!).
4) Listen to your subscribers
All relationships have two parts, so if you want to connect with your audience, you’ll have to learn to listen to them. Encourage them to send you feedback and always answer their queries to build a relationship of trust. And of course, their feedback will help you refine your strategy more and more, so you will also win.
8 email marketing tips for B2B companies
1) Optimize your database
Every email marketing strategy is based on the creation of a database, that is, a list of contacts of people, companies, and entities with which you are interested in establishing business relationships.
To create a good database, keep these principles in mind:
- Include all the necessary information . The name, the company and the email are essential, but you are also interested in knowing the position of that person, if they are responsible for making decisions, how you came into contact for the first time or if they have responded to your previous emails.
- Data protection is very important, so you must ensure that your list complies with all GDPR regulations. In particular, it is essential that the user has given their consent to be included in the list and that you offer them the possibility of unsubscribing at any time.
- The content and product demonstrations are a classic “hook” to expand the database, but do not forget that you can also pull professional or even social contacts .
- Remember that quality is more important than quantity. Include only contacts who are genuinely interested in your products and services and who have an influential role in their business or organization’s purchases. As you launch email campaigns, you will be able to filter out those users who do not respond.
2) Meet the recipients
B2B companies often have one or more specific audiences for their email marketing campaigns. Before blindly launching your message, you need to be clear about who the users of your products or services really are and create a buyer persona that helps clarify what they need.
To create effective email campaigns, you must clarify at least the following points regarding the recipients:
- Type of company they work for.
- Position they occupy
- Challenges they face in their work.
- How do you prefer to solve these problems?
3) Create action-focused emails
The ultimate goal of any email marketing campaign is to get users to do something. For example, you may want your users to take advantage of an offer, contract a trial or buy a certain product.
Well, the good news is that your actions have a great influence on the outcome. The most decisive factor is the call to action: choosing the right one can increase the click rate by 371% and product sales by 1617% (yes, you read that right).
The most important keys are to include a unique call to action for each email and make it attractive, arouse curiosity, and activate the users’ sense of urgency.
4) Take advantage of affairs
Most B2B buyers receive dozens or even hundreds of emails a day. Therefore, it makes sense to think that many of them are overlooked.
To get the attention of your potential audience and get them to open the email, you have only one opportunity: create an irresistible subject line. Not sure what might work? Brainstorm different types of titles and put them to the test with A/B tests.
5) The brief, yes well…
One thing almost all B2B email marketing campaigns have in common is that they target very busy people. And this means they simply don’t have time for overly long emails.
You have very little time to convince your recipient to take the action you’re looking for, so make the most of it. Write short emails, with a few short paragraphs and the necessary white space. And remember that many times they will be read diagonally, so highlight the most important aspects of your offer in bold and repeat them at the beginning and at the end.
6) Personalize the messages
Personalizing messages increases the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns. It is no longer just about including the name in the greeting, but about creating personalized micro-offers based on the needs of each user. (Hence the importance of having a complete database).
In addition to ensuring that the email meets the needs of the recipient, it is also interesting to personalize the texts in such a way that the user has no doubt that we are addressing him and him alone. After all, we all like to feel special.
7) Offer value
In the end, the key to an effective email marketing campaign is to add value to users and give them a good reason to click. Some ideas: offer free advice, include discounts, organize events or give away free samples and trials. The important thing is that it is something valuable for the public you are addressing.
8) Use social proof
We can’t help it: human beings are “copycats” by nature. At one time or another, we are all tempted to copy what our friends are doing or to buy a product just because someone we admire uses it.
Take advantage of this very human tendency in your email marketing campaigns, including statistics about your products, user testimonials, or logos of the brands that already trust you. Video player – effective newsletters – Click to play video
10 steps to improve your newsletter and make it effective
The best email marketing techniques for startups
1) Know your audience
If you shoot arrows with your eyes closed, you will almost certainly miss the target. Well, with your email marketing exactly the same thing happens. Before you start launching email campaigns, you need to have a clear answer to these 5 questions:
- Who is your target audience? (Age, sex, location, social class…)
- What do they buy?
- Why do they buy it?
- What motivates them to buy?
- How do they buy?
Remember that the more you know your audience, the more persuasive you will be.
2) Write compelling subject lines
If there is a definitive factor for the success of your email campaigns, it is the subject of your emails. And it is up to him whether the recipients open the message or discard it.
No matter how compelling your offer is or how well-written the body of the email is, if your recipients don’t open it, you’ve lost your chance to reach them forever. So you have to use the subject line to make them an offer they can’t refuse. These tips will help you achieve it:
- Don’t get winded: you have a limited number of characters and a few seconds of attention.
- Personalize the subject to the recipient.
- Do not reveal all the details of what is inside the email. One track is enough.
- Use calls to action.
- Avoid false promises and words that trigger spam filters.
3) The good, if brief, twice as good
Today, most emails are opened on mobile devices. And there is nothing less comfortable than reading long texts on your mobile. To apply these guidelines to be as concise as possible:
- Use simple words and short phrases.
- Do not put more than 2 or 3 sentences per paragraph.
- Eliminate unnecessary words.
- Use hyphens and bullets to present your ideas.
4) Personalize the message
Personalization helps you grab the attention of your audience and let them know that you know and remember them. For this reason, personalized email marketing campaigns achieve much better results for startups.
How to get it? Follow these steps:
- Collect data about your users (name, location, preferences…)
- Take into account the moment of sending the emails and take advantage of the outstanding dates.
- Set up automatic emails based on user behavior.
5) Run A/B tests
If you want to take your startup’s email marketing to the next level, A/B testing is a must. Experiment with one variable at a time, measure the results and don’t be afraid to let your hair down and try your craziest ideas. You never know what can end up working!
Benefits of working with an email marketing company like Cyberclick
The majority of companies, 75%, internally assume the management of email marketing despite the fact that they admit they do not have the expertise or sufficient resources. Similarly, more than half do not carry out any type of testing prior to launching their email marketing campaigns, when this is essential to see if they are choosing the right contact base, the right copy, or the creativity with more engagement. Experts recommend carrying out a test prior to launching the campaign, to put yourself in the user’s shoes and see what they need. In this way, it is possible to increase the opening and click rates of the emailing.
If brands and advertisers work with an agency specialized in email marketing like Cyberclick, they will optimize their processes and improve results, apart from these benefits:
- Initial consulting. Helps clarify communication and recruitment goals. It is important that the marketing expert advises on the best strategy to follow.
- Create the campaigns. They support the design of email marketing creativities , landing pages, forms, with a focus on increasing CTRs and LTRs. With their experience, you can choose the most appropriate content to increase the conversion rate.
- A/B testing. The advertiser’s investment should not be compromised without first testing the creatives and seeing the reactivity of the market. Performance marketing agencies guarantee certain results, but they never forget to carry out the testing phase. In this phase, different types of creatives and messages are tested, to find the most successful formula. Marketers can also measure the response of the market during the campaign and the quality of the traffic received to the site, but for this they need to work side by side with the brand and for it to provide the registration/sales data to cross-reference information and draw conclusions.
- Campaign analysis. It is important to look for an agency that transfers the metrics with all possible transparency and detail, breaking down the databases that have been used in the A/B test phase.
- Define the optimal costs for the viability of the email marketing strategy in the medium and long term. After the testing phase, it can be seen if the economic investment with which the campaign has been distributed is the best or if it should be changed (up or down). This phase is when the recruitment email marketing campaign and work dynamics would be launched on a large scale.
- Diffusion. Agencies often have exclusive networks of quality proprietary or third-party contact bases that they know will perform well for them based on the type of campaign and targeting they want to target. We, for example, already know which support bases give us good results and so we can commit ourselves to high volumes of registrations, to establish a level of quality and to take care of optimal CPAs for advertisers.
- Creativity and innovation. Actions on the internet are living, changing entities that evolve over time. For this reason, brands should seek that the marketing professionals who manage their email marketing campaigns incorporate innovations in mature campaigns (and be a little more conservative in new ones). You must think that if a campaign works well, it can always work much better.
