So, why is email marketing effective?

1.  Email marketing can offer the best return on your marketing investment

One of the main reasons email marketing is a good ROI (return on investment) is because it allows you to reach a large number of warm leads and spend less money than paid advertising or influencer marketing campaign.  If someone has signed up to your email list, it means they get value in reading your content, or they are considering whatever it is your business has to offer.  Whereas ads and influencer posts (while effective, if done correctly) are fishing in a much bigger ocean – not all the fish are interesting in what’s hanging off your rod, so most will swim on by. 

2. Email marketing is a more personal way to communicate with prospects

When written well, emails are also one of the most personal ways to communicate with your audience, which means your message is more likely to be read and acted upon than if it were sent through another medium.  Your emails address your prospects by their first names, you can send the email from you personally, not just your business, and you can include specific details in your emails that wouldn’t be relevant to a wider audience.   

This allows you to build relationships with your customers. When you send emails on a regular basis, you create a sense of trust and familiarity with your recipients. Your subscribers begin to see you as a valuable resource and are more likely to do business with you in the future.

3.  You can track your email marketing results in detail

Thanks to advances in technology over the past few years, you can track a lot of valuable data (yeah, even with the IOS updates) that can help you identify what your audience is and isn’t responding to. 

4. You can segment your audience 

Being able to segment your audience is super beneficial because you can send targeted messages to different demographics within your subscriber list.  For example, if your Shopify beauty store is offering a sale on a feminine product, you can create separate email lists for feminine-identifying subscribers about your sale. This means your message is more likely to be read and acted upon because it is relevant to the recipient.

So how can you start using email marketing to generate sales for your business?

How to get started with email marketing

Set up an email list

 The first step is to create an email list. You can do this by signing up for an email marketing service like MailChimp or Constant Contact (nope, I’m not an affiliate of these companies, but I do have a MailChimp account). Once you have an email list you can start sending out regular updates, coupons, and other information that will be of interest to your customers.

Make sure your email templates are mobile-friendly

More and more people are reading their emails on their mobile devices, so it’s important to make sure that your emails are optimised for this format. This means using a responsive email template that will adjust to different screen sizes, and include short, concise content that is easy to read on a small screen. 

Every email you send should have a clear call to action (CTA) that guides users toward taking your desired action. If you have an offer, your CTA can be to ‘sign up’ or ‘learn more’ about it.  Or if you have an online store, you can simply direct your users to ‘shop now’ or ‘activate discount’.  Just make sure your CTA is relevant to the products or services you sell.

Hook readers with a catchy subject line

According to Zippia,  47% of email recipients will open an email based on the subject line alone. And, possibly more importantly, 69% of email recipients will report spam based on the subject line. 

This means you not only need to stand out from a crowded inbox with a memorable and enticing subject line and preview text.  You also need to make sure you’re not using words that will get picked up by email servers as Spam (such as Sale or FREE).  

Include images and videos

People have short attention spans. Unless your subscribers are already super engaged with your brand, they’re likely to simply scan your email first to see if they’re interested in the content.

You’re more likely to hold their attention if your email includes visuals, like aesthetically pleasing (and relevant) images and videos.   

Test, test, test

Finally, don’t forget to test your emails before you send them out! This means sending a test email to yourself or a few colleagues/friends to see how it looks on different devices and making sure the links and CTAs are working properly. By taking the time to do this, you can be confident that your email will reach your customers exactly as you intended.