Despite the misconception that “email marketing is dying”, it is still the top dog that influences a buyer’s decision. The level of personal connection and trust between consumers and businesses can’t be achieved with other mediums.

But how to maximize the results of these emails? There is no lack of useful email marketing strategies that work, so we have compiled the ones that give the best result.

Create a Buyer Persona

The target audience will be the basis of your buyer persona. This is a crucial step in ensuring that you get the best outcomes possible. You want to reach the correct audience to make your product sell. Gallup polls concluded that hyper-targeted marketing techniques far outperform in sales as opposed to their peers who use vague, generalized approaches.

Here are a few points to create a personalized buyer persona-

Take Help From Engaging Customers

Engaging customers are your biggest asset to making the perfect buyer persona. Glean their feedback and figure out :

  • Their experience with the product and purchase process
  • Their motivation to purchase the product
  • Any criticism or advice about the purchase process

Identify Their Pain Points

You need to know your customer’s goal for purchasing the product and what difference the product made to their lifestyle. This will help you identify their pain points which in turn will be beneficial for future customers.

Map Out Their Buyer Journey

The buyer journey will outline;

  • Who decides for the purchase
  • How they make those decisions
  • Their sticking points 
  • How they find the information to finalize decisions
  • Where they hang out online and offline to reach them better

Get Personal – But Have Your Boundaries

A customer will be more drawn to a brand that cares about them, as opposed to one that considers them as cash cows. Marketing agencies like Invesp identified a higher open rate of 21% and a click rate of 41% for personalized emails than non-personalized ones.

However, over-familiarizing can backfire and make you lose customers. Finding the right balance involves the use of correct customer information. This is where the use of email marketing tools comes in. For example, birthday dates generate more clicks and open rates as well as revenue per email. 

Besides personalized emails, you should also segment your email marketing list. Group similar people into these lists and then personalize emails accordingly. One way of segmenting is to gather relevant information from the subscription form that your subscribers fill up. This ensures that you will send emails that your subscribers are more likely to read.

Keep Your Subject Lines Short

Nothing is worse than opening your inbox with 200 unread emails. No one likes to read emails in detail, so they often go over the subject to determine whether the mail is important. This is why your subject line plays a significant role in making your subscriber read emails. 

Your subject line needs to be short, simple, and direct. A 6-10 word limit is ideal. You need to think before deciding on a subject line.

The key to a successful campaign is to tell more with fewer words.

Pick the Right Time for Sending Emails

Timing is everything when it comes to email marketing. Your goal is a higher open and click rate and make your users share content with their online social circle. This will result in greater traffic, more customer conversations, and increased subscribers. However, there is no one-size-fits-all time to send emails and will greatly depend on the type of business you run.

Nonetheless, a rough estimate as per popular studies places the following times as ideal to send emails.

  • 10 a.m- many check their emails over breakfast or after checking into work.
  • 8 p.m- as many people check their emails before bed.
  • 2 p.m- people are most likely done with work, checking out, or responding to pending emails after work.
  • 6 a.m- most people begin their day by checking emails.

Include User-Generated Content

User-generated content makes your customers feel more engaged and connected with your business which positively elevates your reputation. Potential customers will also gain trust after seeing positive feedback and the inclusion of other users like them. 

With the short attention span of today’s public, creating a memorable email will determine whether it hits the mark. A user-generated email is more likely to achieve this goal, instead of highly glossed, branded content.

84% of millennials claim that user-generated content is the chief motivator to purchase products and services online. So the influence of such content on revenues is undeniably significant. 

Give Away Freebies

Gifts without asking anything are a great motivator for customers. You may be reserved about giving away freebies but in exchange, you will receive email addresses that will increase your income in the long run. 

However, keep in mind that your email has to include your commercial email address, relevant subject line, and the unsubscribe option as per the CAN-SPAM Act. By following the law you will boost their trust which in turn will solidify your relationship.

Send Mobile-Friendly Emails

With newer models coming in every few months, it is safe to say mobiles are the future. From work to personal matters, the reliance on mobiles is bordering on addiction. Therefore, it is important to ensure that your emails are optimized for viewing on smartphones and tablets otherwise you risk getting them deleted. 

Here are a few tips to make your email mobile-friendly:

  • Create one-column mails
  • Display small images
  • Place important text-centered
  • Have an easy-to-tap, call-to-action button
  • Use a bigger font size

Integrate Email and Social Media

The power of these two forces can be astounding. Like most people these days are on social media marketing, it is an important tool to utilize and, optimize your email marketing strategy. 

You will have to work with the knowledge that your customers are smart. They search different mediums to compare information before making a purchase. This includes social media, blogs, and influencers. 

Use your social media handles like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to ask your email subscribers to follow you there. By uploading your subscriber list on Facebook, you can target your audience and similar crowds through ads.

Conclusion

The surefire way to know whether these strategies work is to analyze your email performance. This way you will avoid wasting resources on matters that don’t work and improvise on those that do. The click-through rate, open rate, unsubscribe rate, and conversion rate will give you a good idea of this.

Additionally, your tests wouldn’t be a one-time thing only but must be repeated periodically. Once you observe the fruits of your success reflected in the growth and positive feedback of your campaigns, it will be worth the effort to overcome the challenges you faced.

The loyal customer base that you will build up with well-planned email marketing will be the driving point to put you above your competitors in the game.