Email marketing strategy and tips for successful campaigns

The first email, sent by Ray Tomlinson in 1971 or 1978 depending on your source, marked the beginning of the modern communication era. The message was nothing special, a series of numbers and letters that looked more like a password than a message, but its significance was profound.

The email was sent from one computer to another, traveling through a network of machines not unlike the internet we know today. Tomlinson also introduced the “@” symbol in email addresses to the world.

Gary Thuerk, a Marketing Manager at Digital Equipment Corp, sent the first commercial email years later, where the message reached a list of email addresses. And voila, email marketing was born. There were only a few hundred people on the list, but that was enough for Thuerk to claim the mantle, “Father of Spam.”

Today, we’re inundated with email marketing campaigns, and yes, some of it still feels spammy, but there’s no denying the impact a well-crafted message can have on your customers—not to mention CRM and lead nurturing.

Email marketing helps you connect with your audience to promote your brand and increase sales. You can do a lot of things with emails, like sell products, share some news, improve your cart abandonment rate or tell a story.

With Mailchimp’s campaign builder, it’s easy to find the right email templates for any message—whether you’re welcoming new subscribers, notifying customers of a sale, or wishing someone a happy birthday.

“The biggest benefit of Mailchimp’s email builder is that it’s easy to use. From quickly loading in our color palette and our brand font, we can make emails look and feel like an extension of our website very easily.”

You can create personalized content

Personalization can help your audience relate to your brand. With email marketing, you can personalize and customize your content to cater to the needs of your audience. Adding a contact’s first name to the email is a great way to personalize your emails. Emails that include the first name of the user have a higher click through rate than the ones that don’t.

Another way to customize your emails is through audience segmentation. Segment the audience based on the stage they are at in your sales funnel and then create customized content for each segment. You can use different messaging, images or subject lines for different segments. For example, if a user visited your website and downloaded some content, you can create messaging for these leads. The content can be more information about your products or services that they might find interesting.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) About Email Marketing

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about email marketing. Some of this info has been covered in this very article but is presented here for those of us who want a quick reference. ?

How do I build an strategy following email marketing best practices?

This guide is a great way to build the best email marketing strategy and we encourage you to follow it! We also have a great post on how to run a successful email marketing campaign that you should definitely check out. Here’s what you’ll find:

How often should I send marketing emails?

There’s no hard, fast rule when talking about how often to send marketing emails, so we recommend that you ask your subscribers how often they want to hear from you. You can also do some A/B testing to see what frequency has the best performance.

Generally, you’ll want to reach out to newer subscribers more often since they’re just getting to know you. But, beyond that just send out emails on the schedule you’ve established and no more.

When should I send marketing emails?

Timing is another one that can vary widely depending on your list. Our advice is to experiment with this and see what gives you the best results for your subscribers. You can check out Google Analytics to find out when your subscribers are most active and send your emails at that time.

What email metrics should I track?

What is the difference between single opt-in and double opt-in?

Double opt-in means that they click “subscribe” then have to confirm that they subscribed by clicking a link in a confirmation email or other transactional email sent to the email address they provided.

Should I be sending email newsletters?

Absolutely! More than 83% of business-to-business (B2B) marketers send email newsletters as part of their content marketing strategy. Email marketing is a very cost-effective way for brands to communicate with their customers and email newsletters are an essential piece of any email marketing strategy.

Are there email marketing best practices for list building?

Sources:

https://mailchimp.com/email-marketing/
https://www.analytico.ca/reasons-why-email-marketing-is-important-for-your-marketing-efforts/
https://optinmonster.com/beginners-guide-to-email-marketing/