Section 1: Why email?

So let’s start from the beginning. Emails have been around for a long time. Almost 50 years! Unlike other platforms, email has been able to stay relevant and a preferred mode of communication for many audiences for much of that time. This is due to its unique orientation to a recipient’s personal space. It’s close, but not “too” close. Other platforms like phone calls, door to door, and even text messages can feel far more intrusive and can lead much quicker to burnout and negative feelings by the receiver.

Emails are unique in that they sit close (sometimes even in a person’s phone or laptop), but not too close that it requires an instant replay or action. This lets individuals feel they are in control and have the freedom to respond or take action when they want.

“Great, so how should I use them?”

Keeping the above strengths in mind, you have to be careful how you use this platform. Like all marketing platforms, if abused, negative repercussions are imminent. But don’t worry, there are easy ways to avoid these pitfalls.

First, it’s important to know what emails should and shouldn’t be used for. And second, it is important to know as much as you can about your audience.

Email Do’s

Think of emails as passports. They are really only used to get you from one place to another. They should have the important information there, but really don’t have much of a use if not traveling.

Emails are similar. They are a way to reach out to your contacts with a message and encourage them to take some action on another platform.

• • Emails should only have the necessary info needed to get them to take that next step. Your website, blog, or landing page should have the full content – the email is just the bridge to get them there. Use emails as teasers to get them to where they really need to be to take that next action.
  • Emails should also be relevant to the recipient. Making sure the content matches the contact is vital for effectiveness and maximum ROI. (We will talk more about audience shortly.)
  • Emails should be automated and have a way to check their performance. (We will talk more about this in Section 2.)
  • Use templates. This trick helps keep consistency to your advantage. This will help your contacts know roughly what they are to expect and helps you save time when sending out many emails.

Email Don’ts

• • Don’t send ALL the info they could possibly need. Instead link to your landing page or website for more details. That way they are closer to the form, cart, etc. you want them to submit.
  • Don’t send too many emails to the same audience on the same day. Try to limit your emails to 2 per week unless there is back and forth engagement.
  • Don’t waste time sending emails individually. There are many email services that can automate your email needs – saving you time and $$. (See Section 2 for more details.)

“Okay, now tell me about my contacts”

So here is probably the most important part of proper use of emails – knowing your contacts. When I say knowing them, I mean KNOWING as much about them as possible. The more you know about them, the more you can tailor your content to meet their needs and stay relevant.

Examples of things good to know:

• • Have they made a purchase from you previously
  • Where they live
  • Where they found you
  • How they prefer to be contacted
  • Do they follow your other updates (newsletter, social media, etc.)
  • How many times they’ve purchased from you
  • Birthday
  • Full name
  • Cat’s name (who knows, could be relevant!)

Wondering how some of these could even be used?

Let me show you 😉 I’ll highlight the text that could be customized with the info gathered above.

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So what do you think?

Would this be personal or what?! Do you think Julie would open the email? Do you think she would click the link to see the new items?

These are the kinds of facts that can really help drive your email performance through the roof. Practical and specific info can create the most relevant information while maintaining scale. BUT, you might be thinking one of three things. 1. How do I get all the info? 2. How do I keep track of that info? Or 3. Sounds like a lot of work to customize each email. There is no way I have the time.

1. Getting the info. You don’t have to get all the info all at once. This can be something you work at and gather over time. Just like with a normal relationship, you learn more and more with time and effort. Some really good ways to gather this info is through forms on your website. These can be forms like address, name, email, etc. The other data can be gathered when talking on the phone or meeting them in person and taking notes. Or even in our example, remembering their social media mention.

2. How to keep track. This is where some good software comes in. This could be as simple as Microsoft Excel or something advanced like Mailchimp and Hubspot. All of these could be used to organize data on each of your contacts and can be used to refer back to at any time. The benefits of these second two options are their ability to plug the data directly into the emails, which would save you a ton of time and allow you to mass-personalize.

3. How to save time. As mentioned above, the use of software can significantly cut the amount of time you are spending organizing and personalizing your emails. Please send us an email if you would like info about this or would like examples.

So now we know why we use email and how important knowing as much as we can about our contacts, let’s look at the kinds of content we should be sending over email.

Section 2: What content?

CONTENT IS KING!

(Or Queen. I guess it depends if you are playing chess or live in England.) Either way, IT’S IMPORTANT. We kind of touched on this in Section 1, but we’ll dive into this deeper in this section.

Now that you know email’s strengths and weaknesses and why knowing your contacts well is important, let’s talk about WHAT to send them.

The email platform is fairly flexible when it comes to content. It can be used for correspondence, company updates, offers, and so much more. Here is a list of examples of good uses of emails:

• Back and forth correspondence about product, service, or experience
• Offer on product or service
• Company updates in newsletter form. (Limit to one a month.)
• Payment receipts
• Customer surveys
• Policy changes
• Event/product updates

As you can see, the list covers many areas. So maybe it would be best to point out the kinds of content it ISN’T best for and where to put that content instead.

• Small updates – these are great for social media or can be compiled for the monthly newsletter

• Personal or sensitive information – it would be best to handle something like this over the phone or in person because email isn’t the best platform to show emotion or empathy.

• Emergency situations – similar to above, but email isn’t as urgent as a phone call or even text message.
• Highly complicated instruction or information – again, for something like this, it might be best to post a video, make a phone call, or meet in person.

What’s next?

So you now know what kind of content to post – definitely a big step. But now you have to match your content to your contacts. This is where things can get tricky. The marriage of content and context (or contact) is the recipe for success. This combination gives your emails the power to stand out, invoke action, and provide incredible returns.

Let’s look back at the example I gave in Section 1.

If you are finding that your emails aren’t performing as you think they should, it’s more than likely your emails aren’t relevant to your audience. DON’T WORRY! This can be fixed. One of the best ways to do this is by segmenting your audience into specific groups. Doing this will allow you to address their needs in a more specific and personalized way.

Your list

Without a contact list, your emails are almost pointless. It is vital to have a list of your contacts in an organized and safe place. As mentioned in Section 1, Excel, MailChimp, and HubSpot are great tools for storage and organization of your contacts.

Segmentation

Once you have a list and it’s all in one place, it’s time to start the segmentation process. One of the best ways to organize your list is by breaking up your lists into groups based on The Buyer’s Journey. This will help you decide what kind of content is appropriate, applicable, and relevant to your audience.

If all your contacts are collected once they are already customers, you can segment your list in other ways as well. Here are a few examples of ways to segment your list:

• Purchase history
• Subscription service
• Buying frequency
• Event attendance

With the tools like HubSpot, you can actually build out an email like the one I have above, and pull data from your lists to auto-fill in the highlighted areas. As long as you have the data, these services can fill in the content. In today’s incredibly busy and fast-paced life, it is important to take advantage of these automation tools.

Section 3: What else?

This is a great section to be at. This means you have a good idea of what emails can do if used correctly and how important your contact list is. If not, no worries! Check out Sections 1 & 2 for a refresher.

Here we will talk about best practices and way to hone your email marketing skills. We are going to do this shotgun style with links to read more. Let’s start with subject lines.

Subject Lines

• Add personalization – including first names, locations, etc.
• Use numbers (especially odd) – this can be prices, stats, etc.
• Use general questions. Pull from FAQ your sales or customer service departments receive.
• Avoid special characters in the subject lines. Even though people open such emails, they are occasionally triggered as spam.

Overall Performance

• Craft some of your emails to get replies. This helps with SPAM and email filters. Here are a few ways to get that response:
  • Survey
  • Ask a question
  • Suggest them adding your email to address book
• Check if your IP address is blacklisted – here
• Use your first name instead of no-reply so that recipients feel that they are being sent emails by you instead of a machine
• Keep your Call to Action (CTA) visible when they open the email. If they have to scroll, put the same CTA at the bottom of the email as well.
• Don’t put an entire article in an email. Email should only serve as a teaser, inviting people to visit your website as you want to drive traffic there.
• Make sharing email easy.
• Stick to fewer than 3 fonts and sizes

Lists

• Clean your email contact list regularly
  • Cut inactive users
  • Segment regularly – update when possible
• Segment
  • Ask about contact preferences in your welcome email
  • Have subscribers complete a user profile
  • Send a new email to existing subscribers asking them to update their preferences
  • Segment based on previous purchases
• Add sign up button at the end of your blog posts

Your next email

Email marketing has been around for years and it looks like it will continue for many to come. This platform is placed in a unique position to your audience, which allows you the opportunity to communicate in a cost-effective, and convenient way. This tool does have its pitfalls, but with practice and persistence, you can leverage its strengths to nail your future email campaigns. I suggest you use what you know and what you’ve learned to start testing what works for your audiences. This is the best way to tailor your content to your contacts.

 Your Homework

1. Compile your list of contacts into one place

2. Organize your list into groups of similar contacts

3. Tailor an email to each group with some offer or announcement

4. Use some email best practices

5. Review your email analytics

6. Tell us how it went! Email LetsTalk@NewLeafAd.com.