10 Secrets that will make your Email Campaign high performer [Video]

Even today, many of us are unaware of the fact that the email marketing campaign is the highest ROI driven strategy for any business.

Source: Canva

As per RADICATI’S Email Statistics Report 2019-2023, there were around 3.9 billion active email users across the world in 2019, and this is expected to grow to 4.3 billion active users by 2023.

Gmail account users are the highest across the globe, making it over 1.5 Billion Gmail accounts worldwide. 

With the right targeting strategies, you can grow your business from anywhere across the globe, starting today!

Also, customers who opt-in your database may become your brand advocates one day. You need to nurture these contacts regularly with your email marketing efforts.

So, don’t forget to keep an email campaign as a part of your marketing strategy as it’s the backbone of your marketing campaigns just like former Indian Cricket Player Rahul Dravid was for the Indian Cricket team.

If you are serious about Digital Marketing, Learn more Digital Marketing Strategy & Planning.

Check my article on Gmail groups: A powerful tool to get the most out of Gmail!

What is an Email Campaign?

Email Campaign is a marketing strategy, where constant efforts are made to communicate with recipients with a series of emails.  Email Campaigns are created to reach out to different subscribers based on their buying journey to make relevant offers to them. 

Sending email communication to the right audience at the right time also helps you build better relationships with your customers! 

Importance of Email Marketing Campaign:

• Email Marketing Campaigns today are more effective than social media platforms.
• Email Campaigns have a higher reach.
• Promotional emails are helpful as they convert in sales.
• 1 to 1 connection with people with personalized emails, helps you build long term relationships.
• All the marketers highly recommend email campaigns due to its return over the period, and features of nurturing leads over a period to generate revenues.

As per Getresponse’s report, Email Marketing has a higher ROI compared to the other digital platforms. 

Source: Getresponse report.

Now, as you know the importance of an email campaign to generate sales for your business, here are some of the easy tips, which can help you to understand more about email campaigns and also help you to build an email campaign for your business.

Check out my article on Notch up your business game using Gmail for business!

A well-drafted email is a well-delivered message. Let’s understand the key elements of a best email marketing campaign.

Source: Canva

Just like the functioning of every human body part is important, so is every element of an email to generate a better ROI on each campaign. Here are some of the elements you should be aware of before starting an email campaign.

1. Email Parts:

• Recipient: 

First/last name of the email recipient, a proper database of recipients is a must to run an effective email campaign as later on this data will be useful for personalization.

• Sender: 

It is the sender’s Internet email address. Sender’s email name is really important, and if your subscribers can’t recognize your email address from the email id or a name, then there are chances they may unsubscribe from your list.

• Subject Line: 

The subject line is a description of the topic of the message. A subject line could be something like “2020 company mission statement”. Make sure you try and use personalization in the subject line with other content.

• Images:

Though images are very important, it is suggested not to use them if the content serves the purpose of your email. Large images may end up in spam folder, or users may unsubscribe your list.

The right use of an image with content, the format of an image like JPEG or PNG with a good resolution and lighter size will help email to upload faster.

• Call to Action (CTA):

Call to action button is the most important element of email campaigns. A CTA (Call to Action) button grabs the user or subscribers attention and encourages them to take action.

A call to action in the email is used in the form of a button, which is hyperlinked with the brand’s landing page or website. CTA buttons are used so that users can easily click and move further to take the next action.

Call to actions can be of different types based on the content and funnel stage of your buyer’s journey. Below are some of the examples for different Call to Actions buttons used for different goals.

E.g.: 

• For Purchase: Shop Now, Buy Now, Order Now, Buy Today etc

• For Content: Learn More, Read More, Download Now, Keep Reading, Read Full Story here, Download E-Book etc.

• For Videos: Watch Now or Play Now.

• For Events & Webinars: Register Now, Reserve Your Seat, Save Your Spot, Count me In etc.

• For Social Media: Follow Us, Like Us, Subscribe to our channel, Stay Connected.

So, you can use these different types of CTAs for different types of communication, and these Call to action tabs are really important for every email communication.

• Signature:

Many of us don’t understand the importance of an email signature, and we just add a name to it. Mentioning a proper email signature with all your details will make email more personalized. There are higher chances that readers may end up replying to you.

Today most of the marketers use email signatures to add content to drive user engagement, e.g. Subscribe to my blog’, ‘click here to know the latest trends in the industry’ or related content of an email.

• Footer:

Email footer is placed at the very end of an email template. Generally, email signatures are placed in footers, but many companies add details like company’s address, website, contact number, social media icons.

It is also mandatory to provide an unsubscribe option as per email marketing laws.

These are important elements of email, and one should know all these before working on an email campaign.

 

2. Content of emails:

Email Marketing communication is key to accelerate your marketing game today. Hence what you communicate matters. For that, you need to craft each email communication carefully.

The content of email communication can vary from industry to industry, and it also depends on the communication goal and stage of your subscribers in the funnel.

There are different types of emails that are sent to the subscribers to keep them engaged throughout the funnel. 

Here are some different types of email that you can use to communicate with your subscribers or audiences:

1. Welcome Email
2. Promotional Email
3. Guides and Blogs
4. Rewards & Loyalty Points
5. Testimonials & Customer Reviews
6. Newsletters & Company Announcements

So, to win the game of email marketing, content matters, it is like delivering a dialogue of a movie, where if you hit the right chord at the moment, people will take action and remember it forever.

So, you should plan your content strategy for each email communication to achieve your marketing goals.

3. Email Funnel:

After knowing the important elements and different types of content that can be used to send to different subscribers, you should plan the email basis, the funnel or stage of users.

So, before you plan an email campaign, you should be aware of email funnels. It is like creating a travel plan for your subscribers.

An email funnel considers the journey of a subscriber from his subscription email to his buying journey. Email funnel stages are as follows:

1. Subscription
2. Engagement
3. Discovery
4. Purchase of a product or service
5. Retention

Source: Campaign Monitor

Understanding of an email funnel is very important, as it will help you to get better ROI and help you further to nurture leads or subscribers at each stage.

4. Email Campaign Platform:

You can check the different platforms to run campaigns.

Choosing the right email campaign software can have a significant impact on your marketing, and it drives better results.

These software platforms can give you full access to control your email marketing campaigns, and also these are easy to use.

If you are into a small business or organization, you can individually manage these software platforms to drive email campaigns.

Once you follow the above-given tips, it will be easy for you to plan an email campaign with any of the software.

Here are some of the amazing email platforms that you can use to kickstart your email marketing campaign in 2020.

1. GetResponse
2. Aweber
3. MailChimp
4. Convertkit
5. Active Campaign

If you are looking out for more options, read here about 13 Must have Email Marketing Software to Grow Revenues. 

5. Segmentation:

Once you have decided the software and have your email list ready, you need to work on the segmentation of your subscribers or email list.

Check out my article on 10 Tips For Building A Free Email List!

Segmentation in email campaigns is a technique where a large number of targeted emails are divided into small parts or segments.

Segmentation in every marketing campaign plays a critical role. Segmenting email lists will give you better open rates at each level of communication.

As per MailChimp’s Global Result report, segmented lists can give 14.31% higher open rate than non-segmented campaigns.

Here are some of the email list or segment ideas that you can use for your email campaign:

1. News Subscribers
2. Interest of subscribers
3. Location of Subscribers
4. Purchase History
5. Stage in the sales funnel
6. Website Activity
7. Membership Based

Except these listed above segmenting ideas further, segmentation can be made based on geography, demographics, psychographics and behaviour of subscribers.

Source: emailmonday.com

6. Personalization: 

Personalization refers to Customizing content based on segmentation.

Basic Personalization:- 

• Sender’s Name:

                          Source: Email from Udemy

It is the most crucial element that attracts the audience to read the mail. 

Note: According to various studies, more than 50% of people decide to open or ignore emails based on the sender’s names. 

• Subject Line

The subject line is the 2nd most crucial factor in attracting targeted audiences to read the mail. 

Note: According to several reports, Mails having individual’s names have greater open rates by more than 25%

7. Testing & Preview of Your Email:

Once the drafting of an email is done, you can do a testing and preview of that email and different emails that are to be sent to users or subscribers.

Measuring and testing an email is important before sending it. Test different elements of your email and try to improve them. When you send marketing emails, you have certain goals in mind. So, make sure you create value with each email you are sending.

To improve, you need to test the process continuously. Many of the email marketing tools give an option to check a preview of an email, send the test email, check all links, social media icons and also a preview on mobile and desktop.

So, make sure you preview and check all elements before you send an email to your subscribers.

Source: Mailchimp

8. Drip Email Campaign (Auto Responder)

Once the content is checked, an email is tested with all necessary information and links. You can plan a campaign.

Make sure, the segmented list is ready with personalization of the first name of the receiver, subject line and your name as a sender, so that receivers can recognize you. You can set a sequence of emails that you want to send to users based on their stage in the sales funnel.

Sending an email communication to subscribers at each stage of their buying journey is difficult. It’s suggested that you use drip campaigns, where automated emails are sent to different users based on their funnel stage.

Drip email campaigns are emails that are automatically sent to registered subscribers. It’s also called ‘Auto-Responder’. These emails are shared with recipients over the period.

It is an email automation process used by many companies today, and it’s similar to an auto respondent email you set. For instance, you go out on vacation, and when you receive a mail, an auto-response will be generated, mentioning that you are on leave.

Many marketers automate the task and build an automation workforce. Marketing automation can help you to build the right content based on the action taken by your customer. For, e.g., if someone downloads content or clicks on a blog, you further send a new email. 

How do drip email campaigns work:

To set up or use a drip-email campaign for your company, you need an email automation platform. There are multiple platforms available in the market, like Getresponse, Convertkit, Mailchimp, etc.  

Source: Shutterstock

Benefits of running a drip campaign:

• Time Saver

Email automation today saves a lot of your time. Imagine sending an email to every individual, personally, regularly or from time to time is so difficult as you can’t do it all the time. No one can do it.

I am sure you must have experienced so many automated emails coming to you once you sign up on any platform or join any online course or subscribe to newsletters of any brand or company.

You start getting different emails – from welcoming email to sign up details and then slowly other emailers related to the promotion of product and service of that organization.

• Better Response:

Drip marketing generates a better ROI as compared to individual emails as you can establish a sequence of emails based on the action of users, and continuous communication is made with customers over the period.

Due to constant communication, it leads to an engagement, and these trigger-based email activities generate a higher response and generate a good amount of sales through engaged leads.

• Higher ROI:

Due to its consistency and content variations at different stages of the funnel, it helps you build strong relationships with customers or email subscribers. Most of the time, users end up buying your product, or they become your brand advocate.

Email marketing campaigns have an average ROI of 38$ on every $1 you spent on marketing.

If you have built a good email list and you are not utilizing it to build your brand, then you are losing business. Make sure you use drip campaigns to communicate with your email list. Learn the best Email Marketing tools to Automate your Growth.

9. Email Analytics

If you are still planning an email campaign or have executed it after following the above points, you should be aware of email analytics to measure your campaign.

Email analytics can help you to monitor the campaign and measure the ROI on each campaign, and you can further optimize the campaign to drive more revenues after optimization.

Let’s have a look at some Metrics:-

a.    Open rate: 

It demonstrates the number of emails opened from the emails delivered.

b.    Click-through rate: 

It refers to the number of people clicking on a link provided in comparison with the number of times users are exposed to the link. Therefore, a low click-through rate (CTR) can be an indicator that the email campaign isn’t in sync with the target segment. 

Source: econsultancy.com

Note: Average email click-through rate is 2.50% (according to email statistics in February 2017).

C. Bounce rate:

 It refers to the number of emails sent that could not be delivered to the recipient’s mailbox.

Bounce rate can be categorized into two ways:-

• Hard Bounce: The mail bounce due to an invalid domain name, or the recipient is unknown.

• Soft Bounce: It refers to bounce due to temporary reasons. I.e. Packed up Mailbox, or server related issues. 

D. Unsubscribe Rate:

It indicates the number of users who hit the ‘Unsubscribe’ link. An average unsubscribe rate is 0.05%.

E. Growth Rate: 

It demonstrates the trend in the growth pattern by your mailing list (database). Remember, growth is the only constant change leading to success. 

Check out my article on designing the perfect ad to increase clicks by 10x

Let’s have a view of some insights:

F. Email Campaign ROI: 

It is a measure of the profitability earned (tangible or intangible) over the revenue spent on email marketing.

10. Email Reputation & Sender Score

You also should be aware of how email reputation and sender score can have an impact on your campaigns.

A sender’s email reputation is a score provided by an Internet Service Provider.    Make sure you maintain your email list properly and send email to known users. The latter have already subscribed to your mailing list.

Sending an email to a known and subscribed email list can land your emails into the inbox of users. If you run an email campaign like Email Blast or do any email bulk activity, it might have a bad impact on your domain score.

Various factors determine the domain score:

1. The number of emails you send.
2.  The number of users opt-out from your email list and unsubscribe.
3. The number of users marking your email as spam.
4. How many emails are sent to the wrong email ids and bounced back.

These above are some of the factors that determine the score. Hence it is always advised to send an email to your subscribers only.

By monitoring your email list regularly, following opt-in policy and constantly working on the list, you can maintain a good reputation which is very crucial for an email marketing campaign.

Check out my article What is Email Marketing (Demystified) So That You Can Turn Profit

Also, learn  Top free Marketing Tools to Champion Digital Marketing for Business Growth.

Wrap up:

People may change systems, but they use the same email ids for a long period of their life.

So, plan your campaign, follow all the above steps, use the platforms and try to run campaigns for your business. 

Further, if you get stuck somewhere, you can always reach me for help or query, or you can also join my Facebook group Digital Marketing A to Z.

Also, put your queries in comments, and I will be happy to help you run a high-performance email campaign.

So, when will you start your email campaign?