Getting Started with Email Marketing

 

One of the roadblocks we hear from our clients when developing an email marketing strategy is that they either don’t have an email list or they have one but haven’t done anything with it. “We sent out a newsletter maybe 6 months ago?” is the usual response when we ask about their email marketing strategy. Time and resources are usually the only reasons for not consistently publishing content. Read on to see how you can successfully send a newsletter that clients will want to see.

Email has a broad reach.

There are 5.59 billion email accounts worldwide with 293 billion emails sent each and every day! Email marketing connects you with your customers and it is one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to have your clients stay engaged with your brand. 90% of emails get seen by subscribers vs. 2% when they are shared as a post on Facebook. Email marketing campaigns have the highest ROI compared to organic search, other forms of content marketing, paid search, or affiliate marketing.

If you are already struggling to create a monthly newsletter, how are you going to find the time to develop a comprehensive email marketing campaign?

Create a publishing schedule

The first step is to create a publishing schedule and stick to it. One of the problems with creating a newsletter is that it is often an afterthought. If you consistently leave creating a newsletter to the last minute, you are setting your brand up for failure. Create a schedule with a realistic timeline for you to get it done. Most if not all email marketing platforms will allow you to create the campaign and schedule sending for a later date. Don’t feel that you have to create it and send it right away. Depending on the content that you are sharing with your audience, you might be able to create more than one newsletter at a time. That way, you have some content ready to share when it is time and you’re not scrambling to create something at the last minute.

What should be included in the newsletter?

Whatever you decide to include, I would recommend keeping it on the shorter side and not making it too long. If you wanted to include a blog post, try adding an excerpt instead of the whole thing, and then link it to the article on your website. This has two functions. First, including only an excerpt will keep the reader engaged and wanting more information. Most people skim instead of reading the full article in a newsletter. Creating a call-to-action (to go to your website) within the excerpt is so important. Second, the goal is always to have visitors get to your website, so you can nurture and ultimately connect with them in a more personal way.
Having said that, some topics to include could be:

• recent blog posts,
• business updates,
• any specials that you want to promote.

Also, to help with conversion rates and to protect your emails from being sent to the recipient’s spam folder, try limiting the number of images. Every email provider is different and results of the newsletter getting through may vary.

What is a good Open Rate?

Depending on your industry or the content of the campaign, generally, a good open rate would be between 13% and 25%. If you fall within that group, good job! If you are below that level, there are a few things you can try in order to get the open rate higher for the next campaign. One thing you can try is changing up the subject line. Co-Schedule has a great Subject Line Optimizer tool for helping you write better subject lines that will engage recipients.

What about the Click Rate?

In terms of clicks in your email, a good Click Rate is between 2%-3% for general newsletters to customers, while for B2B emails, it’s about 5%. If you have a lower Click Rate, a suggestion would be to review your content and make sure it fits with your desired audience. This is where creating multiple lists and groups or segments can help send the right message to the right audience.

What is the difference between a Click Rate and Click to Open Rate?

The Click Rate is determined by the total number of clicks from the entire list of subscribers that the email was sent to. For example, if you sent the email to 100 people, and 10 people clicked on a link, then the Click Rate would be 10%. However, maybe not all 100 people opened or clicked on the email. Perhaps only 50 people opened it and 10 people clicked from inside the newsletter. The Click to Open Rate is based instead off of the number of people who actually opened the email, not the entire list. For the example we’re using, if it was sent to 100 people, but 50 people opened it, and then 10 people clicked on the call-to-action inside the newsletter, the Click to Open Rate would be 10 out of 50, or 20%.

We have gone through some of the basics about setting up and sending a campaign. If you need help choosing a platform, have a look at our blog post, What is the Best Email Marketing Platform for my Business? If you have any questions or need help with your campaigns, please contact us and we would be happy to help you any way we can.