0040- Creating a Email Marketing Strategy

Idea to Open

“In this episode…”

We’re talking about intermediate tips on how to build your email list and get your mail opened every time it shows up in a user’s inbox.

Teaser Bullets

• Email campaign tips
• How to get people to take action from your emails
• Tips on how to excel at email marketing
• Email Marketing Mistakes

Describe the problem

We’ve been unofficially talking about email marketing for a while and I wanted to raise the stakes a bit. Let’s dig into what you need to know about creating, and keeping people on your email list. More importantly, how do we get people to read the darn things?? By the end of this episode, you’ll be able to craft an email that will keep your readers firmly entrenched on your subscriber list…by choice.

• Email campaign tips
  • Brian Honigman – Jumplead Blog
    • 30 Tips for a Profitable Email Marketing Strategy
      • Find the right frequency – Test what times your email list is most responsive to your messaging, as compared to industry best practices. After analyzing both open rates and click thru rates, determine when emails should be sent by days of the week and the time of day.
      • Balance content with product and service offerings – It is not a good experience for your list to be constantly bombarded with sale after sale, but instead to build their trust over time with quality content and engaging information. Ensure a healthy balance of visual, and editorial content that informs subscribers on a topic, alongside product announcements and news about the company.
• How to get people to take action from your emails
  • Mark Suster – Both Sides of the Table
    • How to Get Busy People to Take Action When You Send an Email
      • State your most important ask up front – Many people write email without a “call to action” or reason they’re writing the email. Make sure to state yours and if there is no action required say so upfront as in “this is for information only – no action required.” Often emails are complex and require you to list lots of background. If so, it’s still ok to list what your expected action is near the top of the email.
      • Time of Day Matters – Don’t send important emails on Friday afternoons unless it requires immediate action. Often I’ll write emails on the weekend and then send first thing Monday morning. I want to be on top of the stack, not at the bottom of the pile. Most people process email first thing in the morning (although productivity experts say not to!).
  • Pamela Vaughan – Hubspot Blog
    • How to Turn Your Blog Subscribers Into Valuable Business Leads
      • Warm Up to New Blog Subscribers With a Welcome Email – Don’t just start shoving lead conversion opportunities down your brand new subscribers throats right off the bat. Start warming up to your new subscribers with an automated welcome email. Use this email to show recipients how much you appreciate having them as subscribers, remind them what they signed up for, and let them know about any other action items.

• Tips on how to excel at email marketing
  • Alexis Watts – Hubspot Blog
    • How to Get In My Inbox: Confessions of an Email Unsubscribe Addict
      • Here are the questions I used to decide if you were worthy of making it to my inbox.

1. Have I opened one of your emails in the last month?
2. Do you send me personalized emails based on my past behavior?
3. Is this email relevant to my life? Do I need what you’re selling?
4. Is it easy for me to connect to your site via links in the email?
5. Does it take me more than two minutes to read your email?
6. Is it easy to unsubscribe if I choose to in the future?

• • Ginny Soskey – Hubspot Blog
    • http://blog.hubspot.com/guide-creating-email-newsletters-ht
      • Set expectations on your ‘Subscribe’ page – Once you’ve figured out your newsletter’s focus and content balance, make sure you’re properly communicating about them on your subscribe landing page.
      • Get specific: Tell potential subscribers exactly what will be in the newsletter as well as how often they should expect to hear from you.

• Email Marketing Mistakes
  • Hal Licino – Benchmark Email Blog
    • The Most Dangerous Email Marketing Mistakes & How To Prevent Them
      • Capitalize on disasters. Boloco, a burrito chain based in Boston fired off emails to its entire subscription list in late October 2012 informing them that they were going to stay open through Superstorm Sandy, which raised considerable anger among the recipients as not only was the city shut down, but the company was endangering its employees (let alone anyone crazy enough to brave Sandy for a burrito). The storm of negative coverage over this ploy made national headlines and just six months later when Blizzard Nemo hit the area and the Governor of Massachusetts ordered cars off the roads and told the population to stay home… they announced once again that they were staying open. The best way to prevent this grievous error is simple: Don’t try to make a few bucks when a disaster hits, be sensitive, and don’t put your day’s bank deposit ahead of the safety of your customers and employees.
  • FInancial Talk.co.uk
    • Five common email marketing mistakes you can easily avoid
      • Making it difficult to sign up – The most important factor in email marketing is collecting an email address and the person’s permission to send to it, so don’t make it difficult! It should be obvious where people can sign up for your messages and you should keep the process simple. They would not be on your site unless they were interested in your business, but they will not often want to spend more than thirty seconds typing in their details or ticking boxes. If you build a relationship with them via email there will be other opportunities to collect extra information further down the line.
      • Not testing enough – Test your subject lines, how the email looks on different devices; is it mobile optimised? Do all the links and images work? Is your call to action compelling, your content interesting? Have you made any spelling or grammatical errors? Make sure you have not made any mistakes by testing and testing again.
  • Boomerang Email Marketing Solutions Blog
    • Are You Making These 5 Common Email Marketing Mistakes?
      • The I-Don’t-Have-Permission Mistake. Before you send anyone email-marketing material, you must have permission. If you buy a list – no matter how “targeted” it is – you’re risking your reputation. Also, don’t confuse transactional emails – the email addresses you receive when a customer makes a purchase – with marketing addresses – the addresses you receive when someone signs up to be on your email-marketing list. The former hasn’t given you permission to send marketing materials and you could be marked as SPAM.
      • The I-Didn’t-Proofread-Or-Test Mistake. Broken links. Typos. The wrong list. Or missing images. If you’ve ever received a follow-up email that has “Oops” in the subject line you know how easy it is to hit send before an email is really ready. The biggest fix for this is to slow down. A second set of eyes is always helpful at catching mistakes. And send a test email, so you can see what your campaign will look like when it hits the inboxes of your subscribers. Rushing through your email creation can have a big impact on your click-through rate and it will also reduce the trust factor with your potential customers –the very thing you work so hard to build.
  • Tea Kurpalo – www.CharityInfo.ca
    • 6 email marketing mistakes and how to fix them
      • You’re not making me feel special – …to always make me feel like I’m one of a kind. If you’re nurturing leads effectively, you should know something about your prospects and donors, such as their gift record, website activity and download history. Use this treasure trove of information and incorporate elements of personalization to speak to readers and resonate with them. Segment your list and consider adding their name in the greeting.
      • You’re not telling me what you want from me – Your call to action should be near the top, above the fold – meaning, I don’t even have to scroll. I open your email and bam! – there’s the purpose of your whole spiel. Your readers aren’t going to dissect your email to find out why you sent it to begin with. Make sure you tell them up front and make it easy for them to respond by using callout boxes for important links or instructions.

If you have any comments or questions, or just want to tell me that my face looks funny, you can do so in real time by sending a message on Twitter to @ideatoopen, or you can shoot me an email at [e-mail].

In Closing

In closing, on behalf of myself, Elijah R. Young, and everyone involved in bringing this show to your ears, we hope you can move your idea one step closer to being open.

We’ll talk soon.