Like most people, you probably wake up in the morning with a handful of emails waiting to be opened. No doubt they’re all unmissable business opportunities, vital communications or welcome catch-ups from friends. Except no – they’re mainly ignored newsletters, YouTube subscriptions, up-selling, cross-selling, not-so-special offers, and streaming services telling you what you must watch next. (And that’s just the ones you haven’t auto-binned.)
It’s against this backdrop that email marketing has to justify its existence and be a competitive medium. We’re here to say that if you take the right steps, it can really work.
Creativity counts
The first thing to note is that what all those rejected emails have in common is that they must have been uninspiring to you, the consumer. Did you read the subject line and bin it straight away? Or did you open it up and see a dreary looking, text-heavy email that looks like something from 1996?
Either way, the issue is a lack of creativity or design stifling the message. Just like any other form of marketing, you’re up against competition, and with email marketing, the competition isn’t within your sector – it’s more alluring emails from other businesses. If your half-price widgets are fighting with half-price pizzas, you might not get a slice of the action.
So with every campaign, you must get creative. Have an interesting subject that intrigues the reader into finding out more. Then once they’ve opened it up, the email should look professional and focus on the message. A custom HTML email gives you complete control over your branding and messaging, and once you’ve got your template, you can just drop your content in and fire off a mailshot whenever you want to.
Focused and personalised emails
By tying your email campaign in with your CRM, or simply by having well segmented email lists, you can make sure people get relevant emails that they are much more likely to open.
It was the cheapness of mass email that made spam such an issue in the early days of mass internet adoption, and it’s surprising how much still gets sent – even though you probably never see 99% of it thanks to better filtering. But at what point does an email from a trusted, whitelisted sender constitute spam? It’s probably the point at which they’re trying to sell you products and services you don’t want or need.
But with a well-focused campaign that only emails recipients with information they are likely to want, you’re much less likely to be unsubscribed, and more likely to convert. And since it’s going directly to their inboxes, it’s a channel that’s unparalleled in the world of marketing.
Email marketing: highly cost-effective
Another benefit of email marketing is that it’s practically free. Many businesses use third parties to send out their mass emails, and it’s a cheap option that works well. However if you manage your own lists and have complete control over who gets what, the costs are limited to your overheads – the creative and technical labour behind each campaign. That’s great for marketing budgets and ROI.
Can you think of another marketing channel that can give so much reach for so little money? Social and paid search just don’t compare, and as for print – well, that’s in another league.
And it’s all measurable
Finally, email campaigns don’t end when you send. In fact, it’s just the beginning of a journey of discovery that you can feed right back into making your next campaigns more successful. That’s because with good tracking that integrates with your website, you can find out how many of your emails were opened (feeding back to your creative and timing); which links were followed (measuring your most popular lines as well as your creative); and how many of those clicks and taps led to conversions.
All of the above leads to a complete picture of your campaign that’s difficult to imitate on other channels because of the complete control you have over when, how and why recipients get the message, and the creative therein.
Get in the game – there’s little to lose
Whether you’re marketing your own business or are an agency working for other businesses, Gooey has the skills to get your email campaign off the ground and earning revenue. We can work direct or as a discrete white label agency where your business gets all the plaudits for a job well done (find out more here). Why not get in touch to talk about making email marketing work for you?
