What is Email Marketing?
The act of sending advertising messages to a target audience, consumers, or a group of individuals via email is known as email marketing. Email massaging is one of the oldest means of communication and still one of the most effective marketing channels.
There are many tools around for marketing campaigns if you plan to grow your brand, and Mailchimp is one of the most influential and popular tools for marketing.
Why is Email Marketing Important?
By the end of 2021, the study found that the number of users who use email was an estimated 4.1 billion. Email messaging remains the number one communication channel in Digital Marketing.
For an email marketing beginner, it is important to know that owning a valid email account means you are the proprietor of your lists. Unlike other social media platforms where your account could easily become suspended for several reasons, leading to you losing your followers or fans, you own and keep your list regardless of any occurrence.
An amazing fact about email marketing that isn’t common is a whopping 3800% ROI (Returns on Investment) on every dollar spent. Another fascinating fact about email marketing is that people who purchase through email offers spend 138% more than those who do not.
That said, email marketing is simply the most effective and cheapest way to make sales online.
This article is a guide that will look into the best email marketing strategy for a WordPress beginner or an intermediate looking to grow their businesses. This strategy involves steps to successfully build a solid foundation on email marketing and different, helpful tools in the WordPress environment.
Let’s get right to it.
Steps to follow to set a Strategy for Email Marketing
- Set realistic goals
- Choose an email marketing platform
- Grow your email list of subscribers
- Create and automate your email marketing campaign
- Collect and analyse data from your campaigns
- Regularly send useful tips to your subscribers
- Include an email signature
- Make your emails look professional
1. Set realistic goals
The value of creating goals cannot be overemphasised; they are often where you begin.
If you’re looking to succeed as a marketer, having clear goals will help you get to the next step in selecting the right email approach to having a successful email marketing experience.
The easiest way to set goals is by going with the SMART approach, and your team will know exactly what you’re looking to achieve.
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-Bound
Applying this approach to your email marketing journey will help guide your decision-making throughout the campaign.
2. Choose an email marketing platform
When you want to choose an email marketing platform, bear in mind that there are many email software applications that are easy to integrate with WordPress. This means you have to take your time to evaluate and choose the appropriate software that aligns with your set goals. An all-around option that most people go for because of how well it works with WordPress is Mailchimp.
3. Grow your email list of subscribers
What is an email list?
An email list is a collection of emails you have received from any media platform and put together to send regular updates and promotions. There are several ways to get people into your email list.
One of the typical ways is by adding their information into an opt-in form on your website. You can create an optimised opt-in form that will integrate your email marketing software perfectly. Many software can help you make an opt-in form to put on your website so users can sign up for updates.
We recommend using Formidable Forms to create an optimised opt-in form. Formidable Forms lets you build powerful and beautiful forms to help you attract subscribers to your service. Formidable Forms works perfectly with many email marketing software.
Using Formidable Forms is very straightforward, and no coding knowledge is required. It uses a primary drag-and-drop builder and helps you analyse and track data received from your forms, so you know exactly what strategy is and isn’t working.
What is email marketing software?
Using email marketing software, you may maintain and manipulate a list that lets you stay in touch with your audience or consumers.
You need a very reliable email service provider to work with an email list successfully.
We stated above the importance of setting goals to help you achieve your aim. Setting goals will help you identify clear priorities that allow you to know what features your email marketing software needs to possess. These goals will guide you in choosing the right email marketing software.
Another way to grow your email list is by using a lead magnet. A lead magnet is basically a compelling offer you give to potential subscribers to attract them to join your list. Simply telling your audience to sign-up for newsletters using opt-in forms isn’t enough; you have to give value back and show them why subscribing to your service would benefit them.
A lead magnet could be a piece of content in the form of an insightful audio file, a product sample or trial, a whitepaper or a newsletter. These lead magnets help you stand a better chance if you hope to grow your list by using more than just an opt-in form.
4. Create and automate your email marketing campaign
This is a straightforward process, especially when you use software like Mailchimp, which provides pre-designed email templates. You can start composing and sending emails as soon as you have a few subscribers.
Automating and scheduling your email campaigns is a more thoughtful and better choice than sending them manually. This also helps you to set triggers that will allow your subscribers receive targeted communications. These triggers send targeted email broadcasts based on your subscriber’s involvement with your website.
Part of your email marketing campaign can be automated and planned to save time, attract more subscribers, and turn leads into customers. The more you plan ahead of time for your campaigns, the better the results.
5. Collect and analyse data from your campaigns
Automating and scheduling email campaigns is not where it ends; it is essential to collect and analyse data received from these campaigns, so you’ll know exactly what works and what doesn’t.
Depending on what platform you’re using, you can access some information and analytics about your campaign. The information and analytics you get are dependent on the subscriber’s activity or interaction with your broadcasts or promotions. Software like Mailchimp will enable you to see how many subscribers opened your email and click-through rates of any link attached to them.
Access to this kind of data would enable you to examine your subscriber’s behaviour throughout the whole campaign so you can determine adjustments to make accordingly. These analytics also help you know your returns on every investment made in each campaign.
6. Regularly send valuable tips to your subscribers
It is always preferable to share your ideas with your readers, as well as valuable stats and information. You can provide them with advice or demonstrate something new to make their lives much easier.
Doing this piques their interest in your newsletter, and they may decide to buy from you due to the straightforward suggestions you provide them. You should also explain your features, the advantages of using your services, and many other things regularly.
7. Include an email signature
Including an email signature makes your emails appear to come from a person rather than a firm, making the recipient feel valued. It is also essential to explain the advantages of using your services and other things regularly.
8. Make your emails look professional
For the last and most important part of these steps, you need to make your emails look professional. Giving your emails a professional touch makes your subscribers value you and what you do even more. You must research your subscriber’s preferences and send them exactly what they want in an email.
Some valuable tips to help you make your emails look professional:
- Use easy to read fonts when writing your email messages
- Make the most of the subject line and make the email’s content evident to the reader.
- Select the best structure for your event
- Use meaningful link wording to persuade your readers to open the email.
- Include images with appropriate alt text
- Use attractive email templates
- Include a call to action that directs readers to your event landing page at all times.
Conclusion
Many people purchase things just because of a well-presented email they have received in their inbox, and that is one of the reasons email marketing is the most effective way to go when it comes to marketing strategies.
Following a few accessible best practices and selecting the right platform can help your company generate a significant return on investment and foster long-term client relationships.
