The first email was sent in 1971. It forever changed the way we communicate with each other. Today, businesses use email to connect with their audiences, build trust in their industry, and increase sales.
If you're new to email marketing, it's easy to get started and see results right away.
What are the business benefits of email marketing?
For small businesses that don't have a large marketing budget, email marketing can deliver great results. Below are six of the most important benefits small businesses can gain through email marketing.
1. Email marketing provides high ROI.
According to 2020 data, email marketing delivers an ROI of up to $45 per dollar spent, averaging $36 per dollar spent. You can also increase this number by implementing techniques like A/B testing, using double opt-in, and adhering to a regular schedule.
To track the ROI of your email campaigns, use the following formula:
Net Profit = Total Profit from Email Marketing – Email Marketing Cost
Net Profit / Email Marketing Cost = ROI
For example, let's say you spend $150 and get $2,000 in sales from one email marketing campaign.
($2,000 – $150.00) / $150 = 12.33
ROI is 12.33. That means for every $1 you spend on your campaign, you'll get $12.33 back.
Many companies use ROI calculations to identify marketing and advertising methods that will yield the greatest returns based on past successes.
2. Email marketing can appeal to different audience segments.
Email marketing lets you leverage data about your email subscribers to create targeted campaigns and reach your target customers.
If you're new to email marketing, creating personalized content can seem difficult and overwhelming. However, personalizing your content can be as simple as using your subscribers' first name in your emails. Research shows that adding a subscriber's first name to the subject line can increase his email open rate by as much as 23%.
As your email list grows and you become more comfortable with email marketing, you can use customer segmentation to group audience members based on age, income level, gender, or how long they've been a customer.
3. Email marketing saves you time and money.
Most business owners don't have much time or money. Fortunately, email marketing automation makes communicating with customers and prospects easy and cost-effective.
Once you've built your email contact list, create new email campaigns with carefully crafted offers and email designs. Your email marketing software can then automatically send messages to your target list. You can engage with your audience and generate new customers while working on other aspects of running your business.
Of course, you'll need to track your email campaigns and adjust them from time to time. Still, email marketing is one of the most hands-off marketing strategies.
It's also relatively cheap, especially compared to other methods such as paid advertising. You can develop professional email campaigns that reach thousands of subscribers at a fraction of the cost.
4. Email marketing allows you to build stronger customer relationships.
Marketing involves demonstrating value to consumers and showing your audience how to take the next step in your business. When someone joins your email list, you have the opportunity to send them helpful and relevant content.
Not every email you send to your customers needs to include selling your product or service. Instead, focus on providing value. If you can demonstrate the value you provide to your customers, they will look forward to hearing from you each week.
Include your social media accounts in your emails and encourage your subscribers to connect with you on those channels. Social media interactions can help you build trust with your audience. Users who are interested in a particular email you send can click on a social media link to learn more about your product or service.
Email content that provides value includes helpful information, newsletters, product tips, videos, and blog posts.
5. Email marketing increases sales.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to increase sales, especially when traffic to your physical store is down significantly.
Some customers will decide to buy if they receive an offer at the right time. Adding urgency to your offer and offering generous sales or free shipping is a great way to convert subscribers into customers.
Email marketing is also a great way to upsell to current customers or re-engage customers who haven't purchased in a while.
By creating personalized and targeted offers for the consumers on your list, you can encourage your audience to buy from your business.
6. Email marketing can build a valuable subscriber base.
One of the drawbacks of social media marketing is that you don't own your followers. When your Facebook business page gets shut down unexpectedly (which is not uncommon), you lose access to the page you've spent months or even years building.
That's why it's essential to create and manage an email list to understand your subscriber base. You have a valuable customer list and ways to contact them. Even if you switch email providers, you still own your contact list.
How to start email marketing
Many business owners know they need to build a list of email contacts, but don't know how to get started. Below she explains the process in four steps.
1. Choose an email marketing provider.
The first step is choosing the right email marketing service. Consider the following when evaluating service providers:
- Provider reach rate
- Whether the provider offers templates and allows you to customize emails
- Is the software intuitive and easy to use?
- Advanced features offered by this service, including A/B testing, analytics, and segmentation tools
- The level of customer support provided by the company
Once you've decided on a service provider, sign up for a free trial (most providers offer one). That way, you can test the software to make sure it's the best fit for your needs (more on choosing an email marketing service provider below).
2. Create a free but attractive opt-in.
You need to give your audience a good reason to join your email list. The best way to incentivize them is to create a free opt-in.
The type of opt-in you create depends on your customers and their needs. For example, if you're targeting B2B users, you can create detailed white papers on topics that interest them.
Once you have created an opt-in, you can set up a lead generation form on your website. Viewers sign up with their email address. From there, you can download the opt-in. You can also promote opt-ins on all your social media channels to encourage more email list signups.
Opt-in email marketing helps you comply with FTC regulations that require you to get users' explicit permission before sending emails.
3. Send weekly newsletters.
Your subscribers want to know what they can expect from you. The best way to do that is by sending out a weekly email newsletter.
Newsletters are another way to share useful and relevant content with your audience, and again, a way to provide value to your subscribers.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating your newsletter.
- Design your newsletter using templates.
- Please summarize briefly. If your email is too long, your audience may lose interest.
- Personalize your subject line to encourage subscribers to open your email.
- Add a compelling call to action at the end.
- Optimize your newsletter to make it easier to view on mobile devices.
4. Track your analytics.
Finally, one of the most important aspects of email marketing is tracking your results. Tracking analytics can help you determine what resonates with your audience.
Open and click-through rates are among the most important email metrics to track.
- Open rate: Open rate is one of the first analytics you'll want to look at. A good email open rate typically ranges from 15 percent to 25 percent. If your open rate is less than 15%, it may be a sign that you need to revise your subject line. However, as your email list grows, your open rate may decrease.
- Click-through rate: The next analysis is click-through rate. This is the percentage of email recipients who clicked on the link within the email. Depending on your industry, you should aim for a click-through rate of just 2% to 5%.
Ignoring email analytics is a classic email marketing mistake. Without monitoring your analytics, it will be difficult to improve your email marketing strategy.
