How To Set Up An Effective Email Marketing Campaign In 6 Steps

A%.re you working on establishing a personal relationship with your audience?

Email marketing is just that: building a database of contacts, managing and profiling, monitoring the data and users behavior.

In this post, we are going to analyze the most important points to consider when creating an email marketing campaign.

 

1. Build a Relationship

The first and most important step. When you choose to open an email of someone you already know is mainly because you recognize him. If you can recreate this effect of awareness among your subscribers, then you will be already ahead against your competitors.

The main method to achieve it is by sending only relevant, useful information, and present tangible benefits to your users.

Remember to always sign your email with your first and last name or your brand, without changing it over time.

 

2. Use an Attractive Subject

Sender and subject are the two main factors that will influence the user’s decision to open your email.

To create the perfect subject, simply follow this mental exercise. Put yourself in the shoes of those who receive your communication and try to guess what are the real benefits that can be offered.

Once identified the value proposition, you have to work around until you get a maximum sentence of 5-6 words that makes clear the advantage to open your message.

Don’t use more than 60-70 characters, as it would be difficult to read and understand (consider that in many cases the user will see a shorter subject, when using a specific email client. Outlook, for example, often shorten the subject, depending on the size of the window).

Carefully listen to your audience, and make them questions.

Also, try different subjects (split testing). This way, you can figure out which one has the higher open rates.

 

3. Avoid Spam Filters

The third fundamental step is to avoid spam filters.

Superlatives, words written in capital letters, punctuation marks, repeated exclamation points, and frequent use of symbols (money or other) are all aspects that increase the spam score in almost all filtering system on the market.

Using a professional email marketing provider really helps in avoiding getting caught in spam filters. There are many services you can use out there, but ActiveCampaign has the highest delivery rates. According to recent studies, ActiveCampaign is placed on top of delivery results with an outstanding 96%.  And considering that the Internet Service Providers (or ISP) are adopting strong resources to restrain SPAM, making sure your emails reach the subscribers is on top of importance for your active campaign.

What is even more tricky is to avoid the user perception of spam. If your reader frequently receives unsolicited mass emails and do not recognize the sender (or has forgotten to have subscribed to your mailing list) is very likely to click on the “Add to the SPAM folder” button.

 

4. Use the Proper Tools

if you want to do email marketing in a professional manner, you need to use a tool that allows you to analyze the statistics (you absolutely need to know what is the rate of delivery, the number of openings, how many clicks you got and what link, and possibly, by which users).

Check here the Top 6 Email Marketing Tools For Small Businesses.

If you do not have this type of instrument, you will never be able to optimize campaigns by pushing topics that have brought more visits (and sales) and avoid those that have been proved to be of little interest.

 

5. How to Write Your Email

The fifth thing to consider is what to write in the message and how to write it, to obtain the maximum of attention and consideration from your readers (and therefore, the maximum conversions of your campaign goals).

Writing a good text depends on method and exercise. Once you have written your email, you can make a test by sending the message to a friend, or someone in your industry, or even subscribers that you know very well. This way, you can get a feel of what needs to be changed, or improved.

A checklist of the most fundamental concepts to include in your promotional emails should be:

• Who is proposing the offer or the subject of what you are writing?
• What is offered? It’s the main subject of the offer, the heart the message, the description of the main features.
• When. What is the period in which the offer is valid?
• Where is the company or sender located?
• How much does the user gain or save?
• What are the advantages? Why the user should buy from you and not from a competitor.
• How can the user take advantage of the proposal/offer (by phone, email, website, etc.)? That’s the call to action, and make it simple!

Another winning feature to include in the content of any promotional messages is empathy. Try to build a human relationship with your users, and always consider them as real people, not just a medium to achieve a sale. Understanding what your audience needs is a basic step to build a profitable email marketing campaign.

 

6. Email Design

Another important, although not decisive, is the email graphic and design.

If you decide to use the HTML format, displayed by most of the users, the template and the overall layout of the page become very
important, because they are able to confer credibility to the sender (or to destroy it in an instant).

Most of the email marketing providers out there provide free graphics and design you can use when creating your newsletter.

Remember, the header must contain the link to the alternate view in another format, while the footer should indicate how the user can unsubscribe from the list (with a simple procedure).

 

Now, it’s over to you.

Are you doing email marketing?

What are your suggestions for a successful campaign?

Please share your thoughts in the comments below, thanks!