How many email newsletters do you receive in your inbox each week? You’ve probably lost count. You also probably only read a fraction of them. The first reason for getting so many emails is the fact that most companies use email marketing regularly. 60% of consumers state that they have made a purchase as a result of a marketing message they received by email. On the flipside, only 12.5% have made a purchase as a result of a marketing message they received on social media.
The reason you skip most of those emails lies in the poor execution of email marketing campaigns. Luckily, if you’re a business owner, there are a few simple steps to market a new product with email marketing that will make your campaign a success.
Why Should You Use Email Marketing for your Business?
The fast nature of advertising and the high level of personalization make marketers’ jobs extremely complicated. They have to make people convert more with less material while staying on budget. In other words, they have to get as creative as possible.
Since email is still the most powerful marketing tool, and the one that can speak to each customer individually, consider using it for marketing new products to your repeat customers and prospects.
Know Your Audience
First, you have to ask yourself whether you know your audience well enough to know how they feel about your brand. You can get this information from social media, customer support inquiries and reviews.
Tip: Try using tools like Google Alerts or Mention.com to monitor what people are saying about your brand.
Next, try to come up with a sketch of what you want the readers to feel when they see your email. They will have different expectations from your newsletters. It’s essential to know precisely what kind of brand image you want to show them. It will depend on their preferences, the type of product your promoting, as well as the message you want to deliver.
Write an Awesome Email
Awesome email copy consists of 3 key things:
- Professional email address and brand name
- Friendly subject line
- Concise copy with a clear call to action
Email address and brand name
Your target audience wants emails that are tailored to them. If they see a questionable senders name or email address, they will move the message to the spam folder. So, make sure the recipients can instantly recognize your email address and the name attached to it. Nobody will open a promotional email from “annajohnson87.”
Subject line and greeting
35% of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone. A professional-sounding email name is an excellent way to start. Now, you will have to write a catchy subject line and avoid fluff. Test including the recipient’s name to personalize the email because emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened.
Instead of “Dear Sir/Madam,” make your subject line as simple as “Hey Elon.”
Tip: Keep a Google Doc of your favourite subject lines for inspiration
So what email subject lines made me click in the past year? I thought you would never ask! Here are my favourites:
- How I Sold a Blog for $20,000 in 8 Months
- If Elon Musk disrupted the foam roller, it would look like this
- Stray Cat Walks into Nursing Home, Becomes One of Its Best Employees
- 20 Hotels That You Absolutely Must Visit. #4 Is Out Of This World.
- How to Be the Pablo Escobar of Leads And Get 500M+ Emails
- 16 Food Quotes That Punch Kale in the Face
- Man Attempts To Hug a Wild Lion. What Happens Next Stunned Me.
- What Sending 62,619,592 Emails Taught Me About Content Marketing
- What I learned after wasting $50,000 on YouTube
- The Things You Can Do with a Pair of Scissors, Taco Shells and Hot Sauce
- How Uber recklessly blew through $8,000,000
- She sold 122 subscriptions for $97 each. Here’s how…
- can I call you tomorrow?
- 👆SALES, 👇REFUNDS , 👆RETENTION
- Give Me One Evening and I’ll Give You a Push-Button Memory
- Your new favorite marketing tool…
If you’re struggling for creativity, you can always use tools like Portent’s Title Maker for inspiration.
Email copy
You’ll increase email open rates with your brand name and a personal yet casual email headline. After you have crafted an awesome headline, your work is not done. People will soon close your email when they see boring and uninspired email copy. You have to write an attention-grabbing, short and understandable text.
Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, recommends to write short sentences and avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence.
Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. It needs to make you curious.
Moreover, try using a conversational tone, as if you’re talking to a friend.
Do you have writer’s block? Marketing legend Seth Godin suggests to ‘Write like you talk, then you will never get writers block. If you wake up and you can’t talk, then go see a doctor.’ Following Seth’s advice will ensure your copy is conversational and not difficult to create.
For example, take a look at this Dropbox email marketing copy. It’s personalized, has a friendly emoticon and a subtle CTA in the form of a link.
Describe the trouble people are having, so you can show them empathy. Avoid telling them why your product is the best but instead add the product subtly in the copy and say what the product can do for the user. The best approach is to promote the product without annoying people with how great the product is and what features it has. If they’re interested in that, they’ll check your site. Therefore, give them what’s relevant to them. According to Liveclicker’s study, 55% of consumers prefer emails containing relevant products and offers.
Lastly, add images to the copy. An image has the power to keep them interested. You can use three techniques to embedding images in email.
Include a CTA in the Newsletter
By this time, you almost have all of the ingredients to capture the recipients attention. However, you need one more secret ingredient to ensure they convert.
To complete the sale, you need to include a compelling CTA so that the reader can land on the page as soon as they read the email. Consider some of the following best practices for an optimized CTA button.
- Use a button rather than a link. As tempting as it sounds to some, links have less potential to drive customers to your site.
- Contrast. The color of the CTA has to stand out from the rest of the email.
- If you think it’s appropriate to the nature of your product, make the CTA time-sensitive. Words such as “today” or “now” will increase the click-through-rates.
Related: 5 Ways to Write Magnetic Call-to-Actions in Just 5 Minutes
Here’s an excellent example of a CTA in an email from an author and entrepreneur Marie Forleo;
How Often Should You Send Newsletters?
Receiving too many emails from the same sender can get annoying pretty fast. What’s more, it can put you at risk of sounding spammy and salesy. If your email marketing campaign consists of sending an email a day to your email list, people will filter you to their spam box in no time.
39% of marketers send emails 2-3 times a month. This statistic is interesting, but these marketers have not tested their sending frequency on the list that matters most: Yours.
On the other hand, sending one email in three months can in no way be called an “email marketing campaign.” You’ll miss good opportunities by not sending promotional and behavioural emails at all.
The answer is to find the right balance. See if people like your emails or not and how often they prefer to receive them. If you can’t access that information, do a quick survey with your current customers and keep a close eye on your email service provider analytics.
Most people prefer a bi-weekly or a monthly newsletter. If you don’t have new product launches, promote the old ones, and offer discounts every four to five months. Make a newsletter calendar to track your emails easily.
Do You Use Email Marketing in Your Strategy?
Email marketing is a perfect tool to promote new products. Get to know your audience, create an attention-grabbing email, and include a powerful CTA. Lastly, remember to send them according to your customers’ needs and watch your conversion rates increase.
Are you using email marketing for your business? Has it complimented your social media campaigns? Let us know in the comments below.
