Intro to Email Campaigns
Originally published February 20, 2022
Email campaigns are one of the most powerful and effective marketing tools available to digital marketers. We have a whole post about why you shouldn’t discount emails in your marketing strategy in 2023.
Emails are among the best ways to reach your customers, promote your products and services, generate leads, and create a lasting impression. Especially if you don’t have the budget for other marketing efforts!
Okay, so you’re convinced. But that doesn’t mean you know what you’re doing.
Luckily, email marketing doesn’t have too steep of a learning curve. Read on to find out how to have your customers rolling out the red carpet to their inboxes!
In This Article:
What’s the Deal With Email Campaigns?
Here’s another leg-up you have with email marketing. Unless you’re one of the—checks notes—0% without an email, you have a lot of exposure to email campaigns.
The simplest definition of an email campaign is a form of marketing that sends emails to a list of subscribers who have opted in.
Email campaigns are one of the most popular and effective marketing channels. Email marketing allows you to communicate with your customers directly and promote your products, services, and offers.
They’re also an endless source of data. Whatever email marketing software you choose can track all kinds of metrics, such as:
Engagement. See if your emails were opened, how long the customer spent reading, and if they clicked any links.
Effectiveness. A great day for A/B Testing! Send different emails to different clients to see which works better.
Segmentation. Send the right type of email to the right kind of person by comparing how different people interact with your email.
And more!
Businesses send two types of emails to their customers: transactional and marketing emails.
Transactional emails are all business. They’re any message sent to a customer regarding a transaction or policy. So if you get an email telling you that you forgot something in your cart or alerting you about your purchase, that’s transactional.
If it’s anything else—promotion, new product announcement, etc.—those all fall under the umbrella of marketing emails.
This difference isn’t just jargon or arbitrary. It’s a legal definition. Which leads us to our next point.
Don’t spam people! It’s against the law!
The CAN-SPAM Act very strictly moderates marketing emails if you’re in the USA. The CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) does the same if you’re in California, the GDPR in the EU, and the CASL in Canada.
FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THESE LAWS BEFORE SENDING ANY EMAILS.
I really cannot emphasize this enough. It’s up to you to follow these rules. You may think you can get away with fudging it if you’re a small enough company, but it’s not worth it on any level.
The CAN-SPAM Act is considered the most lenient of these laws. However, the penalty is still a gut punch: “Each separate email in violation of the law is subject to penalties of up to $46,517.” (emphasis ours).
So let that be your first step before you put finger to keyboard.
Now that we’ve put the fear of God into you, let’s move on to more exciting topics!
Before You Press Send
Before you begin firing off your first email marketing campaign, you should establish 3 key things that will guide the way you compose your email.
Who is this for? Every email you send should keep your audience in mind. Figure out who your general audience is, as well as the segments that make it up.
What do you have to give? Don’t ask something for nothing. Email subscribers need a reason to click on your email, and offering them something valuable is the best way to do that. Lead magnets—eBooks, white papers, infographics, etc.—are a great way to add value. Read our article on lead magnets for inspiration.
What action do you want readers to take? Having someone read your email is all well and good, but it doesn’t really do much beyond reminding them you exist. Start each marketing campaign with an idea of what you want your reader to do. Click a link, check out a new product, the sky is the limit.
6 Email Campaign Best Practices
So we’ve said that email marketing is a super effective form of advertisement, but that’s only true if you follow some best practices.
An email marketing campaign is not just about sending out a single email to your subscribers. It’s about strategically planning and executing an email campaign that will bring in more leads, increase sales, and grow your business.
The key to a successful email campaign is a well-thought-out strategy.
These are some tips and tricks for elevating your email marketing strategy:
Send emails at the right time
Sending out emails at the wrong time can lead to low open rates and responses. Instead, you should send out an email campaign during peak hours, usually in the morning or afternoon, when people are more likely to check their inboxes.
Start a campaign when you want to create engagement with your customers or prospects. For example, sending an email campaign around the holidays will increase customer engagement during the season.
Segment your list
You don’t want to send every email to every customer. It’s a quick and easy way to clog up someone’s inbox.
Segmenting your email audience is a critical aspect of any email campaign strategy. It allows you to tailor the content to the unique needs of different segments of your list. This way, you can use email as a tool for customer engagement, not just marketing.
You can segment on various factors, including but not limited to: demographics (age, gender, location), interests, and purchase history/behavior. Sending targeted emails can increase engagement and possibly convert a potential customer.
Personalize your emails
In addition to segmenting your list, personalizing your emails can often go a long way towards making the email feel more relevant. Customer personas are helpful for constructing targeted emails.
At the bare minimum, make sure to address the recipient by name. Then, you can track how people move through your website and send them recommendations based on what they previewed.
And don’t forget to automate, automate, automate!
This process could take forever, but it sure doesn’t have to. Any email automation software worth its salt will have personalization options built in. Automated emails will save you time, which is in limited supply, especially if you are a small business owner.
Keep it short and sweet
The content of your email should be tailored to the needs of your target audience and focused on a single message that you want to convey. It should also be concise and easy to read. This is crucial for a successful email marketing campaign. Your email subscribers should not dread having to read a long, boring wall of text.
Use images in your emails
Are you more likely to look through an email with a few lines of cramped text or something with colorful, engaging graphics?
If you’re not artistically inclined/don’t have a graphic designer on staff, you may want to stick to text. But think simple! A few photos of your product and some graphics created in Canva can make a world of difference.
Don’t forget the subject line and CTA
Start and end your emails with a bang! Subject lines may seem throw-away, but there’s an entire eBook worth of strategy when it comes to crafting an attention-grabbing subject.
Every email you send should end with a clear call to action. Your CTA should be based on the specific purpose you have laid out in your strategy for a particular campaign. Remember, the purpose of your email marketing campaign is to draw potential customers into your marketing funnel. Make sure some links lead to your product in your CTA!
Email campaign ideas
There are many ways to use email campaigns to increase your sales and conversions. Here are some ideas for email campaigns:
Use a “freebie” offer or discount
Offer exclusive content or discounts for subscribers only
Poll or survey
Links to your blog to increase readership
The Dreaded Unsubscribe Button
Despite everything you’ve done right, Jane Doe has had enough and slams that unsubscribe button.
Do not despair, and do not make it hard to unsubscribe!
For one thing, it’s illegal. For another, someone unsubscribing is a chance for you to better your email marketing.
Use this to ask the customer why they unsubscribed. Provide a few pre-written options and leave room to enter their thoughts. If we’ve learned anything from review sections of websites, people like to have their opinions heard!
Also, they may not want to cut ties. Provide some options. They may want to hear less from you; they may not want to hear about sales or new products; get granular!
Preventative action
To prevent people from unsubscribing from your email list, you can do a few things.
Take a stroll through your inbox. Ask yourself, what emails do you open and which languish in the depths of your inbox? You’re already the expert as the customer.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. You walk a thin line between letting a customer forget about you and becoming a nuisance.
So err on the side of sending valuable, crafted, and personalized emails versus becoming the email equivalent of a pop-up.
You don’t want to move someone neutral to your brand to someone actively hostile toward you. Not all press is good press!
Go Forth and Conquer!
Email campaigns have been around for a long time now, and they are still one of the most effective marketing channels. They are an easy way to reach your audience and communicate with them regularly.
With some prep and a good email marketing strategy, you too can cash in on one of the best ways to build a relationship with your customers!
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If you want to focus on the parts of your business like email marketing, why not let someone take care of your content? At PFC, we love working with businesses to create interesting digital marketing content in your brand’s voice and style. And if you need help starting your own email campaign, PFC is here for you. Click below to get started!
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