Thanks for returning back to my blog, you will be delighted to know we are halfway through this series. I appreciate you sticking around! Last week we learned about social media and I hope you enjoyed putting this all into practice. Today we are looking at the time & place for email marketing.

Everyone has a different perception of what they expect from email marketing. Some consumers love it, read everything and others either don’t engage at all or simply skim read a small amount of the emails they receive. Fun fact, only 19% of marketing emails are actually read, though I am proud to brag that I have an average open rate of 45%.

So let’s dive into the why of email marketing:

• Lead generation – Your subscriber has signed up, they are already engaged with the business. So this is your opportunity to hook them and convert them into a buying customer.
• Lead nurturing – This is the process of holding onto the customer with engaging content and offering discounts always helps with this!
• Sales – Direct sales emails are typically for subscribers who are already customers. It is to draw them into something you know they already like and love.
• Customer retention – This is the art of holding onto current customers, whilst also driving stagnant customers to begin opening emails once again.

Now we understand the why, next we need to understand the cycle of email marketing:

• Data collection – This refers to how we collect emails, you can do this by asking website viewers to sign up to your email list in exchange for something. You can also do this via competitions, contact forms, lead magnets, special offer pop ups, ads on social media. You always need to be careful as in 2018 the GDPR act came in protecting consumers. Signing up new customers & how you hold their information needs to be compliant. 
• Segmentation – This is how we define our subscribers. It might be focused on whether they are already customers, or for reasons why they have signed up to your mailing list. If you own a supermarket you could segment customers by people who buy baby products, people who buy clothes, people who buy plant based products. Then you can send them targeted emails.
• Workflow – Depending on your business, sequencing can be used to draw new subscribers in over a short period of time. You can build up from a welcome email, through to ‘about us’, new products followed by discounts.
• Delivery – This is the final stage of sending the emails, you can decide on the platform & timings which will work best for you.

Things to consider in email marketing

• Subscriber – You need to know who is reading your emails. Done regularly with surveys, it is good to know the demographics so you can target your content appropriately.
• Use personalisation – This can be done by targeting them using their name or even focusing on a product which they have already bought from you.
• Subject Line – Subject line is like the cover of a book, bad book cover = no readers. It is the hook to get the customer to open your email.
• Simplicity – Focus on how the email is laid out, what it entails, are the pictures catching and is the copy well written.
• List management – There is no point in having subscribers who do not read your content, it is a waste of money. So every 3 months it is recommended to delete subscribers who do not read your emails.

Now remember, it is always important to write a strategy & most importantly set some KPI’s focused on what you desire from your email marketing efforts. That will dictate the time & place for email marketing.

Now you are equipped with the knowledge of how to find leads, nurture subscribers, turn them into sales & get the most out of your email marketing strategy. I recommend you go and jump in right away.

Thank you for reading through to the end and for sticking with me. Next week we will be looking at the complicated world of SEO & how to manage this when you are out of your depth.