If you are new to business, you might think that email marketing consists of basically sending "spammy" messages that will never get more than 1-second of attention from your clients or that it's a waste of time and money with practically no returns, but that can't be further from the truth.
In reality, email marketing remains in the top 3 marketing channels, right behind SEO and social media, with returns on investment of 36%-42%, which means $36 to $42 dollars for every dollar invested in it.
This means a good email marketing strategy is one of the best options to reach your target audience.
Now, nobody is saying it will be easy because it won't. Multiple challenges and questions will arise, such as: How can I grow my list? How often should I email my subscribers without becoming annoying? What type of message is the right one? When is the right time to email somebody? Should I send the same message to everybody on my list?
The list of questions can go on forever and while it might sound cliché it all depends on how you start... Here we will give you some good email marketing tips to start your campaign.
A good way to start is by taking a look at the customer's journey. Try to understand which is the right message for your audience, how to build a relationship with them, and kick them off their feet with an incredible email marketing strategy.
But what is the customer's journey?
The customer's journey (awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and loyalty) is the 5 steps they take since they hear/take a look at your business until they convert/purchase, and then retain them so they become your advocates. This process is unique for each of your customers, and it usually doesn't follow a straight line.
Both email marketing and the customer's journey should go together to be able to build a marketing strategy that speaks to your customers at every step of it. Ideally, each email that goes out should nurture and contribute to each of the stages of your customer's journey. Before they buy something, the key message is to tell them why your product is the best for them. In order to do that, you'll need to use your empathy skills and for that, we've written a 5-steps guide to get to know your customers in a past article.
So here we have some email marketing tips for each step of the customer's journey
1. Awareness
Our very first email marketing tips and no less important. This is the very first time your possible clients might be hearing from you, learning who you are and how you can help them. As most people will be hearing from you for the first time, it would be better to avoid selling or offering them something.
First impressions matter, even in email, that's why you should focus on providing valuable content and experiences, to make them curious about you. You can use a welcome series explaining who you are, what products or services you offer, including a discount code on future purchases or extra material that will help them choose you in the future.
2. Consideration
At this point, people start considering you as a purchase option, becoming your customers. Once you get their attention, and they want to know more, let them know you also have information about them.
Personalized messages are a good fit during this stage. Let’s say someone added items to their cart but decided to abandon the website before making a purchase. Would you leave it there and watch them walk away? Well, the good news is you don’t need to do that, you can send a follow-up email. Instead of simply reminding them ‘hey you left some things behind, you could send an email with real testimonials. This shows that whatever product they were about to buy works.
3. Purchase
Once a customer makes an order, it doesn't mean that communication with them should stop. This is the moment when communication is key, customers expect to know what's happening with their purchase, so orders notifications are important to let them know that everything is working as it should.
And why should communication end with order notifications? You can even send personalized emails with recommended products based on the single order that was made, or follow-up emails to show customers you care about them.
4. Retention
Why would you need to keep emailing people who are not looking to buy something at the moment? Because this is how you turn them into brand advocates.
You can't expect customers to love your brand after 1 single purchase, even if the product is good when it comes to buying something else they will look for other options. At this stage, it is important to show them that you value them even when they don't want to buy anything, offer them a discount on their next purchases, acknowledge their birthday, ask for feedback, make them feel part of a community.
5. Loyalty
This is the final stage, every company wishes clients were here. When your clients move to the loyalty stage they become brand advocates, this means you stay at the top of their minds for future purchases, and they help promote your brand.
However, it's important to not be quiet during this stage, since they already love you and know your products work. It's a good opportunity to ask for reviews, ask them to refer you to their friends, or give them incentives to promote you.
Final Thoughts
Truth be told, a good email marketing strategy is sending the right message to the right people at each step of their customer's journey. You might be thinking now ‘well that sounds nice but it sure seems like a lot of work’ and it is, but at the same time it is not, many of these emails can be automated or scheduled.
The heavy lifting comes in the message you want to send, it's important to send relevant content for the customers at each stage. From a business perspective, everything is important, that is why many messages start with "we are excited to launch...", but businesses shouldn't be *too* excited, they should focus on the benefits it will bring to the client.