What is Email Marketing and how to use Email Marketing to Grow any online business exponentially in a very short time.
Often when we consider email as a tool for marketing, the first thing that strikes is to buy an email list or send bulk emails. That is not email marketing. It is called spamming.
So What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is about connecting with your potential future customers via email. Provide value to build trust. Over time convert them into life-long customers.
From Wikipedia and I quote
Sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
It is a complete definition! It is indeed a process to use email to build a relationship with customers and potential customers to generate business
Note the keywords here: Relationship, Customer Loyalty, Repeat Business.
If you hold those terms in your mind as an email marketing mantra, you will give yourself every chance of success.
The biggest mistake people do is bombard your potential customers with sales offers as if you just want to sell anything and everything to them.
Remember, they are looking for guidance, help, tips, and a RELATIONSHIP! Give them that, and they will buy from you.
To put this another way, why a business doesn’t include an Email Marketing strategy? It is an incredibly powerful way to grow the business exponentially.
Building a genuine and authenticate list of customers can take time and effort. All of it is completely a waste if you do not look after your people, communicate with them, keep interactions open, or even send them newsletters.
Crucial Components of Email Marketing
- Email Subject Line: It can be the game-changer. An email subject line makes or breaks the chances of email getting viewed or not by the reader. Read How to Write Better Email Subject Lines.
- Personalize the Message: A personal touch always works; after all, we are dealing with humans. Addressing a reader with a name in a friendly tone will dramatically increase the likelihood of email getting read.
- Content: The content of the email must be clear and concise. Above all, it should be consistent with the core intention of sending the email in the first place. In short, don’t beat around the bush. Stick to a single topic at a time.
- Images: Use optimized images in email compatible with all screen-size. Moreover, they shall be relevant and attractive enough to soothe an eye.
- Call-to-Action: A CTA button should be appealing enough. It shall persuade the one who’s opening the email. It shall guide him/her to take meaningful action after reading the email. For example, a simple “Buy Now” or “Order Now” can do great instead of fancy sparkling phrases.
- Time: The day and time when an email sends decide the response rate. Ideally, sending emails on Friday for business focusing on weekends will be an advantage and boost the open rates.
- Responsiveness: Like time and date, the device plays a significant role in email marketing. On an average of six out, ten emails are read and replied on a smartphone. Hence, optimizing an email for better readability guarantees the success of an email campaign.
- Segmentation: We are sending emails to humans and not robots. Hence, blasting the same email to different category subscribers will end up nowhere. Segmenting email list is crucial to send the right content to the right audience. Don’t opt for one size for all approaches.
How to Use Email Marketing To Grow the Business
There’s only a single rule for a successful email marketing campaign, and it is –
“Treat Each Subscriber As Human”!
When crunching numbers for marketing campaigns, we often tend to forget we are dealing with people.
More sales mean more money, but the right way to look at it is more people want to be buying the products means more money.
Connect with people, and they will start looking forward to your emails.
The more one adheres to the above rule, the more success he/she is going to receive as a business. If you don’t, you will more focus on email open rates, delivery rates, and how many people unsubscribe from your email lists. Some smart people won’t unsubscribe but dump your email into the spam folder once and for all.
Email Marketing Checklist
This email marketing checklist will allow an individual to perform a quality check on a functional level. Which includes message drafting, designing, and marketing.
Even experienced email marketers do make mistakes, and it’s pretty normal to forget a thing or two. With this checklist in hand, one will be able to create an error-free email content providing value to the recipients.
The email marketing checklist will help:
- Avoid common mistakes while drafting an email message
- Successfully launch a result-oriented email marketing campaign
- Prevent common errors in the process
- Deliver a custom message to its exact recipient
- Make every single email campaign more impactful
- Bypass making embarrassing mistakes in front of the recipient
- Calculate the chance of success of a given campaign
So, let’s start with the email marketing checklist.
Text and Content
- If using a ready-to-use email template make sure the default content is replaced
- Re-read the text content to correct grammar and style mistakes
- Check whether the sentences are short, clear, clutter-free and easily digestible
- Perform a spell check on all text and content
- See that all the information in the email is accurate
Focus
- Information that is not needed, irrelevant and contradictory, is removed
- The message in the email is to-the-point, there’s no distraction to it
- The brand is easily identifiable from your name and email address
- Links in the email are identifiable
Analytics and Reporting
- Segmented the subscriber list on different metrics best for the business
- Expected results from this email campaign are noted down
- Time is on the schedule to review the results from this email marketing campaign
- A fixed reporting format is made for easy understanding & discussion
The Subscriber List
- This email campaign will target recipients who are interested in our message
- The email campaign complies with local laws
- A correct subscribers’ list is selected
- The recipient list is up-to-date. New opt-ins are added while removing unsubscribers and inactive recipients
Action-Oriented
- Is it crystal clear what a recipient will do after reading the email
- Strong reasons are integrated for the recipient to take actions
- The landing page is in alignment with the email message in all form
- The Call to Action (CTA) is powerful, descriptive and clear
Functional Testing
- Links in the email (text+images) are working. They lead to the right pages
- The entire email flow is excellent. All the elements are working perfectly fine
- Do an email display test across different email clients
- All personalization and dynamic content works as expected
- Optimize the email for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets
Engaging Subject lines
- The email has an engaging subject line which will render a decent open rate
- All permutations & combinations of the subject line are done before finalizing the current one
- The subject line variations are tested on spam, engagement & open rates metrics
- The characters of the subject line are according to the standard count
- The email content matches the content and offers on the website
Essential Elements
- The email consists of a clear and functional Unsubscribe link
- Check and optimize a plain-text version of the email
- Disclaimers, copyright, and privacy policy links are present
- Include a link to view this email online
- Integrate social sharing buttons
Value Proposition
- The email includes killer content and great offer
- Rectify mistakes in the current campaign in context with the previous one
- Use insights from earlier campaigns to improve the current one
- The proposal clearly explains What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG)
- For the recipient to get in touch, contact details are clear & concise
Images and Design
- If images don’t load still the email is readable and can be acted upon it
- All images in the email have “Alt-text.“
- Optimize images to load fast with minimum data usage
- Images strongly back up the email message, in short, images are relevant
- The email tone, color theme, and design is consistent with the brand
Scheduling
- The email will be sent to recipients when they are most likely to read it
- The email qualifies for sending after the final pass, or else not
- Do split tests full day before sending the final version to recipients
- Do a last-minute review exercise before scheduling
- The final version of the current email is OK-ed by concerned team members
- I will use this checklist every time before initiating a new email campaign
Finally, ask the following questions to yourself:
- If I were to receive this email, will it benefit me?
- What actions will I like to take after reading it?
- What changes will it bring to me as a reader?
If you think your email can answer the above questions, then its time to launch the campaign.
The Basics of the CAN-SPAM Act
Taking a few points from the CAN-SPAM Act, all email messages must:
- Tell recipients how to opt-out of receiving future emails (unsubscribe).
- Tell recipients where you’re located i.e. a valid physical postal address.
So if our email doesn’t have them, it is spam irrespective of whether the user signed-up on your site or not. neither.
If there is no option to unsubscribe, it allows sending emails to users for the rest of my life. Priorities changes for the user and they may not want to get your emails. One should respect those.
Words That May End an Email in the Spam Folder
Technically there can be various reasons from how you send the emails to a server being configured well for sending emails. But if we only focus on the content of an email, many words flag the emails into the spam folder but not if you can get the user to whitelist your emails.
In this article, I have compiled a list of highly vulnerable spam words.
eCommerce
- Clearance
- Amazing stuff
- Buy direct
- Shopper
- Order status
- Sale
- Claim
- No fees
- As seen on
- Buy
- Buying judgments
- Clearance sale
- Order
- Order status
- Orders shipped by
Employment and Money
- Additional income
- Be your own boss
- Compete for your business
- Earn money
- Double your income
- Extra bucks
- Insurance
- Guarantee
- Earn per week
- Million dollars
- Double your
- Earn extra cash
- Expect to earn
- Extra income
- Home employment
- Home-based business
- Income from home
- Make $
- Make money
- Money making
- Online biz opportunity
- Online degree
- Opportunity
- Potential earnings
- University diplomas
- While you sleep
- Work at home
- Work from home
Finance
- $$$
- Affordable
- Bargain
- Beneficiary
- Best price
- Big bucks
- Cash bonus
- Cash cash cash
- Cents on the dollar
- Cheap
- Check
- Claims
- Collect
- Compare rates
- Cost
- Credit
- Credit bureaus
- Discount
- Earn
- Easy terms
- Fast cash
- For just $xxx
- Hidden assets
- Hidden charges
- Income
- Incredible deal
- Insurance
- Investment, loans
- Lowest price
- Million dollars
- Money
- Money back
- Mortgage
- Mortgage rates
- No cost
- No fees
- One hundred percent free
- Only $
- Pennies a day
- Price
- Profits
- Pure profit
- Quote
- Refinance
- Save big money
- Save up to
- Serious cash
- Subject to credit
- They keep your money — no refund!
- Unsecured credit
- Unsecured debt
- US dollars
- Why pay more?
- Benefit, cash
- Credit
- Money
- Lowest price
- Money back
- Bargain
- Best price
- Bonus
- Get Paid
Business
- Accept credit cards
- Cards accepted
- Check or money order
- Credit card offers
- Explode your business
- Full refund
- Investment decision
- No credit check
- No investment
- Requires initial investment
- No Hidden Costs
- Sent in compliance
- Stock alert
- Stock disclaimer statement
- Avoid bankruptcy
- Calling creditors
- Collect child support
- Consolidate debt and credit
- Consolidate your debt
- Eliminate bad credit
- Eliminate debt
- Financially independent
- Get out of debt
- Low-interest rate
- Lower monthly payment
- Lower your mortgage rate
- Lowest insurance rates
- Pre-approved
- Refinance home
- Social security number
Marketing
- Ad
- Auto email removal
- Bulk email
- Click below
- Click to remove
- Direct email
- Direct marketing
- Email harvest
- Email marketing
- Form
- Increase traffic
- Increase your sales
- Internet market
- Internet marketing
- Marketing
- Marketing solutions
- Mass email
- Member
- Month trial offer
- More internet traffic
- Multi-level marketing
- Not spam
- One time mailing
- Online marketing
- Open
- Opt-in
- Performance
- Removal instructions
- Sale
- Search engine listings
- Search engines
- Subscribe
- The following form
- This isn’t junk
- This isn’t spamming
- Undisclosed recipient
- Unsubscribe
- Visit our website
- We hate spam
- Web traffic
- Will not believe your eyes
- Don’t delete
- Mass email
Numbers and Offers
- #1
- 100% free
- 50% off
- 100% satisfied
- Thousand
- Being a member
- Deal
- Give away
- Prize
- You are the winner!
- You have been selected
- Month trial offer
- $$$
Free
- Cell phone Free
- Free money
To Create Urgency
- Access
- Act now!
- Apply now
- Apply online
- Call free
- Call now
- Can’t live without
- Do it today
- Don’t delete
- Don’t hesitate
- For instant access
- For you
- Get it now
- Get started now
- Great offer
- Info you requested
- Information you requested
- Instant
- Limited time
- New customers only
- Now
- Now only
- Offer expires
- Once in lifetime
- One time
- Order now
- Order today
- Please read
- Special promotion
- Supplies are limited
- Take action now
- Time-limited
- Urgent
- While supplies last
- Only today
- Get it now
- Urgent
- For only
- Apply now
- Order now
- Last chance
- Instant
Food
- Lose weight
- Instant weight loss
- Stay in shape
- Hungry
