Email Marketing – How to Use it to Grow Business Exponentially

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

1. If using a ready-to-use email template make sure the default content is replaced
2. Re-read the text content to correct grammar and style mistakes
3. Check whether the sentences are short, clear, clutter-free and easily digestible
4. Perform a spell check on all text and content
5. See that all the information in the email is accurate

Focus

6. Information that is not needed, irrelevant and contradictory, is removed
7. The message in the email is to-the-point, there’s no distraction to it
8. The brand is easily identifiable from your name and email address
9. Links in the email are identifiable

Analytics and Reporting

10. Segmented the subscriber list on different metrics best for the business
11. Expected results from this email campaign are noted down
12. Time is on the schedule to review the results from this email marketing campaign
13. A fixed reporting format is made for easy understanding & discussion

The Subscriber List

14. This email campaign will target recipients who are interested in our message
15. The email campaign complies with local laws
16. A correct subscribers’ list is selected
17. The recipient list is up-to-date. New opt-ins are added while removing unsubscribers and inactive recipients

Action-Oriented

18. Is it crystal clear what a recipient will do after reading the email
19. Strong reasons are integrated for the recipient to take actions
20. The landing page is in alignment with the email message in all form
21. The Call to Action (CTA) is powerful, descriptive and clear

Functional Testing

22. Links in the email (text+images) are working. They lead to the right pages
23. The entire email flow is excellent. All the elements are working perfectly fine
24. Do an email display test across different email clients
25. All personalization and dynamic content works as expected
26. Optimize the email for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets

Engaging Subject lines

27. The email has an engaging subject line which will render a decent open rate
28. All permutations & combinations of the subject line are done before finalizing the current one
29. The subject line variations are tested on spam, engagement & open rates metrics
30. The characters of the subject line are according to the standard count
31. The email content matches the content and offers on the website

Essential Elements

32. The email consists of a clear and functional Unsubscribe link
33. Check and optimize a plain-text version of the email
34. Disclaimers, copyright, and privacy policy links are present
35. Include a link to view this email online
36. Integrate social sharing buttons

Value Proposition

37. The email includes killer content and great offer
38. Rectify mistakes in the current campaign in context with the previous one
39. Use insights from earlier campaigns to improve the current one
40. The proposal clearly explains What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG)
41. For the recipient to get in touch, contact details are clear & concise

Images and Design

42. If images don’t load still the email is readable and can be acted upon it
43. All images in the email have “Alt-text.“
44. Optimize images to load fast with minimum data usage
45. Images strongly back up the email message, in short, images are relevant
46. The email tone, color theme, and design is consistent with the brand

Scheduling

47. The email will be sent to recipients when they are most likely to read it
48. The email qualifies for sending after the final pass, or else not
49. Do split tests full day before sending the final version to recipients
50. Do a last-minute review exercise before scheduling
51. The final version of the current email is OK-ed by concerned team members
52. 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