The first email marketing blast was sent in 1978. [source]
So does that mean email marketing is overdone and for lack of a better term, dead? Don't jump off the email bandwagon quite yet!
You mean to tell me, people still like emails?
You bet! In fact, email ROI is averaging $42 for every $1 spent.
According to a HubSpot survey in late 2019, 78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months. Just remember not all emails are created equal. Your return and engagement on emails can be based on how good of a job you are doing in creating those emails as well as making sure you are sending to the right people.
So I can just send everyone the same email?
Not quite. Email personalization is more important than ever before. And no, I'm not talking about putting the person's name in the subject line.
"Buy this shirt on sale!" Great idea, but when your customer just purchased that shirt last week for full price, you've now insulted them and caused them to have a negative reaction to your product. You have access to more data than ever before on your customers or prospects. Use that data to craft an email tailored to their preferences.
- Customer A bought products 1 and 2.
- Prospect B looked at products 3 and 4, but never made a purchase.
These two people probably shouldn't get the same email. Segment your email list based on where they are in the buying cycle; and create content that is personalized to the recipients. Blast email campaigns have a place, but shouldn't be used for every send.
Once I create an email, if I swap out some words and pictures every time I send then I'm good to go, right?
That's a big no. Imagine every email you got from a company looked exactly the same. How excited would you be to open that email every time it showed up in your inbox? My guess is, you'd start to ignore them unless the words and pictures were extremely clever every time.
Test new things. Try new creatives. Switch up your subject lines.
Just because an email worked for one group or even during a certain campaign, doesn't mean it will always work. You should be trying to increase performance with every email sent.
I sent my email, now what do I do?
Congratulations, you did it! Now is not the time forget what you've done and move on to the next email. Dive into those send statistics - yes more data! Did you get a lot of bounce backs? Did people click through? Which links were most popular?
These metrics will help you perform better on your next send. Additionally, regular clean up of your email list is crucial to ensure you aren't sending to non-existent mailboxes (invalid emails) or to recipients that don't want to receive your emails.
Are there rules to follow when sending emails? I don't like rules.
Of course there are rules. That's what keeps email subscribers happy! All senders still must comply with the CAN-SPAM Act and if you are sending messages abroad you need to follow GDPR guidelines as well. If you decide rules aren't for you, get ready to pay up. Each separate email in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to $43,280! If you have that much extra cash lying around to pay the FTC, I can promise you're spending it wrong.
So are you ready to kick off your email marketing campaign? Good news, we have a few people around the office that would love to talk to you, reach out with an email to get the conversation started.
