In the last year alone, over 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase via a promotional email. While email marketing may seem as old as the internet, it’s still one of the most effective sales channels for businesses around the world.
As consumers continue to move their shopping online sales channels like email continue to become more competitive. A leg up on the competition’s emails could mean big business for some.
As someone who receives upward of 40 emails a day, standing out in the inbox is understandably difficult so the industry has turned to added features like personalization, customization, and automation to improve the email experience we have today.
In this article we’re diving into email automation success, what it involves, and what you can do to improve. Whether you’re a email automation beginner or have crafted your own campaign before, this guide will help make for happier customers.
Let’s get started.
1. Segment your Email Contacts
Studies show that segmented emails result in 50% more click throughs than an all-in email blast. Categorize your customer lists, and send out emails that are relevant to your segments.
Your business industry and objectives will drive your segmentation categories. You could, for example, segment your emails by:
- Industry
- Interests
- Contest participation
- Source of lead
- Sales funnel drop off
- Location
3 tips to successfully segment your emails:
- Collect segmentation information at the time of lead generation
- Gather rich Facebook data by marketing with good Facebook third-party contest apps
- Use an email management tool to more easily manage your segmentation email campaigns
2. Personalize your Emails
If you’re in sales, you know the importance of a customer’s name. It’s important in your email marketing too. Studies have shown that including your customer’s name in your email subject line increases engagement by 22 percent.
Get your email opened with your customers’ first name in the subject line. Get your email read and clicked-through by further including your recipient’s name in your email content. Deepen your lead nurturing and increase trust by adding your own first name, and your company name.
Use an email marketing tool (like Wishpond’s, above) to add name merge tags into your email subject line and body.
Your email brings an immediate familiarity. This familiarity is conducive to consumer trust, which leads to further interaction and, ultimately, a sale.
3 tips for personalizing your emails:
- Use email marketing tools such as MailChimp, Salesforce or Wishpondto personalize your subject lines and email body
- Send out personalized automated emails for each lead-generating contest you run
- Include recipients names in the subject line, and in the body text of your email
3. Make your Emails Personal
Write your email text using plain language. Think about your customer as you write, and treat them with friendly familiarity. Use the pronoun “you” a lot in your messages, to deepen the connection with your potential customer.
Your “from” line should be personal too. Instead of sending emails from your corporate account, send them from the email of your sales team members, your content manager, or even your CEO.
Include your first name, too, as you close off the email.
3 tips for making your emails personal:
- Deepen your customer relationships by writing emails about “you, you, you”
- Send emails from individuals, so that the “from” line looks more friendly, and the reader instantly recognizes you
- Make your email skimmable, with headers, lists and images
4. Make Clear and Compelling Call to Actions
Optimizing your {Call-to-Action](https://blog.wishpond.com/post/103290853633/the-25-best-words-to-use-in-your-call-to-action) (CTA) achieves results. According to Marketing Sherpa, 41% of marketers rank CTA optimization as very valuable.
Create a CTA that is easy to see, and shows above-the-fold in your email content. If you’re sending out newsletters, make a CTA button that is colour contrasted and stands out.
Use short, simple action words, such as:
- “get”
- “order”
- “buy”
Additionally, show how the customer will benefit from acting on your ask. Using words like “free”, “customized” and “more” result in increase conversions.
3 tips to successfully make optimized CTA’s
- Have one prominent CTA in your email to focus readers on your ask
- Keep your CTA above the fold in your email
- Use action words and show your CTA benefit your consumer
5. Align Email with Landing Page Content
Increase sales conversions by strategically aligning your email content with the content on your targeted landing page.
By keeping a coherent look and feel from your initial email ask to your website landing page, you nurture trust in your customers. More consumer trust results in increased sales conversions.
Consistent content is also easier for your customer. They’ll know right away they’ve clicked on the right link, and have arrived on the right page for your ask. Anytime you have the chance to make your sales funnel easier for your customer prospect – take it!
3 tips to successfully align your content:
- Strategize your campaign objectives
- Design a consistent visual for your pieces of content
- Write complementive copy for your email and landing page
6. Email Automation for Results
Remember that old adage that consumers need seven touch-points to remember your brand? Well, that’s true with modern marketing too.
You can’t just send one email and expect results. Develop your customer relationships through regular contact. Create email automation campaigns to send out segmented, personalized emails on a regular basis.
You can set up drip campaigns to send out emails on time-based intervals. Make sure you are A/B testing your campaign to optimize your schedule and frequency for the highest conversion rates.
3 tips to successfully run email marketing automation campaigns:
- Increase consumer touchpoints with periodic, regular emails
- Send out a variety of email types, to develop trust and increase your company familiarily with nurtured leads
- Use an email automation tool like Wishpond, Salesforce or Marketo to make your email mail outs effective.
7. Triggered Emails from Landing Pages
Nurtured email leads produce, on average, a 20% increase in sales versus non-nurtured leads. Automated, triggered emails can nurture your new leads from landing page sign-ups.
When an interested person has signed up for anything on your website’s landing pages you need to follow up immediately. Now’s the time that person is most interested in what you do.
Send out an automated, personalized email with a CTA when a prospective consumer engages in your set triggered behaviours. You’ll gain a lot more interest in your product and business.
3 tips to successfully send triggered emails:
- Use email automation software to automate your email process
- Make your triggered emails personal, by including names of you new sign-ups
- Nurture your leads with continued automated emails to convert them into customers
8. A/B Testing
A/B test your subject lines and your email body text. Send out your campaign subject lines to two (or more) segments in your email subscriber list. Check your view rates, opens, and clickthroughs. Use the subject lines that get you the best conversion rates.
A/B test your email body copy too.
Split testing gives you knowledge about what wording and visuals work best for nurturing and converting customers. Every business will get different results for the most effective email conversions. Test yours to refine your messages and generate more sales.
3 tips for A/B testing your emails:
- Increase email conversion rates by A/B testing subject lines and body copy
- A/B test with two or more database list segments
- Use the highest converting emails to send out to your segmented subscriber lists
9. Track your Results
Use a tracking system to measure the results of your email campaigns. Keep track of your conversion rates over a period of time to analyze each of your mailouts and your overall email strategies.
Track your results for Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) such as:
- delivery rate
- view rate
- open rate
- click-through rate
- sales conversion
Ask questions such as:
- When is the best time and day to send sales emails/newsletters?
- What subject lines received the most subscriber opt-outs/conversions?
- What segments respond best to which CTA’s?
Measuring your metrics and analyzing your results will optimize your conversion rates going forward. Use your research to continuously improve your profits.
3 tips for tracking results:
- Measure the results of each email campaign you run
- Use a decent CRM to analyze delivery rates, open rate, click through rates and sales conversions
- Analyze your results to optimize your conversion rates and continuously improve
10. Repeat
Nurture your email subscriber lists.
Continue to generate new leads through social media and other methods.
Keep in touch with your contacts on a regular schedule. Set up an email automation.
Send out segmented, personalized, personal emails. Develop your relationships through increased interaction and Call to Actions to drive new leads to your website.
Test your campaigns to produce the most profitable.
Convert your new leads into sales. Turn your current customers into repeat revenue sources.
Conclusion
Email marketing automation results in nurtured leads. Nurtured leads results in sales. Use email automation software (such as ours at Wishpond), add these ten tips, and watch your profits grow.
Check out these additional email marketing resources:
- Complete Guide to Drip Campaigns and How to Create Them
- 5 Ways our Clients Use Marketing Automation To Simplify Success
- What is Lead Scoring? 3 Examples to Help You Get Started
- Complete Ecommerce Marketing Automation Guide Your Business Can Use (+ 10 Strategies)
Does your business use email automation? Have you been successful in your email marketing campaigns?
How did you nurture your relationships, automate your emails, and convert leads into customers?
Written by Krista Bunskoek @ Wishpond
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