12 Best Email Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs

image

As an entrepreneur, it can be hard to find the right tools or methods to market your brand, find new customers, and keep your website traffic going up each day. And if you’re reading this, it means that you might need some help sharpening your email marketing skills.

Smart Insights found that email marketing rivals organic and paid search among the top channels driving sales online.

Want to see how you can increase sales through email marketing while avoiding common email marketing mistakes?

To help you get started, here are twelve of the best email marketing tips for entrepreneurs.

1. Build a Quality Email List

Before you start crafting an email, first you have to get the basics down first.

That means building a quality email list that you can send to.
Think about it, how can you send the perfect email if there’s no one to send it to? And even if you already have an existing email list, think about how much more impactful your emails could be if you had a larger audience.

Remember new leads mean new customers.
Check how to create an email list

How to Grow Your Email List: 5 Proven and Simple Ways

Any email marketer will tell you that whether you’ve just launched your website or you’ve been around for a while, you can use these tools to grow your email list:

1. Get More Emails with Website Pop-Ups

Website popups helps capture emails from visitors who are at various places on your website.

Pop-ups can increase your conversion rate by up to 10.23% or more once implemented on your website.

If you don’t have a website pop up, you can easily create on with Wishpond’s Popup Builder in minutes to start gathering leads.

2. Get More Emails With Social Media

Email and social media make a lethal marketing combination for growing your email list.

Your target audience is waiting on social media. With 54% of social shoppers on social media to research products, you can catch their interest in a number of different ways. In fact, social media is one of the best ways to incentivize new email subscribers if you have the right offers.

Here are two methods to use social media to get more emails:

3. Shared Gated Content

Gated content is content hidden behind a virtual gate. If the content is interesting enough, viewers will provide their email to get access to your content.

Some people might share this content with others. Others might turn back without signing up, but for those who are genuinely interested will sign up to get access to the resource.

Those are the leads you want because they want what your offering, taking the steps to get it, making them qualified leads.

To get maximum people to sign up, you should offer a unique and informative lead magnet. Most people gate ebooks and checklists. But you can gate something like a video course or free conference. You can also run paid conferences like this email conference where you sell tickets at an affordable price and attract more buyers right from the beginning.

4. Social Media ads

A great strategy to grabbing people’s attention on social media is by giving away discounts, freebies, or a free consultation. When they click your CTA (call to action), they can sign up and find an email waiting for them with your offer.

I’ve also dropped some lead generation guides for your next social media ad campaign:

5. Get More Emails with Webinars

As an entrepreneur, you’ve probably signed up for a few webinars here and there.

I’m guilty of constant webinar sign-ups myself.

73% of B2B marketing and sales leaders say webinars are the best way to generate high-quality leads.

Seasoned marketers know that lead generating webinars take work: but if done correctly, the value of your leads outweighs the effort exponentially. Depending on your industry, webinars can be one of the most compelling offers you create online and can be one of the best ways of quickly growing your email list.

According to live events expert and HeySummit CEO, Rob Gelb, webinars and live events are one of the best ways for growing businesses to build their email list efficiently. During a webinar on how to grow your email list, he said:

“It’s all about the leads. You may ask yourself, what can I create that is going to generate leads relatively quickly, efficiently, and targeted to who I want to talk to? Events get you leads quickly.”

For more ways to generate leads for your business, you can try these 60 Epic Ways to Get More Leads Today.

2. Plan Your Email Marketing Campaign

Now that you have compelling offers set up to generate more email subscribers, the next email marketing tip is to plan your email marketing campaign.

One mistake most entrepreneurs make is to start email marketing without a plan. Good email campaigns aren’t just one-off emails. Planning, strategy, and content is the difference between good email marketing campaigns and bad ones.

Why?

“Plan your work and work your plan”- Napoleon Hill

Planning allows you to do the following so you don’t spread yourself too thin with:

  • Pick a goal and aim to meet it.
  • Decide what type of email will help you to achieve your goal.
  • Decide how many emails should be sent.
  • What tools, events, and promotion would be an additional benefit.

As we go further into the article, I’ll show you more tips and email tactics you can ultimately add to your email marketing campaigns.

Need more help? Check out this article on how to create compelling email marketing campaigns.

3. Personalize Your Email Campaigns

Email personalization is no longer a growing trend, it’s become mandatory amongst email subscribers for brands to connect deeply with their audience.

Experian found that emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened.

One way to get the ball rolling; have a first name option when people submit their emails to your website pop-up or opt-in form.

Look at this personalized subject line sent by All-Star Converse for their converse sales.

Personalization can be as simple as adding a first name or as complex as showing customers products they’re most likely to buy based on the past purchasing history.

It all starts with gathering the right data (with permission) and using it to make your customer feel like an individual rather than another email on your list.

If you’re ready to master personalization use this article on the ultimate guide to email personalization

4. Be Consistent with Email Automation

Email automation, formally known as “email drip campaigns,” can also be simple or complex as personalization. Combine your email campaigns with automation to manage and maintain your leads effortlessly. Depending on what your email marketing goals are in the long run, you decide.

What is email automation?

Email automation is the ability to send subscribers a series of triggered emails based on an action, segment, or time frame.

Your series of emails are a part of a triggered workflow that helps to nurture new leads.

Automate welcome, birthday, or discount emails without having to set a reminder to send emails to a customer each time they join your email list.

You can also use marketing automation tools on your website and social media. Cut your workload in half by working smart, not hard.

Wishpond allows you to create, manage, and monitor your email automation along with segmentation and personalization features to fit your email marketing needs.

Missing out on email automation can also mean losing sales. DMA found that automated email campaigns account for 21% of email marketing revenue.

Ready to start automating your marketing?

Book a free call to learn how our team of marketing experts can help you create high converting email marketing today.

5. Send Outreach Emails & Network with Brands

As an entrepreneur, you should be familiar with outreach emails. If you aren’t, don’t worry.

Emails aren’t just for customers; outreach emails can strengthen your network with corresponding brands. In fact, outreach emails should be high on your priority list if you plan to work closely with influencers and brands in your niche.

You can use outreach emails to do copromotions with another brand to run a contest, event, or webinar with to boost your brand awareness and grow your email list. You can also do product collaborations by combining powers with a complementary brand to improve your current project life cycle create a bundle or a new product entirely.

When you’re sending an outreach email, keep these tips in mind:

via GIPHY

  • Make it about them, not you. It’s an outreach, not a “why I’m the best email.” So highlight the things you like about the person and how you can help them.
  • Watch for spelling and simple errors. Misspelling someone’s name or placing the wrong link can easily put your email into the trash. Test, re-read, and send.
  • Follow up at least twice. People get tons of emails every day. Send a follow-up email in case they forget to reply.
  • Remember, no one owes you a response. Even after you follow up and you still haven’t gotten a response, don’t take it personally. Move one to the next brand.
  • Try reaching out in person or by other means. Try attending a networking event they might attend or use a guest post submission as a way into their marketing or content department.

If you’re sending presentations in your outreach emails here are 16 of the Best Presentation Tools for Entrepreneurs to get you started.

6. Master These 3 Email Tips Before You Press Send

There are three things every entrepreneur should master when it comes to email marketing. I’ve broken them down so you can see why they’re essential and how to implement them in your next email.

1. Master Your Subject Lines

Your email subject lines are the first thing customers see when they receive an email. Subject lines are your customer’s first impression and with 35% of people opening emails based solely on the subject line and 69% of people marking messages as spam based on the subject line.

It’s time to spend time on your subject lines.

My secret weapon for email subject lines and headlines, I use Coschedule Headline Analyzer. It helps you level up your subject line skills.

I’ve also listed some articles that can help you master your subject lines:

*13 Clickable Email Subject Line Examples Your Customers Will Love

*10 Sure-Fire Subject Line Formulas for Your Email Marketing Campaigns

Pro Tip:
Voilanorbert found that 56% of brands that use emojis in their subject lines have a higher 63% higher open rate. If it fits your brand’s persona, give it a try.

2. Know Your Target Audience

To write what your target audience wants to read, you first have to know your audience. So here are five ways of knowing your audience can teach you to write better email:

  • Types of jargon should you use in your emails
  • Buzzword or power words to use in subject lines
  • How long or short your email should be
  • Content topics they’ll love to read
  • The best time to send emails for higher open rates?

Take a look at Me Undies email newsletter:

3. Master the Best Time to Send Emails.

Mastering the optimal time to send emails is a craft that even experts can’t ignore. There has been some debate about which day and time is perfect for sending emails.

According to Experian’s benchmark report, Monday had the highest transaction rates and revenue per email out of the weekdays, and Sunday had the best performance out of the weekends.

The truth is finding the best time to send emails to your list depends on how well you know your subscribers. But don’t start sending emails blindly.

A/B testing is your email’s key to success, test out various times you send your emails to find your brands optimum time.

We made a 7 Five-Minute Email Marketing A/B Tests guide you can do now to get started.

7. Use Emails to Get Customer Feedback

Sometimes waiting for feedback from customers can be a hassle. Instead, bring the reviews to them.

So why attempt to send emails for more reviews?

Research shows that 91% of people regularly or occasionally read online reviews, and 84% trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.

Knowing what’s being said about your company online allows you to see where you’re succeeding and where you need improvement. You get to hear firsthand from the people who matter the most, your customers.

Look at this product review email by Forever21. It’s sent a few days automatically after a customer’s order is delivered. The customer can click on their product and quickly submit reviews for their favorite products.

8. Learn From Your Competitors Email

Curious to know what kind of email marketing strategy your competitor is using?

Sign up for their newsletters.

It’s sneaky, but you’ll be able to see what your competitors are doing or what their emails are lacking.

The best way to make the most of your competitor’s email, create a S.W.O.T analysis for each email you receive from them so you can apply changes to your next email.

Want to start learning from your competitors email campaigns right away? Check out reallygoodemails.com, a site with thousands of email examples you can get inspired from today.

9. Take Care of Your List

So many entrepreneurs get caught up in running their business that they forget to maintain and take care of their email list.

Don’t get too caught up sending emails that you forget to clean up your list, segment, and keep an eye on your unsubscribe rate.

Set a time to remove people who want to unsubscribe and remove emails that no longer work, allowing you to get a realistic view of how many subscribers are on your list.

10. Make Your Emails Mobile Friendly

eMailmonday reported that emails are now opened more on mobile than desktop.

Mobile is an important factor for email marketing, so much so that Sweor found that 57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with poorly designed emails or a bad mobile web experience

Here are three things to keep in mind when creating your emails for mobile:

  • Keep your subject lines short around 60-70 characters, any longer, and it’ll get cut off.
  • Use your email’s pretext: it can help to give readers a preview of your email. It’s also a second chance to grab readers if your subject line wasn’t as convincing.
  • Avoid heavy or big images; they’ll delay loading. Try to use images less than 1150 pixels, as common mobile email readers are in a range of 320 pixels.

If you’ve already got these tips covered, go deeper with this Beginner’s Guide to Mobile Marketing Strategy.

11. Monitor Your Email Marketing Metrics

Setting aside time to monitor your email metrics and results are just as important as sending emails.

Your email marketing metrics give you an honest look at what emails are working and what emails need to change.

The most important metrics to check are open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.

  • Open Rates: How many people opened your emails by clicking on your subject line.
  • Click-Through-Rate: How many people click your email CTA or links.
  • Conversion rate: How many people completed a transaction or action from your email.

Get started with your free downloadable Email Marketing Excel.

12. Take an Email Marketing Class

Taking a quick course can help to improve your email marketing skills drastically.

Think about it, as much as the articles are helpful sometimes they don’t go as in-depth as you’d need them, that’s why we created Wishpond’s Email Marketing Master Class for Beginners!

This email marketing course covers:

  • How to meet your email marketing goals
  • Types of emails to use proactively to increase sales
  • How to create an email marketing strategy customized to grow your business and your career.

In under an hour or at your own pace, learn the basic in’s and outs of email marketing; from personalization and segmentation to ways to measure your email marketing strategies success.

Not to mention free workbooks and all-access to an exclusive Wishpond students mastermind group.

At the end of this course, you’ll be able to apply what you’ve learned with ease.

Duration: 40 minutes

Price: Free

Sign Up: Click here

Related Content

Summary

Email marketing can seem like a maze. But with the right tips, you’ll be able to navigate through it all. To recap; here are 12 best email marketing tips for entrepreneurs:

  1. Build a quality email list
  2. Plan your email marketing campaign
  3. Personalize your email campaigns
  4. Be consistent with email automation
  5. Send outreach emails & network with brands
  6. Send these four types of emails
  7. Use emails to get customer feedback
  8. Learn from your competitor’s email
  9. Avoid these five email marketing mistakes
  10. Make your emails mobile-friendly
  11. Monitor your email marketing metrics
  12. Take an email marketing class
victoria-taylor

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *