Amelia Rengo Email marketing is one of the best ways to consistently reach and nurture relationships with your most valuable prospects and customers. It can also feel like the world’s hardest puzzle. What do you say? When do you send it? How do you keep finding things to talk about? In this article, we’ll share frequently-asked questions as well as specific steps to build your first (or next!) email newsletter.
Why should I even send marketing emails?
First and foremost, email marketing always engages folks who are at least somewhat interested in what you’re doing and allows you to do that at scale. It’s relationship building without having to call every single person on the phone! Furthermore, sending emails is cheap – often fractions of a cent per email address instead of dollars per click or hundreds of dollars per print ad. Last but not least, email is something you can schedule in advance, allowing you to be efficient with your time and strategic with your approach.
How often should I send marketing emails?
Only send an email when you can provide something of value. “Value” can mean many things -education, connection, entertainment, straight cash savings – but it is your responsibility to present it consistently and meaningfully to your email list. If you focus less on a specific number of sends per month and more on building a sustainable, genuine, and value-adding relationship using email as the vehicle, the dollars will follow and you won’t burn yourself out in the process.
What are some specific ways I can provide value in my email newsletter?
- Announce the arrival or highlight the features of a new product
- Highlight a bestselling or often-overlooked product
- Provide ideas on how to use a specific product many ways
- Collect and feature products with a specific theme (by color, season, category, price, use, etc.)
- Offer instructions on how to care for, use, repair, or store your product
- Feature your customers’ reviews, photos, or interviews about your business or a specific product
- Share a behind-the-scenes look at how a product is made or your business is run
- Introduce your customers to a supplier, producer, or key employee
- Highlight the ways you give back to your community (in dollars, donations, education, time, etc.)
- Share a personal note from the owner, founder, or CEO
- Make a business announcement (shipping deadlines, new retail store, a radically new line of business, pricing changes)
- Share a sale or promotion
What time of day should I send my email?
We always A/B test send times to determine when customers are interacting and purchasing from emails. If you’re just getting started, begin by thinking about who your customers are, what their life is like, and when they probably have a moment to check their phone. From there, choose a sensible time and get started. You can finesse your approach as you get into a regular send cadence.
How should I design my email newsletter?
Enterprise-level emails are built through rigorous testing, customer research, and ever-changing industry best practices. If you’re just getting into email marketing, keep it simple. One of these tried-and-true layout options will get you up and running!
If you have one news item to share:
- At the top of the email, feature a big, glossy photo with a headline laid over the top.
- Below that, add all the details that relate to your headline, either as text or a mix of text and images.
- Finish it off with a button that asks the reader to take a specific action, like “shop” or “learn more” or “sign up.”
If you have two news items to share:
- Choose the most important news item, then lead your email with a corresponding headline.
- Then, feature a photo that relates to your headline and 1-2 sentences that explains it.
- Below that, add a button that asks the reader to take a specific action, like “shop” or “learn more” or “sign up.”
- After the button, create a headline and 2-4 sentences about your secondary news item.
- You can add a link if that makes sense, but you don’t have to.
If you have three news items to share:
- Start your email with a 2-3 sentence introduction. This could be a short note from the owner or just a little context for the rest of the newsletter.
- Then, add a headline, short blurb, and relevant link for each news item.
- Finish it off with a button that asks the reader to take a specific action, like “shop” or “learn more” or “sign up.”
What about segmentation?
Segmentation is, in short, slicing and dicing your email list and then providing the most relevant messages to separate subsets of your subscribers. Segmentation allows you to maximize the revenue you can generate from your email list without becoming spammy. It also requires lots of time and strategy to plan and deploy because you are creating more emails but sending them to smaller groups of people. If you are interested in taking your email program to the next level, send us an email and we’ll share a few simple steps you can take to get started.
How do I determine how much money my email made me?
This subject is vast and very nuanced – there are full-time jobs devoted to determining the true impact of email marketing! – but there are a few ways to ballpark your email’s impact. If you have a store on your website, your email provider will typically ingest sales data in order to tell you exactly how much revenue is attributed to your email. If you don’t have a web store, you could try asking your customers how they heard from you and/or pay attention to any boost in orders, phone calls, etc. in the days after you hit send. Whisk and Blend can also provide email account reviews and audits to help you more fully understand where your revenue is coming from and how to grow it.
Your turn!
It’s time to take action – here are three steps you can take right now to get started on your next marketing email.
- Using the ideas above, brainstorm 5-10 value-adding emails you could send in the next month. Then, choose the idea that feels most relevant or impactful to your customer.
- Choose an email layout that fits your idea and a few images from your hard drive or product catalog that speak to it.
- Set aside an hour to work on writing a headline and description copy or to begin laying your email out.
Ready to make a plan for driving email revenue consistently and authentically? Whisk and Blend is delighted to develop email marketing plans, segmentation strategies, start-to-finish email creation and more for your business. Browse our list of services or reach out to discuss your plans.
