Although it’s one of the older forms of marketing, email remains one of the most effective at achieving results. Over 4 billion people use email and that number is increasing every single year. With an ROI of $38 for every dollar spent, it’s easy to see why every big brand uses email to market its products and services regularly. It’s like a fishing pole. Sure, it may have existed hundreds, if not thousands of years ago, but there’s a reason it’s still around: it works. It’s of-fish-al. (sigh) Sorry.

By now, you might be saying “I get it. It’s effective. How do I start from scratch?” It’s a daunting task. Lucky for you, my friend, we’re going to tell you exactly what you need and how to get started, even if you have 0 contacts on your list. Just promise that you’ll keep our secrets to yourself.

Be Polite

Before we get started, we wanted to remind you to be polite when you’re in someone’s inbox. You are a guest there and you should act accordingly. Whether you like it or not, you are one in a million in their inbox. We don’t mean that in the traditional sense either. We mean that they see promotional messages everywhere they look and you are just one more out of a million others. (Sorry to check your ego!) You’ve got to find ways to stand out without being obnoxious or breaking any rules. Now, on to the good stuff.

We’re Gonna Need A Bigger List

All in on the aquatic references today. Pardon us, we must be missing the beach. Anyway, in order to send out promotional messages to potential or existing customers, you’ll need a list of email addresses. There are a few ways to build your list, the easiest of which is to offer something your target audience is interested in. This is usually some sort of coupon or discount, but it can be almost anything. Offer them a free mug with a funny image on it. Give them a $5 gift card. Whatever it is, give them something they’ll want in exchange for their email address.

TBH, You Need An ESP

No, we don’t mean you need a psychic, although that would definitely come in handy with email marketing. Unfortunately, it’s not very common so we’ll have to stick with what we know. An email service provider (ESP) is where you’ll manage your contact list as well as design and send out your emails. Two very common ESPs are MailChimp and Constant Contact, but there are many others to choose from. With an ESP, you’ll also be able to automate actions triggered by your audience, creating a more personalized experience for them.

What’s Your Goal?

How will you know when you’ve scored? Sticking with today’s theme, how will you know when you’ve landed the big one? Is it a purchase? Is it a website visit? Is it a social media follow? You need to clearly define the goal of your email campaign in order to analyze its success. Don’t just go sending out emails (free) willy nilly. Nailed it. Keep your goal in mind and design your email around that goal.

The Process

You’ve got to find a good spot, thread your fishing pole, and bait it before you cast. It’s a process, and the same goes for sending out an email campaign. Now that you’ve got a list of emails, an ESP, and a goal in mind, you can get started.

Start by segmenting your audience according to demographics or actions. It’s unlikely that they all subscribed for the same reason, but if they did, that’s great. Segmenting is different for every business. Your target audience might have a wide range in age. If so, you might want to separate your younger customers from your older ones and design different emails for each. The same goes for male vs. female audiences.

It’s time for the fun part. Designing your email(s) in a way that will help you achieve your goal. A few important aspects to keep in mind:

  1. Your subject line matters BIG time. The same goes for your preview text. These two things have a powerful influence on whether the email even gets opened.
  2. Make it easy for your customers to achieve the goal. Use big, obvious buttons with a simple Call To Action. “Get Tickets” or “Get My Coupon” or whatever.
  3. p class=”” style=”white-space: pre-wrap;”>Keep it simple and keep it on brand. Complicated or confusing emails don’t perform well. People like humor, but if you are, let’s say, a surgeon, maybe humor isn’t a good idea.

Time to send out your emails! Give your audience time to open and read your emails, but don’t just forget about it and start thinking about the next email. You’ve got to analyze your results. Most ESPs provide you with statistics that will tell you how many people opened, how many people clicked, where the most people clicked, etc. You can use this powerful information to help you design your next email campaign.

Nice job! The thing is, a lot of business owners have enough on their plate with, you know, running a business. We get it! Adding another task that needs weekly, if not daily interaction isn’t always realistic. That’s why we offer email marketing services to businesses just like yours. Don’t have a list? No problem. We’ll build one. Got a list with thousands of email addresses? Cool! We’ll segment it, design, and send out emails on your behalf. And after years of experience testing, those suckers convert! Contact us today and we’ll get you set up with an email marketing plan that fits your business goals.