Note: This was featured as part of our Web Wednesday segment on Charleston’s 105.5 The Bridge with Box in the Morning. You can catch us every Wednesday morning at 8:20 am ET for your dose of social media & digital marketing news. You can listen to the segment below:
Some marketing tactics stand the test of time, and email marketing is proving to do just that. It’s still an immensely popular digital marketing strategy, so long as you’re doing it right. We’ve talked before about staying relevant with your email marketing, and we’ve got four more tips to help you upgrade your emails.
1. Always get permission
It’s absolutely essential to receive explicit permission from each of your email subscribers that you are allowed to send them marketing materials before you start sending e-blasts. Failing to do so is a violation of the CAN-SPAM Act, and can result in massive fees per email in violation.
Furthermore, subscribers are going to mark your emails as spam, turning your email list into a blacklist, causing your email marketing account to get locked or shut down.
Collecting business cards isn’t enough. Always make sure to ask if you can add them to your email list. Creating lead magnets online that people download in exchange for an email address is the same as signing up to your email list, though, so this is a strategy that we recommend.
2. Segment your lists
Depending on the business, you may not want to send the exact same email to your full email list. Based on where people subscribed, what they downloaded, what they’ve clicked on in the past, you’ll want to cater each eblast to the right audience. This is the best way to increase your open rate and your clickthrough rate.
Segmentation may sound like a complicated email strategy, but we promise it’s not. Most email marketing service providers have easy ways to segment out your list to help you improve your email marketing.
3. Always use a call-to-action
A call-to-action (CTA) is a way of telling your email list exactly what you want them to do. Whether it’s read a blog post, or fill out a free consultation form, or buy your newest ebook. You always want to have your CTA somewhere in your email blast.
Not every email is going to be promotional, but you still want to have a CTA included, even if it’s just a link to your contact form on your website strategically placed in your email copy.
4. Consider a name change
What is the purpose of your email blast? “Email blast” might not even be the right fit. For example, we call our weekly newsletter the “TMC Tips” and we prefer to call it a newsletter rather than an eblast. We’re not trying to blast any of our subscribers with information. Instead, we’re trying to be informative and courteous. Think about what you’re trying to achieve with your weekly or monthly newsletter, and name it accordingly.
Want some help with your email marketing? Call us at (888) 632-4499 or fill out our free consultation form to learn what we can do for your business!
