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Creating an email strategy is easy but creating an effective email marketing strategy can be difficult. Here is a step-by-step procedure for you to follow:

Set marketing goals

Like previously stated, marketing goals are at the heart of every email strategy. They determine the plan and actions you take to accomplish them. How can you start sending emails willy-nilly without a purpose?

Your goals are your purpose. And they may include:

Build better customer relationships

Increase revenue

Raise brand awareness etc.

All emails you send should put you on the path to achieving those goals.

Pick an email marketing platform

An email marketing software is your gateway to email marketing. In this guide, we break down everything there is to know about them and how to pick one.

Identify your target audience

Building your email list is the next important step. But before you do that, you have to identify the target customer base that your business caters to. Say your company sells art supplies, your target customers will be school teachers and parents with school-aged children. Identify the people your business serves and you will know who exactly to target in your list building efforts.

Build your email list

You can build your list through your website by offering incentives to get people to subscribe to your newsletter and updates. You can also opt for email list brokering which we offer here at B2BDataGuy.

Segment your email list

Dividing your email list, whether b2c or b2b email list, into different groups is important. Segmenting based on age, gender, location, occupation etc. lets you send emails to people who find those messages highly relevant. According to HubSpot, marketers who segmented their list had better click-through rates than marketers who sent general emails. Segmenting your list enables you to send targeted emails and get better results.

Decide on what kinds of emails to send and create a schedule

There are different emails you can send to your subscribers. Different emails work in different situations. The emails you send to a customer who has items in their cart but hasn’t made a purchase is different from that which you send to a new subscriber. The kind of email you wish to send would depend on the aim of the campaign you’re running.

Also, you have to work out the best time to send emails to your subscribers. This is where A/B testing comes in. Trying out different times until you find your sweet spot will get more subscribers opening your emails.

Personalize your emails

Personalising your emails by adding a name will get you 6 times your regular transaction rate according to Experian. An email that reads “Dear Anna” will be better received than one that says “Dear Customer” or worse, Dear (insert name here). Always ask for names when people subscribe. Use a real reply to email and email signature to add more personalisation to the emails you send to customers.

Optimize your emails for mobile

Phones are a big part of most people’s lives. Mobile phones perform virtually all kinds of tasks for people. It is no surprise that Litmus reports that more people are checking their emails on mobiles than desktops. Creating emails that work for both mobile and desktop is important. An email doesn’t fit on mobile screens might annoy your subscribers and may lead to many unsubscribing.

Responsive emails that work for both desktop and mobile devices are your best bet. Luckily, most email marketing platforms offer responsive design in their features. Remember to keep your subject line short and your Call to Action (CTA) buttons large.

Test everything

It is obvious you have to create killer copy for your emails. But what isn’t obvious is the amount of testing that goes into each part of an email. A/B testing allows you to send different versions of the same emails to a select group of users to gauge its performance.

You test long emails with a lot of content against short emails that lead people to your website. You test plain text versus HTML. Even the address in the “from” field must be tested.

Wrapping Up

As email marketing trends evolve, so should your email marketing strategy. Testing everything to get the best option should be a core part of your strategy as it enables you to refine your marketing strategy. And always remember, email analytics can help direct your testing efforts.