A few years ago, Nigerians would be easily accused of not opening their emails. In fact, an average Nigerian could miss out on multiple interviews and job opportunities just because their emails weren't a big deal for them but here is a new normal where emailing has begun to take a new shape in the last couple of years. Since people have started taking their emails seriously, email marketing has also become a mine that can help you grow your business if you do it correctly.
So, what's email marketing?
It's simply replicating your marketing strategies but this time, using emails as an avenue. Email Marketing means sending targeted messages to new or prospective clients to keep in communication with them and make them buy your products. Whether you like it or not, one of the major aims of marketing is to convince your audience to buy. So, with mail marketing, even though you want to keep your customers and build relationships with them, you will also be interested in making them buy, here are emails list for marketing.
Four types of emails can be used for marketing.
- Promotional Emails
These kinds of email marketing services have a clear call to action where the recipients are asked to take immediate action like “Grab your copy here”. Promotional emails are used to promote offers to the audience. This is the best email marketing platform and could be sending blue pricing like automated email, regular offers, special offers, discount sales, or new products that were introduced in the business.
- Informational Emails
These kinds of emails marketing are used to distribute important and valuable information to the audience. This is the cheapest email marketing platform and important so that the recipients of your email will not see you as a person who doesn't care about their growth. Sending informational emails presents you as the informed and caring one so that your audience can enjoy the privilege of learning valuable tips from you as much as they want to buy from you. An example of an informational email is a newsletter.
- Retention Email
This is the kind of free email marketing that keeps your audience interested and itching to come back for more. Retention emails are best email marketing service just like information emails help to keep your customers. Some examples of retention emails are personalized email, how to use our product emails, welcome emails, resources,
- Transactional Email
This email marketing platform is very important for customer satisfaction. They are best email marketing and immediate messages which serve as confirmation that customers are getting what they asked for. For example, immediately after purchasing an item, the email that pops up to confirm your order or communicate essential information about the product is a confirmation email.
Why is email marketing important?
Basically, it helps you to enhance better customer service and build trust. Email marketing is good for every business for several reasons but here's a major important reason. A Goodman once taught that individuals may take a break from social media, but they won't easily take a break from their emails. So, while they stay off social media, they still visit their emails and interact with clients and a few other important people.
This shows that your email will still be read even in times that are not working hours. It's an everyday thing. This is why you need to build a good email structure so that you don't lose customers who take a break online.
How then can you use email marketing to grow your business?
- Signing up should be an easy task.
If you will grow your business with email marketing, then signing up to your email list should not be a hard task. Research has shown that people tend to turn their back on anything that attempts to look cumbersome and stressful even when it isn't.
Place your sign-up form at a very physical location on your site. It could be your homepage, landing page, or even the About page. Endeavour to also keep the form short and simple because unnecessary questions may put your prospects off thereby making them uncomfortable with your website.
- Make sure your website is mobile friendly.
Some websites do not work well on phones and even laptops. This could cause your prospects to encounter difficulty in signing up to your site. If the website is mobile-friendly, they will easily sign up to learn from you.
- Don't make it all about you and your business.
No one rejects value. People naturally prefer people who teach them valuable lessons before asking them to pay for anything over those who are just on about taking their money. Vary your email marketing content and let your email smile sometimes. It's important to share different content sparingly so that you don't deviate from your subject matter. However, marketing is not just about selling. It's also about meeting the needs of your prospects and clients. This is what your marketing emails should entail if you want to grow your business.
- An incentive can be the lead magnet.
Email marketing usually helps businesses to generate leads. However, whether you want to generate leads or keep them, you need a magnet to make that happen.
Lead magnets can be an incentive. It could be a discount for signing up early or a gift for purchasing a product. It just has to do with giving the recipients of your product something that would make them act fast or run back to you for more. Using incentives is one of the proven ways to gain and retain customers.
- A call to action keeps your audience on their toes in a good way.
You can utilize a call to action in your email marketing campaigns. This is a line of your email content that tells the readers what you want them to do. You can put words like “Grab your copy now”, “Click this link to get started", “Sign up here”, etc.
Your CTA button should be clear and conspicuous. You can also place it in strategic places in between the content until the end so that it keeps staying in their eyes till the end. This should also be done cleverly so that it doesn't distract from the main topic of discourse in the email.
- Putting them in segments makes it easier.
Everyone on your email list is not in the same category. There are those who are yet to purchase any of your products or even paid for your services, there are those who have indicated interest and haven't paid, and there are also those who have purchased, used, and even sent feedback among others.
These different categories of people need to be treated differently and at their diverse levels. The emails that are sent to the various categories are not the same which is why you need to place them in segments.
- Your headlines must be catchy.
Your headline is the first thing your readers encounter once they open your email. It will determine if they read the email and even buy from you later on. Your headlines must be able to catch their attention enough to persuade them to read till the end and finally become customers. If your headline is boring, you just might have lost a reader or a prospect.
- Reliable products and services
If your prospects do not perceive your offer to be reliable, they won't buy from you. Whether they have bought from you or not, your business cannot grow if your services cannot be trusted. As a businessperson and a marketer, you should be able to offer good products and services to your clients, prospects, and their likes. If not, they may not come back to buy from you.
- Testimonials are your evangelists.
When former customers send reviews, you can find a way to include them in your content to make your prospects want to buy. When people spread the gospel for you, others easily believe them more than when you do it yourself.
- Be authentic and empathetic.
Some email content is not realistic. You can't write your content like you don't care about your readers or you don't relate to their feelings and expect them to be comfortable around you. Be real, be authentic, retain your voice, and show empathy. You are human and you've got feelings.
Did you find these tips helpful? We would like to know through your comments.
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