Email Marketing Tips : From Initiation to Automation, Know It All

Email marketing had been a convenient mode of digital marketing for a long time now.

This is the easiest, most effective and direct way of connecting with your target clients, responding to their queries, and giving them best support.

In this article we will be discussing all about email marketing, starting from what it is, how it works to the top companies indulging in email services, and the automation process.

What do you understand by Email Marketing?

Email marketing can be explained as the most effective strategy of digital marketing that involves sending offers and product information through email to your customers and prospects.

Why do we consider as the most effective strategy? Simple, because this marketing plan has so far converted prospective leads into potential and even repeat customers most effectively.

Knowing how e-mail services work, will help you in understanding how to create a list of target customers for emailing, process of e-mail optimization, and the automation process.

How does e-mail aid in marketing or branding?

We understand what e-mail marketing means but it’s very essential that we also understand why it is so important for digital marketing. It’s quite natural to ask why emails are so important for marketing when social media is such a great platform for promotions

We have 3 reasons to explain why e-mails are a great tool for marketing-

E-mails are the #1 Channel for communication as almost 99% of the users are habituated to check their emails every day.
When you use an e-mail, you are the sole owner of the mail-list. ‘No decides the fate of this list other than you. Whereas on social media platforms all posts are subject to deletion based on the administrator’s discretion.
The conversion rate of leads through e-mails is at least 3 times higher than that of social media.

How to start using email marketing for your business?

Are you convinced to use e-mails as marketing tools for the business? Wondering how you can start the marketing process? It’s very simple. Starting up with email marketing is a 2-step procedure-

1. Creating an e-mail list:

The step involves collection of prospective leads from different forums and compiling the same to form a list. Having a list makes it easier share all your offers and product updates to your customers. In fact, the more lead you enroll in your e-mail listing, the more person you reach out to every time there is an update in an automatic process.

2. Choosing the right e-mail service supplier

You need to find the right service provider for your e-mail account to reach the right audience. You will come across many suppliers boasting to provide the best e-mail service, but you need someone who is perfect for your goals. Only by having the correct service provider will you be able to achieve automation in the future.

Let the E-mail list grow

When people set up an e-mail account, they usually want to have an Optin Form to have a great marketing experience. Well, the marketing strategy that is required is somewhat different. We recommend you get a Lead Magnet to help you grow the e-mail list. Longer e-mail list is the key to attracting more and more leads.

So what’s a lead magnet?

You can explain the lead magnet as an awesome support service you get from the e-mail account provider, along with your e-mail address. Having a lead magnet attracts more leads for your business. Some common forms of lead magnets are MP3, PDF, and similar files. You can avail of or create such a file for free or for minimum expenditure.

Some popular lead magnets in use are-

Webinars
Coupons
eBooks
assessment or quizzes
samples for trials

What are the features of a good lead magnet?

Lead magnets add value to your marketing strategies free of cost. Of course, the lead magnets need strong features for to make that happen. Some features that make these strong are-

They are easily consumable
You get actionable tools
They improve the promotional effects of your e-mail
Lead magnet make the e-mail contents mare relevant
They are the keys to automation by instantly being available to your customers

Having a lead magnet is a way to create an Optin form of marketing tool, which means higher conversion rate of leads.

How can you construct an Optin form of email marketing strategy for better conversion?

If you want to have an effective lead magnet in your e-mail content, you need to have an Optin form of marketing. Web visitors will be willing to subscribe to your newsletter over e-mail because they expect lead magnets from you. To provide them with effective lead magnets on every subscription you need to construct an Optin form of marketing. 5 steps that helps in creating the Optin form-

A crisp yet descriptive headline
Helpful and relevant description
Add stunning images or videos by using tools for visual content creation
Adapt a simple style of content for e-mails
Choose a subscription button for newsletters with compelling fonts and colors

Just creating an Optin form is not enough. You need to install the same in your website. in a website, there are 14 places where you can install Optin form to ensure high-conversion rate-

Welcome gateway
Website footer
Splash page
Page sidebar
Floating web bar
Archive pages in the blog
Website header
Blog posts
Timed popups
Scrolling box
About page of your website
Web pages for resources
Designated web page for sign-up
Popup during exit

Out of all these places, it is essential that you at least have an Optin form at the exit-intend pop-up. This is the bare essential to boost subscription to your website. It is a proven fact that having Optin forms at the exit-intend pop-up increased lead conversion by 125%.

Now since we know what features you need in email marketing, let’s focus on the service providers and finding the right marketing support.

List of Email marketing service providers and choosing from them

You are not expected to start email marketing right away after having your e-mail account. It calls for specific permission. Optin form is one such permission for the marketing approach. Don’t take shortcuts like buying e-mail lists, or entering e-mail ids from business cards into your list. In case you add e-mail id without permission, your e-mails and newsletters are actually going to the recipients’s spam folders. Force newsletter surely doesn’t serve the marketing purpose you had planned, does it?

You need a service provider who can help you with WordPress plugin that generates leads for your business. Hiring services from an ideal e-mail service provider will help here. Here are 7 such service provider you can choose for email marketing service-

1. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is one of the leading email marketing service providers in the world. When you hire their services, you get the most professional e-mail id with templates and tools for editing. Plus, you can also get to managerial rights to control subscription. These email providers also provide you with automation rights to send mails directly to your customers from the e-mail list.

Service plans: Free trial phase for 60 days followed by $20 per month

2. Sendinblue

Sendinblue is software, not exclusively meant for email marketing. This software company also indulge in SMS marketing. The marketing tools provided are very handy. You can simply visit the website to create an appealing e-mail by using their drag-and-drop e-mail creating tool. They allow you to send about 300 free e-mails in bulk.

Service Plans: Services start from $25 per month. SMS marketing charges are separate.

3. Drip

Drip offers you automated tool for marketing purposes. This tool will help you create a complex automated flow of work withing the e-mail content marketing process. The workflow is highly organized when it comes to triggering leads, marketing campaigns or maintaining workflow. Do you find the procedure complex? Make it simple by clubbing services of Drip and OptinMonster.

Service Plans

Basic plan starts from $49 per month
Pro Plan starts from $99 per month

4. AWeber

AWeber is leading worldwide email marketing campaigns with their wide spectrum of tools-

Auto-responder
E-mail builder
Segment tools and many more

Apart from that they provide exceptional email listing and customer care assistance.

Service Plan: Free trial period for 30-days followed by package for $19 per month.

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5. ConvertKit

ConvertKit works very similarly to the CRM lead generation tool. This software is ideally meant for beginners who need an advanced marketing tool for future use. This tool was created mainly to target the authors, speakers, and bloggers who do the job professionally. Just like CRM, the tool is not at all heavily priced.

Service Plan: The Basic plan is available at $29 per month to provide 1000 subscribers. If you are getting more than the price increases then on.

6. Mailchimp

Mailchimp, yet another software for beginners who need easy marketing setup with an instinctive interface. This software has gained a considerable amount of popularity among new users because of the simplicity. If you club the services of Mailchimp with OptinMonster, you get the chance to add fresh subscribers under specified segments.

Service Plan:

Up to 2000 subscribes the basic plan comes for free.
Free plan doesn’t include advanced features like Auto-responder or similar.
Minimum paid plan begins with $10 per month but have limited subscribers.
The maximum premium is that of $30 per month for 2500 subscribers.
The payment terms are then customized based on the size of e-mail listing.

7. MailerLite

MailerLite is an email marketing pro software that comes with too many features-

Creates e-mail contents that are responsive
Auto-responder support with built-in capability for AB testing
Designated mailing opportunity to specific subscribers

Service Plan: The software is free for usage up to 1000 subscribers

Apart from these software and e-mail service providers there are others in the market as well. Why don’t you have a look at HubSpot or ActiveCampaign? They are perfect as marketing tools for your business too.

Improved Email marketing with improved rate of Email opening

Are you successfully reaching your target clients? Is everybody reading your newsletter? If you are not getting desired marketing results then there is always a possibility that your e-mails are going to junk or spam folders. If so, the best way to improve your visibility is by improving the rate of e-mail openings.

Here is a list of factors that play vital role in opening rate of your e-mails. If you work on these, your email marketing strategies are sure to work-out efficiently-

Spam filters are to be avoided. The best way to do is by keeping clean codes for e-mail templates, sending mails through domains that are already verified, etc.
Ensure you have a fresh e-mail list at all times after the removal of inactive or dormant subscribers.
Send your newsletters at the perfect time.
Choose an -email subject line that stands out in the crowd.
instead of sending bulk e-mails, send to specific customers to give a personalized touch.
Keep a friendly tone in your e-mail.
Ensure your content is unique, attractive, and responsive each time.
Don’t forget humor in the content when you write one.
Prepare content that is optimized for mobiles as well.

Automation in Email marketing

We understand how to choose an email service provider and then segment the e-mail listing. It’s high time we discuss the automation process.

Automation is nothing but a tool for digital marketing. The major tool that is widely used for automation belong to the Autoresponder series. The tool works in favor of creating a successful and engaging e-mail list, establish a positive relation with your target audience, and convert leads into clients. This is such a process, which, which once created, finished your majority of work and lets you focus more on your business and less on marketing.

If you want to use the Autoresponder series tool, then here are 4 basic steps for you to follow-

Set a goal for the Autoresponder
Sequence mapping of the entire e-mail
Create an Autoresponder series that is efficient in converting
Monitor performance and improve wherever needed

Conclusion:

Email marketing like any other online marketing calls for a planned strategy. Start slow, choose an e-mail provider wisely depending on your goals and let automation do the rest for you.

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