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How to exploit the marketing opportunities of mobile messaging apps

www.egrdigitalmarketing.com / Issue 10

è PlusQ&A: Katja LaaksonenGuts.com’s CMO on the growing importance of real-time data

The next big thing

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30 \CommentEmail marketing

BioSimon Washbrook is an email market-ing expert and is passionate about help-ing SME’s to market themselves and win more sales. He is also the founder of popcorn, a new email marketing platform. Popcorn was developed to be the smarter way to help businesses identify exactly who is interested in their products/services and specifically what they are interested in.

Simon Washbrook, founder of email marketing platform popcorn, explains how to create smarter emails that drive sales

Email marketing best practice

There are four reasons why businesses start email marketing – to boost sales, drive brand

awareness, and build credibility and relationships. Most business owners and marketing managers take up email marketing to drive additional traffic through to their website and into their sales pipeline. In this guide, I am going to discuss a few of the key factors that influence whether or not someone clicks.

Going back to basics is something that many marketers forget to do. If you received the same thing every month, wouldn't you get a bit bored? Newsletters and promotional emails are great for brand awareness and sharing knowledge, but on their own, they are not that successful at generating sales.

The reason for this is that with a regular email, readers know there is going to be a sales hook in there at some point. So, when you know that you are being sold to, you/we all take steps to avoid it – taking the free advice/promotion and ignoring the sales hook. By implementing the practical tips and advice in this guide, I hope you will be able to increase the click-through-rates of your established databases by over 40%.

Who are you emailing?In an ideal world, you will have had your data segmented to the ’N’th degree, so you can send targeted emails to smaller groups that will solicit higher response rates that convert into real sales. However, the majority of businesses have a couple of lists they send everything out to on a regular basis. So, here are a few tricks you can do to start segmenting your data:

1. A quick way to grow your database is to collate your data from across your company and identify the readers who show regular and multiple activities and target them with additional special offers or advice.

2. Don't target people who have just opened your emails as many smartphones will automatically download them in the background, which can be classed as an open.

3. When importing data, add as much information as possible, including tags to help with segmenting as your database grows.

4. Use lead scoring across both your email and website to identify hot prospects and respond to specific actions. These prospects can then be targeted with specific emails or moved into campaign folders for future activity.

5. Always ensure your readers have at least soft opted-in to your mailing list or you will be breaking data protection laws.

Refining your messageOkay, let’s imagine you have been receiving a regular newsletter from a company. You often have a quick look, but rarely do you act upon it, as you know that you will hear from them soon enough. But what happens when you receive a personal email from them? I’d put money on it that you’d pay a lot more attention.

By adding personalisation to your emails, you can increase your unique click-through-rate by up to 41%. Try mixing up your emails - maintain your regular brand reinforcement email, but also send out occasional personal looking ones at irregular times/dates. Here are a few tips to add a personal touch:

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"By adding personalisation to your emails, you can increase your unique click-through-rate

by up to 41%"

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/ 31Comment

Email marketing

/ C O M M E N T /

1.Changethetoneofyouremailstobemorepersonal–Hey,Hi,Hello,Dear,etc.Whatwouldyouwritetoafriend?

2.Dropthepredictableandimpressionableopeners,wouldyouwrite‘Ihopeyouarewell?’toafriendorcolleague?

3.Don'tforgetyourmanners–it’samazinghowmanyemailsIseewherethesenderhasnotsignedoffproperlyorwhereinstructionsarebarkedatreaders.

4.Usesincerelanguagetohelpmakeyourselfappearmorepersonal.‘Thanksagainforjoiningournewsletter…Ireallyhopethatthishelps…’

5.Alwaysincludetherecipient’snameintheintroductionofyouremailsandwhererelevantinsertotherpersonaliseddetails.Justbecarefulnottobecomeoverlypersonal.

6.Alwaystellyourreadershowyouwantthemtocontactyou.

7.Askquestionsatthestart(ifyourdataissegmented,it’saloteasier)–ittellsyourreaderwhatyouaregoingtobetalkingaboutandengageswiththem.

8.Youdon'talwaysneedtobeclever,sometimesyoujustneedtoaskforhelp.Forexample:‘I’vejustlaunchedanewproduct,I’dlovetoknowwhatyouthink?’I’msureyou'venoticed,butmostpeoplelovetoshareanopinion.

Sending the right type of emailOvertheyears,I’veseenthousandsofemails.Someofthemosteffectivehavebeenthesimplest,asthelessthereistogetdistractedby,themorelikelyitisthatyourreaderswilldosomethingwithit.So,hereareafewpointerstohelpyoustructureyouremailsforgreaterengagement:

• Keepyouremailshortandsweet.Aimforupto20linesoftexttoimprove

yourclick-throughrate.• Keepyoursubjectlinestoa

maximumof60characters–aswellasincreasingyouropenrateby3.1%,youcanbeconfidentthatthewholeofthemessageisgoingtoappearintheemailclient’spreviewpanel.Ifyoucankeepitbelow15characters,youcantypicallygetanadditional2.6%onyouropenrate.

• Maketheclickyourbestfriend.Nothingiseverfree,soletyourreadersearnyourknowledgeanddriveactivitytoalandingpageonyourwebsite.Someofthemostpopulartermsforgettingclicksare:‘ReadMore’,‘Sale’,‘Exclusive’and‘Alert’.

• Alwayssetuptargetedlanding

pagesforyourlinks,thisgivesyougreatertrackinganddatacaptureopportunitiesandgivesthereaderspecificinformation.

• Don’toveruseimages.Emailswithonlyoneimagecanhaveaclick-through-rateofupto18timesgreaterthanmultipleimages,andhavingmultipleimagescanimpactuponyourdeliveryrate.

• Alwaysincludeastrongcalltoactiontotellyourreaderwhatyouwantthemtodonext.Thiscaneitherbeaspartofthetextortryaddingabanner/buttoninyouremail.

• Astheysay,timingiseverythingandabrilliantcampaigncanhaveaverageresultsifitissentatthewrongtime.

SaturdaysandSundaystypicallyhaveastrongclick-throughrateandunlessyouaresendingsomethingfun,avoidemailingonaFridayafternoonaspeopleareusuallythinkingabouttheweekendatthispoint.

• Alwaysuseanon-seriftypefontlikeArial.Thisiseasiertoreadatfirstglance,whichmeansit’seasierforyourreaderstotakeyourcalltoactionin.

• Onceyouhavecraftedyouremail,leaveitfor24hours,thencomebackandreviewit.

What to do once you've sent your emailsWhenitcomestofollowingupemails,thekeythingtorememberisthatyouneedtobelookingforbehaviour/activitypatterns,ratherthanfocusingonopensandclicks.

REMEMBER: only 5% of sales are made at first contact, which is why follow-up is vital.

Hereareourtopfourwaysforgeneratingmoresalesfromyouremailmarketingcampaign:

• Goodemailmarketingisaboutbuildingtrustwithyourreader.Justensurethatyouconstantlytestandmeasureandhaveastrongcalltoactionsoyourreaderknowswhattodowhentheyarereadytoengage.

• Setupauto-respondersonyouraccounttotriggertargetedemailstoyourreaderswhentheyarereadytofindoutmore.

• Targetedmessages–segmentyourreadersintodifferentcampaignfolders,sothatyoucanquicklysendemailsto‘hotprospects’,specificlocations,etc.

• Pickupthephone–peoplebuyfrompeopleandaquick‘Hi’canbethemostpowerfulmarketingyouwilleverdo.v

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"Good email marketing is about building trust with your reader.

Just ensure you constantly have a strong call to action"

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