Creating a successful email marketing campaign can seem like a daunting task at first. It’s something you constantly need to stay on top of in order for it to be successful and can seem tedious or like too much work for the reward you get at the end. However, when followed through with a plan, email marketing won’t seem so scary anymore.
Many businesses are still using email and are super successful. Take for example Uber and their email marketing. It’s simple, yet clear in what the consumer needs to do. Or even BuzzFeed, creating interesting headlines that make you want to read something you never thought you’d need to. Big brands use email marketing because they know it works, and that’s why you should too!
Here are some steps you can take to ensure you create your best email campaign yet:
Develop a Strategy
Developing a strategy is crucial when creating an email marketing campaign. Actually, you can’t even start until you’ve laid out your strategy. Here are a few steps you can take on how to develop your email marketing strategy:
- The first step you could take towards this would be to use an email schedule template. This will help you stay organized and see everything at a glance.
- Decide on what tools are you going to use for your email marketing campaign. There are tons of different tools out there, so make sure to do your research on the best one for you.
- Brainstorm tactics to get your users to convert using your email strategy. Besides a “Buy Now,” button on the bottom of your email, what other things could you be doing to make a consumer want to read and take action on your email?
Have a Plan
Every great email marketing campaign has an even greater plan behind it. The key to successful email marketing is to be organized. The first step to this organization would be creating a calendar. This could just show when emails are to be sent out, or it could also include when tasks need to be completed. These can include when copy needs to be in, graphics, proofreading is done, etc.
As emails can be scheduled as frequently as every day, they can be hard to keep on top of. Having a calendar can give you in seconds a whole overview of what’s due for the coming month pertaining to emails. Calendars play a crucial role in the development of a successful email campaign.
Create a Brief
When creating a brief for your email campaign, there are a few questions you should be asking yourself:
What should you put in your emails?
Think about important days for your business, like Boxing Day, as well as holidays, like Mother’s Day. You can also think of semi-annual sales and use discounts, or provide educational infographics on relevant topics.
Who’s your target audience?
Defining your target is key to creating a successful campaign. It can affect the language and tone used in your copy, how often (or even if) you’re using emojis, and the types of graphics used.
The language you use in your email will be directed towards your target. Are your emails in a formal tone showing educational material? Or are they directed to a younger audience of Gen Z and filled with emojis? Maybe your target prefers a more visual and less wordy email, or the use of gifs attracts their attention. As your campaign progresses, you’ll find out what works best. However, knowing your target beforehand can save you some hassle when deciding on things like design, images, headlines, etc.
What action do you want your email recipient to take?
Do you want them to follow your social media? Make a donation? Visit your site and make a purchase? Narrow down exactly what you want the customer to do. Not only that, make sure your customers know what to do. The CTA should be very clear, i.e. “Click to Redeem Coupon.” Ensure that the message is clear and the CTA is noticeable in every email.
When should they receive the email?
Right before a big holiday to be alerted of a sale? Every day at 7 am as there’s always something new? These are things you’ll need to consider when creating your campaign and calendar. You can do A/B testing to discover which times work best for your audience to open their email. As well, what days work better. Does your target check their email on the weekend? Or are they more likely to check it before they start their workday? These are things to keep in mind as you’re trying out what works best for your audience.
Why would they read your email? What makes you stand out?
First things first, does your headline make someone want to even open the email? Everyone has a cluttered inbox in the morning - what makes yours stand out against the rest?
You should also think about what you are really offering to your customers? Will they get an incentive for following your social media? Or are they receiving an exclusive discount through email marketing only? Maybe they’re learning something new about your product. No matter the case, there must always be something to offer in your email to create engagement.
How will you measure the success of your campaign?
Do you measure success through click-through rates? Increased sales? How many subscribe or unsubscribe? Define how you will measure success early on to be able to set clear goals throughout the campaign. The results you gather from measuring your success will help guide you in discovering what’s working for your emails and what isn’t hitting the mark.
Have a Formal Intake Process
Create a formal intake action process to ensure everything for your email marketing campaign gets done in a timely fashion. Make sure when starting this, you should involve everyone who’s apart of creating the campaign. This includes copywriters, graphic designers, marketers, and so on.
Define key responsibilities to every person involved. Give specific timelines of when tasks are due, and make sure to clearly delegate responsibilities as to avoid confusion and wasted time.
It also doesn’t hurt to have weekly performance meetings regarding your email campaign. These meetings can be for brainstorming new content ideas, discussing how everyone is doing on their tasks and meeting goals, or coming up with ideas on what can be improved for the next round of emails created.
Keep Evaluating
How can you do better? What emails had the most clicks, and what emails didn’t do so well? Keep track of your email analytics in order to keep growing and creating content that drives conversions. Create a benchmark that you want to hit for every email, or for every month, and evaluate your progress. You can also adjust your goal accordingly as you gain more data and consistently push out emails.
Make sure you check how your past campaigns did and compare them to what you’re doing now. Did you actually improve from last year, or did you plateau over a period of time. What tactics spiked interest from your subscriber list?
Meet with the Team
Meet with your team to discuss your email marketing, consider what goals are being hit, and what goals are missing the mark. Analyze what emails worked and what can really help you as you continue to formulate ideas for email content.
You can also discuss later on if you want your goal to change. Maybe your first goal was to just get people to sign up for your email list, yet now your business needs have changed. You can adjust your goal to meet your business needs, which could now be an increase in sales directly from email marketing.
To Sum Up
Creating an email marketing campaign and keeping on top of it can seem scary at first. It’s something you have to monitor constantly and if not, can fall apart quite quickly. However, if you develop a strategic plan ahead, create a brief, create a formal intake process and keep evaluating - your email campaign is sure to be a success!
