Email Results

21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Email Marketing Results (Part 3)

In my last post I discussed the importance of the content in your e-mail.  Once you’ve grown your list and have great content that you are sending out, you need to analyze your results!  Here are 7 tips on ways to analyze your e-mail marketing results:

  1. Test different days and times for sending your e-mail to see what works best for your list.  Even though there are suggested days and times for sending out your e-mail in order to get the best results, I recommend that you test different days and times because  every e-mail list is different.  After you test it out, you will have a better idea of what days and times work best for the people on your list.
  2. Analyze your e-mail results .  When analyzing your e-mail results, some of the key indicators you should be looking at are your open rates (what percentage of people from your e-mail list are actually opening your e-mail), review the click through rates (CTR).  The CTR will help you gauge how the content you place in your e-mail is working to engage your subscribers by indicating whether your subscribers are clicking the links within your e-mail in order to get more information.  In addition, you want to track your opt-outs to be sure that you are not losing a lot of people every time you send out an e-mail.  Lastly, be sure that you have the correct e-mail addresses for the contacts on your e-mail list by checking the bounces that are marked as invalid e-mail address.
  3. Make adjustments to your e-mail based on your analysis.  Once you have tested and analyzed your results, be sure to make adjustment to improve your results.  Those adjustments could include changing the day and time you send your e-mail, changing up the type of content you have in your e-mail, etc.
  4. Be consistent…..This is an area where I see many small business owners fall short.  If you have committed to do an e-newsletter, e-zine or e-lert, if you have a daily e-mail be sure to send it out every day, if you have a weekly e-mail be sure to send it out every week, etc.  Being consistent shows that your company is trustworthy, credible, and responsible, which are all characteristics of companies people like to do business with.
  5. Test different types of subject/headlines for your e-mail.  In addition to testing the right day and time to send your e-mail, you should also test different types of subject/headlines.  Some times changing the sound and feel of your subject line/headline can make a difference in your open rate.
  6. Keep the look and feel of your e-mail consistent with your brand.  If you have a set look and feel for your brand, keep the look and feel of your e-mail the same as the look and feel of your website, blog, social media platforms, etc.  you want your customers to have a similar experience no matter the platform that they are receiving information from you.
  7. Add relevant images to your e-mail.  People like visually appealing e-mails.  As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so be sure to add relevant pictures in your e-mail to get your message across.

What techniques and ways do you use to analyze your e-mail efforts?

This blog series discussed 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Email Marketing which included 7 tips to grow your e-mail list7 tips to ensure you are creating engaging content, and 7 tips on ways to analyze your e-mail marketing results.  Click here to download the complete checklist of 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Email Marketing!

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Email Marketing Results (Part 3)  |  in Business, Business Development, Email Marketing, Email Results, Marketing, Uncategorized

21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Email Marketing Results (Part 2)

In the last post for 21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Email Marketing Results, I discussed the importance of consistently growing your opt-in e-mail list, for this post I will discuss the importance of the content in your e-mail.

Once you are consistently growing your e-mail list, you want to make sure that the content that you provide in your e-mails is valuable to your readers.  So how do you make sure your content is valuable?  Here are 7 tips to ensure you are creating engaging content:

  1.  Start with creating a great e-mail headline (better known as your e-mail subject line).  Make sure your headline is interesting and compelling enough for people to want to open your e-mail  (i.e. 7 reasons most people….., 5 tips to avoid……, etc.)
  2. Be sure to use existing content from your blog or website for the content in your e-mail.  Keep your content brief and to the point.  People don’t like to read long articles in e-mails, so keep it short and link the information back to your blog or website where people can get more information.
  3. Always add a Call to Action (CTA) somewhere in your e-mail.  A CTA encourages people to learn more about your business or to try your service or product (i.e. download my free e-book, sign-up for the next workshop, etc.)
  4. Be sure to link the content in your e-mail to additional information found on your website or blog.  This is also a great way to see what content your readers are more interested in, by finding out which articles they click on to read more.
  5. Make sure your content is 80% educational/entertaining and 20% salesy/promotional.  People don’t like to be sold to, but they love to be informed and educated, so be sure to inform/educate/entertain for the majority of your e-mail, and add a small portion of your e-mail as a chance to promote/sell your business.
  6. Add a discount or referral offer in your e-mail.  Offer your subscribers incentives for being on your list.  A coupon for a discount on your services, a special offer if they refer someone to you, a FREE download to your latest educational item, etc.
  7. Add social sharing links to your e-mail so people will be able to share your e-mail with the people in their networks

What type of content do you add to your e-mail to make it engaging?  

Just as equally important as the content in your e-mail is analyzing the results of your e-mail marketing efforts.  The next blog post in this series will discuss the best ways to analyze your e-mail marketing results.  Stay tuned for the next blog post or click here to download the complete checklist of 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Email Marketing!

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  1 Comment  |  in Business, Business Development, Email Marketing, Email Results, Marketing, Uncategorized

21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Email Marketing Results (Part 1)

If you are using email marketing to promote your business, or you are thinking about using email marketing to promote your business, then the first step to being successful in your email marketing efforts is to BUILD YOUR LIST:

The money is in your list and it is important for you to consistently build your e-mail list.  Here are 7 tips on how to successful build your e-mail list:

  1. Send an invitation to join your e-mail list to the contacts that you have e-mail addresses for INVITE them to opt-in to receive your e-mails, don’t just add your contacts to your e-mail list, make sure they have opted in (you don’t want to be a spammer- someone who consistently sends e-mails to individuals who did not request it).** A big pet peeve of mine is do not add individuals whom you met at a networking event to your e-mail list unless they have requested to join your list or they have opted in! **
  2. Offer a good incentive that people in your target market would be interested in receiving if they opt in to your e-mail list (i.e. FREE report, e-Book, white paper, checklist, etc.)
  3. Concentrate on QUALITY not just QUANTITY when it comes to your list size The size of your list doesn’t matter as much as the quality of the people on your list.** ideally you do want to grow your list into a large list with lots of quality individuals from your target market **
  4. Create an e-mail sign-up form and place it on your website, blog, social networks, etc.
  5. In order for your list to grow, you have to promote joining your list.  Promote joining your e-mail list on your social networks, e-mail, website, blog, etc.
  6. Don’t limit the promotion of joining your e-mail list to just your online activities, but also promote joining your e-mail list on your offline marketing material by including a QR Code that links to your e-mail sign up form on your business card, brochures, etc.
  7. Make it easy for people to join your email list by including easy joining methods like join via text message

What techniques and ways do you use for people to join your e-mail list?

Just as equally important as growing your e-mail list is the content in your e-mail.  The next blog post in this series will discuss how to create engaging content that will make people want to open your e-mails and give you business.  Stay tuned for the next blog post or click here to download the complete checklist of 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Email Marketing!

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  5 Comments  |  in Business, Business Development, Email Marketing, Email Results, Marketing

3 C’s to Get Amazing Results from Email Marketing

Email MarketingEmail Marketing is a key element to online marketing for every small business.  However, being successful at Email Marketing can be a challenge.  Just like other areas of your small business marketing, you must have a strategy for success.  Here are 3 C’s to help you get amazing results from your email marketing.

3 “CON”s:

CONtacts-  Your email list is where the money is at.  It is important to make sure that the contacts on your e-mail list have opted-in to receive your e-mail (you don’t want to be a spammer-  sending e-mails to individuals who have not requested it).  Always remember that it’s not the size of your list, but the QUALITY of the contacts on your list.  It’s always better to have 50 interested individuals than 1000 uninterested individuals.

CONtent-  Most of us have heard the saying “Content is King”, but what does that really mean?  It means that the content that you send to your contacts needs to be informative, entertaining and/or engaging.  The QUALITY of your content is what makes the difference in whether people will open your e-mail, follow your company, or do business with you.

CONsistency-  It is super important to give your contacts your content on a consistent basis.  If you decided to have a monthly e-newsletter, then be sure to send it out every month.  If you publish a weekly e-mail be sure to send it out every week, or if you have a daily e-mail, be sure that your contacts receive your e-mail in their inbox on a daily basis.  Consistency is key, it shows that your company is reliable and trustworthy. 

Bonus C:

The bonus C may not be a “CON”, but it is very important for every business to do, Compare.

Compare- Be sure to compare your results with the results of e-mail campaigns of others in your industry (most e-mail marketing providers have statistics of open and click through rates for various industries).  Also, be sure to compare your e-mail results from month to month.  Look at your open rates, click-through rates, opt-ins, opt-outs and more, to get a big picture of how you are doing with your e-mail campaigns.

What strategies for e-mail marketing success do you have for your company?  Be sure to share your comments below.

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  4 Comments  |  in Business Development, Email Marketing, Email Results, Marketing, Uncategorized

5 Ways to Propel Your Email Marketing

Do you stay connected to your customers and prospects on a regular basis?  Staying connected maintains your relationship and keeps your business top of mind.  A great way to do this is through Email Marketing.  Email marketing allows you to reach them in their email in-boxes on a regular basis.

Check out these tips below to propel your Email Marketing:

  • Build your Email List
    You can start by collecting email addresses from your customers, clients, and prospects.  You can use both online and offline techniques as an email address capture method. Online techniques include having an email sign-up form on your website and an email sign-up link on your outgoing email messages.  Offline techniques can include having a Quick Response (QR) Code on your brochures or business cards that links to your email sign-up form and collecting email addresses on your order forms, or when people request information about your business, be sure to get their email address.
  • Select an Email Service Provider (ESP)   
    An ESP will allow you to create professional emails that will be delivered  into your customers and prospects’ in-boxes and can be branded to the look and feel of your business .  Some popular ESPs are:

    Each one has its pros ands cons.  Some are FREE and others have FREE trial periods.  Do your research and select an EImageSP that works for you and your budget.  Check out my recent post, How to Pick an Email Marketing Service Provider to learn more.

  • Create a professional email with good content
    As the saying goes, Content is King!  What you say in your email is what is most important, but before people can read what you have to say, they have to open your email which is the first hurdle.  Making a good subject line so people will want to open your e-mail will get you over that first hurdle.  Keeping your content condensed, which should be 80% educational or informative, and only 20% promoting your product or service helps to keep people engaged with your email.
  • Analyze the results
    After you’ve grown your list and sent out some awesome emails with some great content, it is also important to check the numbers.  How many people actually opened your email, how many people actually clicked on the items in your email, etc.  Keeping track of these results are important so you know how you are doing and how to improve.
  • Consistently reach out to your customers, clients and prospects through email marketing.  A great way to stay top of mind is to send out a monthly e-zine or e-newsletter.

In summary, whether you are currently using email marketing for your business or you’re thinking about using it, the keys are to stay consistent and to provide useful content.

Download a FREE Checklist of 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from your Email Marketing!

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  1 Comment  |  in Email Marketing, Email Results, ESP, Marketing