Email marketing is one of the most efficient and effective ways to connect with your customers. But, for beginners, it can be tough to know where to start.
This guide will help you get started with email marketing and give you the tools you need to create successful campaigns. Plus, we'll provide tips for improving your results. Let's dive in!
If you’ve been doing any research on email marketing, you may have been seeing people say that “Email is dead!”
But is email really dead?
Well, with all the emails I get in my inbox I’m thinking no.
I know why people say this. It’s because email inboxes are flooded every single day, emails don't appear to be opened as frequently, and read as quickly, but the facts say differently.
In 2014 (when I first started tracking statistics around email marketing), email marketing had a return on investment of $44 for every $1 spent. This dropped over the next few years to $39 for every $1 spent and in 2020 was brought back up to $42 for every $1 spent.
Basically, this means that the money spent on building an email list and creating a relationship with those on your email list results in MORE sales for your business.
Why? Because despite the popularity of texting, email offers a number of advantages that make it a better choice for businesses than other forms of communication.
For one thing, email allows you to say more than a few words at a time. While texts are limited to 140 characters, emails can be as long as you need them to be. This is especially useful when you need to share detailed information or have back-and-forth conversations.
In addition, email is less expensive than texting, especially if you have an unlimited data plan. And finally, email offers more comprehensive analytics than texting, so you can track things like open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribes.
For all these reasons, email is still the best choice for businesses and other formal communications.
Plus, an email newsletter is a great way to keep your customers updated on what's new with your business.
But when you're first starting out, it can be tough to know how often to send an email to your list. Once a month is a great place to start. That way, you can focus on making each newsletter rich with content and provide value to your readers, without having to worry about sending one out every week.
As you get more comfortable with the process, you can gradually increase the frequency. Even if you only send a newsletter once a month, it can still be a great way to stay top of mind with your customers and build loyalty over time.
But how do you grow your list?
First off, keep it simple! Start collecting email addresses from potential subscribers everywhere you can, including on your website, social media accounts, and even in physical stores.
By having a consistent
call-to-action to sign up (i.e. join my list for my free checklist) for your newsletter, you're able to quickly grow your list of subscribers.
In addition, you can offer a variety of incentives to encourage people to sign up, such as exclusive discounts and early access to new products.
As a result of your efforts, you could potentially have one of the largest and most engaged newsletters in your industry. (Woo hoo!)
Now, before you worry about doing all this work for nothing, you should know that your email work isn’t a lost cause.
In today's fast-paced world, it's important to be able to quickly and easily repurpose content.
Which means you can reuse your email content on your social media accounts!
Repurposing content onto social media is a great way to stay connected with your audience and keep them engaged.
Plus, some of your followers on social media may not read your emails and vice versa. And if some of your followers are on both platforms equally, then it’s up to them where they want to consume the content (which your customers hopefully appreciate).
We do this with our weekly newsletters, taking pieces and sharing them on social media and also creating blog articles combining a number of email content together (you’re reading an example of that right now).
I hope you can see why email is NOT dead, but still the #1 marketing activity to focus on!
Once you build your email list you can help keep those contacts active and engaged with regular newsletters. But the real power of email comes through your campaigns!
Deciding on the right scheduling of your email sequence (what we call autoresponders on Wavoto) for campaigns can be tricky...
You don't want to email your opt-ins too frequently and risk becoming a nuisance, but you also don't want to space out your emails so much that people forget who you are.
So, how can you strike the perfect balance?
Well, let’s first focus on why you should worry about your email cadence…
Your email cadence is important for two reasons: first, it helps you to stay top of mind with your recent opt-ins, and second, it helps you to build trust and credibility with them.
If you're not familiar with the term, your email sequence cadence is simply the frequency with which you send emails to the people who have opted in to receive them. You might send daily emails, weekly emails, or even monthly emails.
Whatever cadence you choose, it's important to be consistent with it. That way, your subscribers will know when to expect an email from you, and they'll be more likely to open and read your emails when they do arrive.
The reason why your email cadence is so important is that it helps you to stay top of mind with your subscribers. If you're sending them regular emails, they're going to be more likely to think of you when they need whatever it is that you offer.
On the other hand, if you're only contacting them sporadically, they're less likely to think of you when they need what you have to offer.
Another reason why your email sequence cadence is so important is that it helps you to build trust and credibility with your subscribers. If they see that you're constantly sending them helpful and valuable information, they're going to start to trust you as a source of information.
On the other hand, if they only hear from you once in a while, they're less likely to trust that you really know what you're talking about.
So, if you want to stay top of mind with your subscribers and build trust and credibility with them, make sure that you pay attention to your email cadence. Be consistent with the frequency of your emails and make sure that each email delivers value. Do that, and you'll be well on your way to building a productive email list.
Also, know that there are different cadences for different opt-ins. If I have a newsletter opt-in, my cadence should be clear from the start. For example, at Wavoto we have a new newsletter once a week. So the emails will be sent once a week.
Versus a download opt-in, where the cadence is delivering the download, educating about the download, and pushing for the next step. This email sequence does not go on for a very long period of time like my newsletter opt-in would.
Now you may be wondering… how do you determine the right cadence for your emails?
Well, there are a few factors you'll need to consider when deciding on the ideal cadence for your email sequence.
First, think about the content you'll be sending. If you're planning on sending mostly educational content, you'll probably want to space your emails out a bit more so that people have time to digest and implement what they've learned.
On the other hand, if you're planning on sending mostly sales-oriented content, you may want to email your list more frequently so that people don't forget about your products or services.
Another factor to consider is the length of your email sequence. If you're planning on sending a few emails, you'll likely want to space them out more so that people don't feel like they're being bombarded with information.
However, if you're planning on sending a longer sequence of emails, you may be able to get away with emailing your list more frequently since people will already be familiar with your brand by the time they reach the end of the sequence.
Finally, consider your audience's preferences. Some people may prefer to receive emails more frequently while others may prefer to receive them less often.
Pay attention to any feedback you receive from your subscribers and adjust your cadence accordingly.
Overall, think of your intention. Are you sharing the promotion and pushing for a sale for a short cycle? Then you’re looking for quick repetitive emails.
Are you looking to educate and lead to a sale? This is a longer cycle of education, understanding, and application. Not only is there trust building between you and your contact, but also growth in knowledge and understanding. You don’t want to be overwhelmed!
You may also need to make some adjustments if you're not getting the results you want!
If you're not getting the results you want with your emails, there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of success.
First, make sure you're using an effective subject line. Your subject should be clear and concise, and it should give recipients a reason to open your email. The average email open rate is only 21%, everything over that you should celebrate!
Secondly, try using different lengths for your messages. Test short, medium, and long messages. But be sure to avoid using unnecessary words to keep your reader’s attention.
Finally, personalize your emails as much as possible. Recipients are more likely to engage with messages that feel like they were written specifically for them, so take the time to customize each email you send. This includes things like their name in the email, like this, %%FIRSTNAME%%, as well as using singular references of “you” instead of “we”.
By following these tips, you can make sure your emails are more likely to be read and acted upon by your intended audience.
Obviously, there's no magic formula for finding the perfect cadence for your email sequence…
But by considering these factors and paying attention to feedback from your subscribers, you should be able to find a cadence that works well for both you and them.
Now that you know how often to email your list, it's time to put together an email sequence!
Start by creating 3-5 emails that will go out over the course of 2-3 weeks. Each email should introduce a new topic or offer and provide value to subscribers even if they don't purchase anything from you immediately.
Once your sequence is created, make sure it's scheduled in advance so you can relax and focus on creating great content instead of worrying about when/how to send it out.
Just send it!
However, it may be possible that your email doesn’t deliver?!
And if that happens, know it’s 100% fixable!
In fact, there are a few reasons why this could have happened and there are ways to avoid it from happening again in the future.
Let’s go over what these are…
Reason #1 - You Don’t Have a Branded Email
Having a business email instead of a @gmail or @yahoo majorly increases your email deliverability!
Spam is often coming from fake or emails created specifically to scam you using @gmail or @yahoo addresses. These email addresses send emails to hundreds of people a day.
To mitigate spam risks, Gmail and Yahoo (and other email hosts) have caps on how many emails an address can send in a day. For example, Gmail allows you to only send 500 emails in a 24 hour period.
Additionally, if you’re sending an email (newsletter or autoresponder) from a 3rd party (like Wavoto or MailChimp) using an @gmail or @yahoo email, those email hosts are going to flag your email as suspicious…unless the people receiving them have
whitelisted your email address. (We talked about this in last weeks email 😉)
A branded business email makes your business familiar to email receivers and email hosts (i.e. Google, Yahoo, etc.) so your emails end up in inboxes and not spam or blocks entirely.
Reason #2 - It Bounced
There are several possible reasons why your email may have bounced.
The most common reason is that the recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept any more messages.
Another possibility is that the email address you're trying to reach doesn't exist (sometimes people don’t opt-in spelling their email right, happens more than you might think!).
Sometimes an email server may be down, or there may be a problem with the recipient's ISP.
If you're not sure why your email bounced, you can contact the recipient or their ISP to troubleshoot the problem.
At Wavoto, more often than not a bounced email most likely it's due to your email provider's DMARC Policy. (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance, or DMARC, is a technical standard that helps protect email senders and recipients from spam, spoofing, and phishing.)
To rectify this, you can open a support ticket and our Support Team will help you request DKIM keys to verify your domain with your email provider.
(Don’t worry about the technical terms, confusing terms shortened = we’ll help you get things sorted.)
Reason #3 - It Ended Up In Spam
Have you ever sent an email only to have it end up in the recipient's spam folder? It's frustrating, especially if you're trying to communicate with someone important. So why does this happen? And how can you prevent it from happening in the future?
There are a number of reasons why an email might end up in spam.
One is if the recipient has marked your email address as spam in the past.
Another is if the subject line of your email is flagged as suspicious by the recipient's email provider (this is a good reason to stay away from ALL CAPS and excessive uses of !!!!)
Finally, if your email contains a lot of images or links, it may be considered suspicious and filtered into the spam folder.
To avoid having your emails end up in spam, start by ensuring that your own email address isn't marked as spam.
You can do this by keeping your contact list up to date and only sending emails to people who have opted-in to receiving them. (At Wavoto, if someone opts-out, they will automatically stop receiving your emails, same if they mark an email as spam. They can always opt-in again!)
Additionally, choose descriptive and accurate subject lines for your emails, and limit the number of images and links that you include. If you must include images, make sure you are making the image the smallest file size that you can (
we share how in this article on SEO, double bang for your buck there!)
By following these simple tips, you can help ensure that your emails will be delivered safely to their intended recipients.
Reason #4 - The Email Address Was Inputted Wrong
Have you ever sent an email and then realized moments too late that you had inputted the wrong email address?
I have, and let me tell you, it's not a fun feeling. Fortunately, there's usually a way to retrieve the message - but that doesn't always mean that it will be seen by the intended recipient.
In some cases, the message may be sent to a completely different person. Other times, it may go into an automated system that will delete it after a certain period of time.
In either case, it's important to double-check the email address before hitting send. A few extra seconds of effort can save you a lot of embarrassment (not to mention wasted time).
So next time you're about to send an important email, take a moment to make sure that you've got the right address and it’s spelled correctly too! It could make all the difference in the world.
If You Want to Connect With Your Audience, Your Email Deliverability Matters!
Inboxes are overflowing!
According to a Radicati Group study, the average person receives 121 emails per day and sends out 40 emails daily. This leaves little room for error when it comes to deliverability.
Here’s why email deliverability should matter to you:
- Inbox placement is critical for engagement. If your email doesn’t make it to the inbox, it doesn’t matter how great your content is – no one will see it.
- Low deliverability can hurt your sender reputation. Mailbox providers use a variety of factors to determine whether or not to deliver your email, including your sender reputation. A low sender reputation can lead to deliverability issues down the road. Reputation matters online!
- Poor deliverability wastes time and money. If your emails aren’t making it to the inbox, you’re wasting time and money on a campaign that will never reach its full potential. Not to mention, you could be alienating potential customers who never receive your emails.
Email deliverability should be a top priority for any business that relies on email marketing to reach its customers.
By paying attention to inbox placement and working to improve your sender reputation, you can ensure that your messages are always reaching their intended destination – the inbox!
I know that was a lot about email marketing…
But hopefully, by now you can see how email marketing is a great way to connect with customers and promote your business.
By following the tips in this guide, you can create successful email campaigns that will help you achieve your business goals. With a little effort and planning, email marketing can be a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal.
What’s holding you back from utilizing email more for your business? Let us know in the comments!