Mumbai: In today’s social-first world, email marketing is one of the tools which tends to get ignored by marketers. While we all agree that email is probably the most effective way to reach the target audience directly with personalized content, it rarely gets its pride of place among other exciting marketing tools like short-form videos and brand films.

Before we start, let’s look at some stats. Firstly a whopping 87 per cent of marketers say that email marketing is a crucial part of business success. According to a Hubspot Marketing Trends survey, 51 per cent marketers selected email marketing as the most effective channel for marketing. And if you’re still skeptical about the effectiveness of email marketing, then here’s the kicker - Email marketing offers an unbeatable ROI of $36 for every $1 spent.

BC Web Wise, a leading digital marketing agency, offers a comprehensive guide to effective email marketing, taking you from strategic planning to successful execution.

Your Effective Guide to Email Marketing

Email marketing can play an integral role across the marketing funnel by helping build brand awareness, increase consideration and lastly drive sales! It is not only a cost-effective way to reach your audience, but is also easy to track and gives you valuable insights to measure your campaign.

Here are the steps to get started on your email marketing strategy.

Step 1: Define Your Goals and Target Audience

●        SMART Goals: Before you begin, make sure to establish clear and specific goals for your email marketing efforts. Are you looking to generate leads, boost brand awareness or drive sales? Ensure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART).

●        Know Your Audience: Make sure you spend enough time to understand your audience. You can do this by creating consumer personas and accordingly tailor your email content and messaging to the specific needs of each persona.

Step 2: Building Your Email List

●        Opt-in Forms: As the digital world prepares for a ‘cookie-less’ future, it’s paramount that brands focus on first-party data collection via opt-in forms on their website, app downloads and social media platforms.

●        Lead Magnets: One of the most effective ways for B2B businesses to get customers to share their email address is by sharing relevant content such as ebooks, white papers, reports, etc. On the other hand, B2C customers can offer customers discounts and offers in exchange for their email addresses.

Step 3: Crafting Compelling Email Content

●        Subject Lines: This one’s a no-brainer. One of the most effective ways to drive email opens is through the effective use of subject lines. Make sure to grab the user’s attention with clear, concise, and benefit-oriented subject lines that entice them to open your email.

●        Email Design: Emails offer brands the opportunity to tell their story through visually appealing designs which follow a clear structure, using high-quality images and calls to action (CTAs).

●        Personalization: One of the most important features of email marketing is the ability to personalize it for the user. Additionally the audience can be segmented based on their interests, and content can be tailored accordingly.

●        Compelling Content: Make sure to provide content that educates, entertains, or solves problems for your audience. Use storytelling, industry insights, and product updates to keep them engaged.

Step 4: Optimizing for Deliverability and Engagement

●        Email List Hygiene: Maintain a clean email list by removing inactive subscribers to improve deliverability rates.

●        Mobile-Friendly Design: Ensure your emails are optimized for mobile devices, as many users check their email on smartphones.

●        A/B Testing: Test different subject lines, email formats, and CTAs to see which one resonates best with your audience and improve campaign performance.

●        Analytics and Reporting: Track key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to measure success and identify areas for improvement.

Step 5: Automate and Integrate

●        Email Marketing Automation: Utilize email automation tools to streamline processes like welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, and post-purchase follow-ups.

●        CRM Integration: Integrate your email marketing platform with your CRM system to gain a holistic view of customer interactions and personalize communications further.

By following these steps, you can develop and execute effective email marketing campaigns that achieve your business objectives and nurture strong customer relationships.

The author of this article is BC Web Wise, senior creative director Yorick Pinto.