Master Email Marketing – Learn How Emails Actually Work Better Than Ever

You’re back from vacation and the first thing you do as you settle into the work day, is check your inbox – and it’s full. Not only do you have your business correspondence. You also have a hefty number of marketing emails.

Email marketing is a big business. It can bring a huge return on your marketing investment. But the rub is, you have to install a winning strategy. That means:

Saving your email sequences from the spam folder.

Halting the unsubscribes.

Racking up the open rates.

Getting the link clicks.

Converting the browsers to buyers.

At Maggie Writes Copy, we have a proven email marketing strategy for you to follow. To help you reach your target audience in the comfort of their own homes. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s discuss whether email marketing is effective in our current society.

Is Email Marketing Still Effective?

Email marketing has been around for a very long time. And if done wrong it can leave a bad taste in your audience’s mouth. We’ve all been there. We open our inbox and sigh as we scroll through a huge batch of marketing emails. We don’t even remember signing up for most of them.

A lot of these emails are spammy and don’t bring value. Sometimes even the ones that do bring value are too frequent. No one has time to read hundreds of emails each day. It makes you question whether emailing is actually an effective strategy.

I’m here to tell you it is. For 2023 the average Return on Investment (ROI) for email marketing is 3500%.¹ This makes email marketing one of the easiest and best ways to spend your marketing dollars. And while you want to be careful to create a good email marketing strategy, there are a ton of benefits.

Email Marketing Benefits

We know email marketing can give you a great ROI. But there are so many other email marketing benefits that get overlooked. Things like:

• Driving traffic to your website. Not only does this get more eyes on your products and services. It also supports your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts. More traffic to your site tells Google that your site is relevant.
• Build relationships with your audience. Your email goes straight to your target audience’s living room. They read your message in the comfort of their own home. When you show up for them with valuable information, it builds trust and credibility. Give them value and they are more likely to respond well to future marketing.
• Measurable metrics. Most email marketing platforms make it easy to track open rates, clicks, and sales. This means you can see exactly what marketing tactics are working in real time and which you may need to tweak.
• Quick wins. You will see exactly how much you make off an email campaign by using the metrics above. Real-time data is powerful.
• Repurpose your content. Make your web copy and blog posts work harder for you by turning them into email marketing newsletters. This also delivers value without always feeling “salesy”.

Honestly, there are so many benefits to email marketing that I could go on for hours. And I’ll circle back around in other blog posts. But no one’s got time for that right now! First, you have to find a way to send out your emails.

Email Marketing Platforms

There are tons of email marketing platforms out there to help you reach your audience. The key to picking one is knowing what is important to you. Here are some things to think about when you are choosing one:

• What is your budget?
  • Does the platform charge by subscriber? Emails sent? Annual subscription?
• How many subscribers do you expect early on?
  • Platform costs can rack up quickly depending on your audience size.
• Does it allow for audience segmentation?
  • Can your audience opt out of certain communications but stay connected in other ways?
• How easy is it to use?
  • Is it going to take hours of editing to set up one email?
• What is the average deliverability rate?
  • Will people even receive the emails you work so hard on?
• Can you track metrics with it?
  • It makes it so much easier if your email marketing platform tracks open rates, link clicks, and buys.
• Can you connect it to your payment platform?
  • The fewer steps your client has to perform to click buy, the more likely they are to purchase.

You’ve carefully considered what matters to you. You’ve chosen your email marketing platform.² Now let’s talk about actionable ways to build your email list with it.

Building an Email List – The Easy Way

After you choose your email marketing platform, the first step is to get people to opt into your email list. We’ve all signed up for email lists to get a discount on a product we’ve been eyeing. And that’s a great way to get people to opt into an email list.

But what if you’re a company that doesn’t sell products? Or do you sell big-ticket items and don’t want to mark them down? Don’t worry, I’ve got you. Have you ever heard the term freebie?

A marketing freebie is a great way to get around a promotional opt-in. There are so many freebies that are easy to make, add value to your customer, and cement you as an authority in your niche. Choose one that will speak to your specific audience. Here are some ideas:

1. Guides or Ebooks
2. Checklists
3. Cheatsheets
4. Quizzes
5. Infographics
6. Templates for social media, Pinterest, or websites
7. Self-auditing Sheets
8. Tips and tricks
9. Useful websites or web tools
10. Workbooks

These are just ten customizable ideas of freebies you could likely make in under an hour. All you have to do is use the skills and knowledge you already have. You want to use something that targets the right audience. Then once they sign up they are officially part of your email marketing funnel.

A lot of these freebies can help you segment your email list as well. This helps your audience receive the emails most relevant to them. What do I mean by this? Let’s dive in deeper.

Email Subject Lines and Preheaders

We all know what a subject line is. They inform you of what the email is about. To elevate your email and pique your audience’s interest, we are now going to talk about Preheaders.

This is the line of text that appears right next to the subject line. In most personal emails, it is just populated with text from the email. In email marketing platforms, you should be able to populate this with text of your choosing. For example, let’s say we’re writing an email about this new blog post:

Subject: Email marketing for your business

Preheader: But does it actually work in 2024

Your subject and preheader are very important. Not only do they contribute to open rates. They also determine whether your email winds up in the spam folder or the inbox. There are a lot of different methods for populating these.

But for now, let’s keep it simple. Your preheader and your subject line should interact with each other. They should also avoid sounding like an ad. Otherwise, they may wind up in the spam folder anyway. And you want them to open it – and read it.

The Body of Your Marketing Email

This one is simple. Have great copy for your audience to read and respond to! And now to drive the point home.

The PostScript (P.S.) and Post Postscript (P.P.S.)

The P.S. and P.P.S. are the last things your audience will read. Use them to personalize the email, or as a call to action. The goal is to connect one last time with them. It can even be a little off-topic as long as it relates in some way.

All these common email marketing practices are great. But how do you determine what emails you should send to your audience?

What Emails Should You Send?

There are two different structures of email that you can use to market your business. Using a combination of these is often the best way to stay current with your customers.

Email Sequences

These are automated email sequences that apply to your company for a long period. They introduce you to your customers and then continue the relationship.

Some popular email sequences that businesses use:

• Welcome Sequence: A series of emails to welcome your client to your list. They introduce your company and build trust. It is usually a series of 3-5 emails.
• Abandoned Cart Sequence: 2-3 emails over a couple of days. Remind your customers that they didn’t hit buy and give them more incentive to.
• Upsell Sequence: 1-2 emails sent after your customer has received their deliverable. Make sure they’ve had time to use and enjoy it before you suggest an additional purchase.
• Holiday Sequence: 3-5 emails that pique your customer’s interest and end with an offer. People do a lot of buying over the holidays. Make sure you stay front of mind with your customers.
• Re-engagement Sequence: 2 emails sent a couple of weeks apart. Great for reminding people you’re there and re-engaging interest.

There are many different sequence options. These are some of the most popular. But sometimes automated sequences don’t fit the message you need to send out.

Email Broadcasts

Broadcast emails help share new blog content, products or services, or company updates. Often in the form of a newsletter.

Broadcasts are one-off emails you send to your list periodically. They keep you front of mind with your audience. Boost your site traffic (and therefore your SEO). And develop inbound marketing strategies. Newsletters are a good way to stay in front of your audience without always trying to sell to them.

Creating email campaigns doesn’t have to be difficult. They don’t have to require a lot of work. Email marketing is important for a lot of reasons but drastically underutilized.

Why Email Marketing is Important

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to make sure you stay at the top of your audience’s mind. It’s the only effective way to reach your audience in their own home.

You’re probably thinking, wait a minute, what about social media? The truth is, in 2023 the reach of an organic business Facebook post is on average 1.52% of your followers.³ This means if you aren’t paying for ads, no one is engaging with you on social media.

This leaves you with two options. Continually paying for ads on social media and search engines, or investing in a more organic method that will pay off more and more as time goes on. You’ve got it. I’m talking about email marketing and search engine optimization.

Combining content creation with email marketing is investing in a winning strategy. Newsletters about new content, email sequences, and promotional emails all show up in your target audience’s virtual living room. And if you’ve been paying attention, it isn’t too hard to implement this strategy.

An Email Marketing Expert

Hopefully, you’re feeling a lot more comfortable with the idea of starting an email list. Or even implementing some new strategies with a current list you have. Email marketing is a great way to get your business in front of your audience, and build trust while bringing value.

You may not have time to add another task to an already busy day. Or if you’re still not quite confident with email marketing, feel free to reach out. We’d love to connect and help you build your email marketing campaign.

Resources:

¹ The Ultimate List of Email Marketing Stats for 2023 – Hubspot

² My Preferred Email Marketing Platform – Flodesk (Get a free month and 50% off for a year. I’m an affiliate because it’s a great company with great features. And let’s face it, you deserve the price break 😉

³ Social Organic Reach Decline in 2023 – Hootsuite