What kind of success rate are you getting with your email marketing at the moment?

Pretty good or could do better?

Your electronic marketing strategy should be constantly evolving – test, test and test again until you create the optimum format and content strategy for your audience.

Just in case you’re looking for inspiration to inject some new life into your efforts, here are a few tips that might just help you improve your stats.

1. Mobile

More and more people are reading their emails from mobile devices so you must find out how your email looks.

Not only that but you have to make sure the recipient opens it on their phone so think about how you work out whether an email’s worth opening or not. You probably look at the sender’s name first and then the subject line. If it looks interesting you’ll open it, it not it gets consigned to the bin.

A great way of boosting your email’s chances of being opened is to add a line of text above your header – something like this:

Now when your email is received the recipient will see who it’s from, the subject line and the added text which reads Email marketing secrets revealed.

2. Subject line

This is the make or break. It has to be intriguing, promise your reader a great offer or breaking news – something that’s going to benefit them in some way.

But a strong subject line and a weak email body will see their enthusiasm wane and your email deleted. And if they’re disappointed by one they’re unlikely to open any more and may even unsubscribe.

The moral is, make sure you deliver what your subject line offers.

3. Long or short?

Many people argue that long copy always out performs short copy. But when it comes to an email, no one wants to be reading War and Peace.

The beauty of email means you can offer a tempting nugget of information and then add a link that will take the reader to a full article which is a great way of providing loads of information without boring the pants off everyone.

4. What next?

Once you’ve got them to open your email and read it…what next?

If you don’t have a strong call to action asking them to do something you’ve lost a great opportunity.

5. Check, check and re-check

Proofreading your email and checking all the links work before sending is vital.

Sending something out that’s full or errors and broken links won’t do you or your reputation any good. If you can, get someone else to check it for you before hitting send because once it’s gone, it’s gone.

These 5 simple tips will help you give your email marketing a boost in the arm.

Do you have any other tricks you use? Leave a comment and share your success stories (or horror stories).

 

If you’re an online marketer you need traffic – and a lot of it.

Why?

Because your traffic is your customers and more customers means more money.

How do you actually get more traffic though? And, once you’ve started to get it, how do you convince them to buy from you?

There are various things you can do to encourage more people to your website and make it more visible in the search engine rankings. And no, that doesn’t mean plastering it in bright colours with loads of flashing images.

Here are 4 ways to help boost your traffic. Remember though, gaining more traffic isn’t going to happen over night. It is something that’s going to require commitment on your part.

1. Keywords

This is hardly going to be a surprise as keywords are vital when it comes to online marketing.

You are the person who knows your business best and your market. As such, you should have a fair idea of what they are likely to be searching for when they need your products or services. So by using those keywords, you’ll attract more of your target market.

Of course that doesn’t mean stuffing them in your web copy left right and centre. You must incorporate them sensitively within your SEO website content, articles and blogs. Oh yes, keywords aren’t just for your web copy. Everything you write and publish on the web has the potential to drive traffic so make sure you optimise all your opportunities.

The main thing to remember is to ensure your choice of keywords is correct and relevant to what you do. After all, loads of traffic is all well and good but not very useful if they are not looking for what you offer.

2. Adding video

Have you noticed how many companies are now using video marketing?

More and more people are watching videos online so it makes sense to give them what they want by adding one to your website or setting up your own YouTube channel (which can be linked to your website).

What should your video be on?

Well, you can make short videos that showcase your products, act as interactive ‘how to’ guides, case studies and even video testimonials. The possibilities are endless.

3. Picture galleries

When you walk into a physical shop you have the advantage of being able to see what you’re going to buy, you can touch it and even try it out.

But online marketing doesn’t allow you to do that – well, other than see it.

No one likes to buy something without seeing it first so make sure your website offers high quality images of your products (coupled with detailed descriptions) so they know exactly what they’ll be getting.

4. Regular contact with customers

Keeping in touch with your customers will open up sales opportunities and allow you to add value by giving advice and tips.

Whether you do that through newsletters or email marketing it gives you the ability to maintain regular contact with your customers and prospective customers.

These 4 ideas are simple to instigate but very effective and can make a huge difference to your traffic.

Your website needs traffic if it’s going to be effective. If you’ve invested heavily in your online presence it makes sense to ensure people see it.

But it not only has to attract visitors, it also has to convert them into buying customers. You can read more about conversion here.

 

Keeping in touch with your customers will set you apart from your competition.

All too often businesses take your money and wave goodbye. But they’re missing a trick. Regular contact with your customers (and prospective customers) is vital because it keeps you in their mind when they’re in need of your products or services.

An effective way of doing that is by producing a monthly newsletter.

Newsletter content

Many businesses stumble at the first hurdle because they don’t know what to include.

Your newsletter can be used to convey great information, industry updates, special offers, announcements, helpful hints—anything that will add value to your customers.

Of course a newsletter isn’t a lot of use without anyone to send it to. The best way to develop your mailing list is to grow it organically—home grown will always bring in better results than a bought in list.

Here are 3 ways to ensure your newsletter works:

1. Opt-in

If you want someone to opt-in to your list you have to make it easy for them. If you hide the opt-in form deep within your website they’re not going to go looking for it.

Make sure your sign-up box is highly visible, preferably on every page and simple to complete.

Make sure you also make them aware of what you’ll be sending and how often and reassure them that you won’t share their details with anyone else.

2. Content

Your content shouldn’t be overly promotional and whatever you do, don’t jump in immediately with a sales pitch.

Start with a recommendation, article, or comment on industry news. Follow that up with a hint or tip that your customer will find useful. Once you’ve given them something for free you can then bring in your offer or a case study to promote your products/services.

If you’re still stumped and have no idea what to write why not enlist the help of a freelance copywriter to write the content for you.

3. Two way traffic

Make it easy for  your reader to interact with you through your newsletter.

After reading your news they may want to get in touch so don’t use a “no-reply” email address. Make it simple for them.

Always remember that your newsletter is about adding value to your relationship not selling. Be generous with your information as this will develop trust and with trust comes sales.

 

Regular communication with  your customers is a great way to keep them informed and to keep your name firmly etched in their minds.

One of the most effective ways of doing this is through email marketing. 

New subscribers will eagerly await your first email to land in their inbox. They will probably continue to welcome them until, one day, the honeymoon period is over.

You will begin to realise your emails aren’t being opened as often (or at all); your messages are now unloved, unopened and unwanted.

What do you do?

Panic?

Send flowers?

It’s time to take action.

Fighting email marketing list fatigue

1. Frequency

Are you still sending the same number of emails? When your subscribers opted-in, you would have made it clear how often they would hear from you. If you’re sending more it could be time to scale back a bit.

2. Stale content

Are you starting to cover the same old stuff?

Perhaps the layout and content is becoming too predictable? If so it’s time to inject some life into them.

3. Incoming!

Bombarding your customers with news and new offers will get wearing. If you have new products to announce stagger your emails so they don’t receive 4 or 5 from you within one month.

4. Subject line

These are never easy to write and although you may have been buzzing with great ideas initially there’s a chance they’re becoming mundane and ineffective. 

People will only open an email if the subject line catches their attention so perhaps it’s time to have a rethink about your subject line approach (or call in a copywriter to help you generate fresh and appealing content).

5. No one’s home

Email addresses change so if one of your recipients hasn’t engaged with your mailings (i.e. they haven’t opened it) for 6 months or more, send out a ‘reengagement’ email. This would be an email that asks them to take an action if they want to remain on your list.

If you don’t hear anything it’s safe to say that either:

• The email address is no longer active, or
• They no longer want to receive your emails

So it may be time to remove them from your list.

6. Spam

Spam filters may be stopping your emails getting through so make sure you test them.

To make sure your email marketing continues to be successful, regular list maintenance is essential to ensure that:

• Your readers are happy with their content
• All email addresses are active
• You are avoiding spam triggers
• Your subject lines are being effective

 

You already know how important it is to maintain regular contact with your customers through a regular newsletter—but how easy do you find it to come up with interesting content?

Whether you create your own content or hire the services of a freelance copywriter, your newsletter has to provide information that your readers want to read—so that means you mustn’t fill every issue with amazing facts about you.

If your newsletter isn’t providing useful information, your readers will unsubscribe. So how can you ensure your newsletter is…well, news-worthy, interesting and giving your readers what they want?

How to create a bad newsletter

Fill your columns with news about your achievements, your products or services, and your readers will unsubscribe. That’s not to say these can’t feature at times, but the main thrust of your content has to aimed at your reader to help you generate business and strengthen your relationship with them.

How to create a strong newsletter

Make your content full of useful information, the latest industry news, tips to help your reader in their work and articles that are relevant to their industry.

By providing them with information that will help them with their everyday lives, you will strengthen your relationship and keep them reading.

The ultimate balance

You might think that by constantly offering information and tips to your readers, you won’t actually sell anything. But you can. All you have to do is weave references to your products and services within the content.

By incorporating the information in this way, the ‘sales’ pitch will appear as though it is being included as being of service to your reader rather than self-serving.

Your leading article

The start of your newsletter is crucial. By having a strong lead article you avoid the temptation of cramming your newsletter with numerous subjects which will just lead to confusion. Go for something like:

• Breaking industry news
• Helpful tips and advice
• Analysis of a new product
• How-to article
• Case studies which can be used to illustrate the effectiveness of your products and services

The rest of your newsletter can be made up from product updates, news about forthcoming events and general information and teasers for the next issue.