Overview
Wondering if email marketing is still a thing?
Considering the sudden boom of SMM (Social Media Marketing), yes, it’s hard to believe that email marketing is still profitable. But, yeah, email marketing is not only just a thing; it’s a billion-dollar industry.
Table of Content
In 2022 alone, the email marketing industry earned a collective revenue of $9.62 billion. If you want your part in that number, follow these DOs and DON’Ts of email marketing from today onwards.
Do’s of email marketing
1. Personalize Cold Email Templates
Gone are the days when non-personalized email marketing strategies led to sales. Given that people receive hundreds of emails daily, making the recipient open your message is hard, especially if it’s a cold email.
According to a study conducted by McKinsey & Company, around 76% of consumers feel frustrated with non-personalized marketing content. Here’s how you can personalize cold email templates:
Say something relatable in the subject line.
This is Salena Gomez’s favorite lipstick.
Now, if your targeted customer is into fashion, they must follow Salena Gomez. This subject line will not only make them curious enough to read the email but also respond.
For B2B customers, you can mention their competitor’s name.
XYZ company used XYZ products.
Offer something in the first line.
I can help with email lists.
If your target client is a small business owner, this above opening line will totally work. Just pick a common problem your potential audience faces and offer something that can solve that.
2. Increase Interactivity
Be it networking messages or sales emails; personalized content can do wonders. Here’s another idea that can enhance the personalizing process– INCREASE INTERACTIVITY. Interactivity, in the case of emails, means including the recipients/customers in activities. To provide them a chance to participate in the content. That will help in increasing your overall business performance. Also, you can assess the performance gaps in your email marketing strategies by tracking the marketing KPIs at regular intervals.
Here’s an email marketing example to increase interactivity:
Here are 2 other ways you can increase interactivity in marketing emails.
Conduct Surveys & Polls
Any person feels good when considered or asked for their opinion. In the case of email marketing, consumers love to participate. Here’s an example:
Add Images And Videos
The goal is to add something that the readers might find valuable. To do that, the sender can add relevant videos or images. It doesn’t always have to be about your products.
As a marketer, you would want to convert the audience into your customer and develop a trustworthy relationship. Adding images and videos is a great idea.
3. Use List-Building Tools
Yeah, cold emailing is the backbone of the email marketing industry. It is one of the best tools for email marketing. But, always try growing a list of email contacts who visited your website or would like to buy your products at some point in the future.
The best way to do this is to use list-building tools like SleekNote, OptiMonk, ConvertPro, etc.
These softwares will help you add customized floating bars and exit-intent pop-ups to capture the visitors’ email addresses. If you’re on a tight budget, you can try AddThis; it’s free.
4. Use Multi-Channel Lead Generator
How do you gather leads for cold emails? Are you still doing it manually?
Dear fellow marketers, it’s almost 2023, and it’s time to double your sales, not spend meaningful hours gathering prospects’ email addresses from LinkedIn.
If you agree with me, here’s one thing you can do– use AI-based multi-channel lead-generating tools. These softwares will search LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and many platforms to find the most active leads.
In addition to that, these tools are also good at gathering relevant information about prospects. Some of the best lead-generating tools are MailChimp, SmartLead, Drip, etc.
5. Make Emails Mobile-Friendly
In 2022, around 60.9% of email readers access their inboxes from mobile devices, which clearly shows the importance of mobile optimization.
An email with highly good content, a perfect subject line, and opening sentences may fail to bag a response if it’s not mobile-friendly.
In the coming years, a marketer must focus on sending emails that look better on mobile devices. Be it CTAs, embedded images, or website pop-ups; we must improve everything to provide a better user experience.
Don’ts of email marketing
1. Don’t Send Image-Based Content Only
Generally, spam emails with phishing and malware content are image-based. As a result, spam filters with advanced ML and AI read messages with bigger images and little-to-nothing text as spam.
This is why, when it comes to mistakes in email marketing strategies, image-based content is common. If you want to add images, that’s okay. A good collection of images relevant to the reader is a good thing.
But, never forget to add value-adding text to emails. It will increase the response rate and develop a relationship with your customer base.
2. Don’t Delay Follow-Up Emails
This is for cold emailers.
Sending one outreach email isn’t enough for sales but following up patiently is the key. Studies show that more than 80% of sales occur after sending the fifth email. So, keep following up till you have a lead.
Also, don’t send 5 follow-ups within a week. Maintain a healthy interval after each follow-up email. Here’s a standard guide on how many days you should wait after sending the first email:
- Send the first follow-up within 2 to 3 days
- Send the second follow-up after 5 days
- Write the third follow-up after 8 days
- Follow-up for the fourth time between 12 to 15 days
- Follow-up for the fifth time after 25 days
After that, send only one email a month.
3. Don’t Buy Email List
The web is full of random forums that sell "targeted leads" that would help you build a waste of money, this habit can damage your IP reputation forever. Therefore, instead of sketchy sources, subscribe for leads generation tools.
4. Don’t Send Generic Content
As marketers, we all know that content is the key. Starting a newsletter or blog is a good idea. Sending snippets of the content via email is an even better one.
But, be careful not to send generic content. For instance, an ed-tech company, send them an email attaching an up-cycling video.
While the content is great, it’s not relevant to their audience. The whole point is to send content that is relevant and readers find it valuable.
In 2023, the content will be the most important part of email marketing. So, that’s something we all should keep in mind.
5. Don’t Use Sales-y Terms
Around 60% of consumers buy a product/service from marketing emails.
Consider the point that your target audience is aware of you being a seller. So, don't make it obvious with sales-y words like "buy it today", "lowest price", "guaranteed", "once-in-a–lifetime-opportunity", etc.
Nothing works best as a sales-repellent than a sales-y tone. TBH, a sales pitch doesn't work in this type of marketing. Be subtle. Try to use proper content.
Conclusion
Dear marketers, follow the above dos & don’ts of email marketing to increase your revenue in 2023. If the above points overwhelm you, just remember, personalized content, AI-based software, and mobile optimization are the major trends.
Try to keep up with the trends, and you are good to ace email marketing in the upcoming year. Also, try to refresh your knowledge about anti-spam acts.
