In spite of the rapid growth of SMS marketing and social shopping, email marketing is alive and well. In fact, email has a 4,200% return on investment, generating $42 for every dollar spent. But that, of course, doesn’t apply to every email campaign — only the ones done right.
Whether you’re looking to drive clicks to your website for increased brand recognition, get people to subscribe to an exclusive, subscription-based service, attend a webinar, or purchase your products, there are strategies and tactics you can deploy to increase your conversion rates. And, as much as email marketing continues to change, these tried-and-true strategies can always find a home in your marketing toolkit.
When you’re talking about email marketing, you want to think beyond the laptop or desktop. Four out of 10 emails are opened on mobile apps, and more than half of all email campaigns are viewed on a mobile device. More than one-third of business professionals open their emails on mobile, too, so you can reach your audience wherever they are.
That’s why it’s so important to ensure that your email campaigns are optimized for mobile. A clean design works best. In fact, it’s OK to send a plain text email with a strong call to action if you feel that’s the most effective way to get your message across. Spend more time on your message than on a fancy design.
Test your email on mobile and multiple browsers to ensure it appears the way you want it to. Also test your links to make sure they go to the right places. Few things will kill conversions faster than a broken link or one that leads to the wrong landing page.
You probably already know that personalization is one of the keys to successful marketing today. People want tailored offers that speak to their wants and needs based on past purchases or even on shopping carts they may have abandoned for various reasons.
Beginning an email with a consumer’s name should be just the start of personalization in email marketing. You can send personalized emails for birthdays, personalized content based on past purchases, or emails based on demographics, such as the recipient’s region. Personalized emails can increase conversion rates by up to six times over the average.
Segmenting your email list is another element of personalization you shouldn’t ignore. You may want to send different emails to a group of VIP customers versus those who have never bought before but opted in to receive emails at some point. Today’s mailing list software options make it easy to tag subscribers based on past purchases, their status as a customer (VIP, frequent customer, prospect, etc.), or even those who opened the first email in a series.
It’s a good idea to send a follow-up email to those who didn’t open your first email in a campaign, while sending a different follow-up to those who may have opened the email but didn’t click on any of your links. Other elements of personalization could involve customer feedback surveys for those who purchased a new product or customer experience surveys for those who had a customer service issue.
You can incentivize click-throughs and even purchases with digital gift cards. An innovative twist on personalization, delivering digital gift cards that your readers will really love can improve conversions now and in the future. You can reward respondents for completing surveys, answering polls, giving feedback, attending a webinar, or making a purchase.
With a digital rewards management platform like BHN Rewards, you can set limits on reward recipients, allowing you to give rewards only to the first 50 or 100 respondents. Or you can customize rewards based on your contact’s country or region, so you can be sure they are receiving rewards they can use.
Whether you are offering rewards, providing a coupon for customers’ next purchase, or trying to get email recipients to visit a landing page or attend a webinar, you want to test your emails and then modify them for better results.
You can segment your mailing list into two similar demographics and see which group responds better to different subject lines, different pre-headers and even different shapes or colors of your call-to-action button. Make sure to change only one element of an email at a time so you learn which one made the difference in your open rate or click-through rate.
BHN Rewards offers real-time analytics and in-depth reporting that provides data on which digital gift card rewards are most effective at enticing readers. And if a consumer doesn’t redeem your virtual gift card? You’ll receive a 100% refund on every unclaimed reward. It makes testing your email campaigns with a variety of price points, rewards, and options easy and low-risk.
Email marketing can be more effective than ever, with 4.6 billion email users worldwide. Understanding the best strategies to increase conversions,and employing the best tools to connect with your readers can set you apart from your competitors.
Ready to get started with digital rewards to help optimize your email marketing? Sign up for a free BHN Rewards account or contact us for a demo!
Need help making the most of all your marketing efforts? Contact Hawke Media for a free consultation!
Ashley is the Senior Vice President of Partnerships at Hawke Media, a full-service digital marketing agency. She has over a decade years of experience, focusing on e-commerce brands and B2B SaaS companies.
Ashley is the Senior Vice President of Partnerships at Hawke Media, a full-service digital marketing agency. She has over a decade years of experience, focusing on e-commerce brands and B2B SaaS companies.
