Ask the Experts: Email Marketing

Q: "Email Marketing, is it still a useful tool?"

Email marketing is far from dead, so why isn’t it a focal point of your social media plan? If it’s not we advise that it should be.

E-campaigns are a platform too powerful to be ignored, but surprisingly, few companies are able to run email campaigns successfully.

User experience gets ignored and spam takes over the entire campaign leaving nothing but obtrusive sales messages.

Instead of bombarding your subscribers with sales messages, turn them into brand advocates by giving them something of value.

Content is key

It’s amazing how many times I open my email inbox on a Monday morning and it’s packed full of spam emails. Make sure the message you send out to customers has an extra edge to stand out from the crowd.

Write compelling subject lines that inspire people to open your messages. Make your audience smile and build a real connection with them, if they think you’re just selling to them they’re more than likely going to ignore the content of the email.

If there’s one thing I try to do is focus on helping people! Business is built on trust; if they know your product is reliable they’ll continue to use it. Make your emails a benefit for them as a company to read.

Sex it up!

Your emails need to look great. Make sure you pick a stand-out template that inspires recipients to keep reading and ultimately click through to your website.

When designing your email templates, you don’t need to start from scratch. Companies like MailChimp streamline the process by selling comprehensive newsletter packages. You can customise layouts and track analytics all from one place.

Know where your customers are

With technology continually changing it means that more than likely the person you’ve sent the email too is not sat in front of their computer. Data suggests that people are more likely to open email on their smartphones.

It’s great to know that it’s likely your audience is behind a smartphone or tablet. Bear this in mind when laying out your content.

And lastly, don’t over do it. No matter what, email marketing is all about your audience. Make sure you think how often you would want to receive an email from a company before you bombard them with emails.