{"id":1173,"date":"2022-01-27T03:20:08","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T03:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.800.com\/blog\/?p=1173"},"modified":"2022-10-21T16:37:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T16:37:12","slug":"a-beginners-guide-to-email-marketing-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.800.com\/blog\/a-beginners-guide-to-email-marketing-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"A Beginner\u2019s Guide to Email Marketing Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By now, you can pretty well assume that the vast majority of your business customers and prospects have email service providers and regularly send and receive digital messages. This is true regardless of whether you seek a B2B or B2C audience or are looking for clients, customers, supporters, or any other class of respondents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why email marketing<\/a> is a strategy that can deliver impressive results at an excellent return on investment. But only if it\u2019s done right. At 800.com, we\u2019re happy to offer basic guidance on email marketing strategies that will work effectively even for beginners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are what we consider to be some of your key moves on that first campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create a Map to Conversion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is just another way of saying that you must know what you\u2019re trying to do before you try to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re offering a low-cost impulse buy, maybe it\u2019s realistic to expect a certain number of respondents to make a purchase decision with only one or two contacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if you\u2019re selling a big-ticket item, a complex B2B service contract, or other costly goods or services, you need to move email recipients from prospects to customers along a more complex path. Your initial call to action might simply be to get the respondent to subscribe to a podcast or a digital newsletter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, you move the prospect into your sales funnel toward an eventual purchase and long-term relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point here is that you start by establishing realistic response goals, and set up your email marketing campaign to convert your recipients to the next step in the digital marketing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Develop an Organic Subscriber List<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy to get thousands or even millions of email addresses. You can buy such a list for a fraction of pennies per contact. But that might only hurt your cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is, every recipient is used to skimming through junk email. If your mailing looks irrelevant to their needs, your email will be deleted, unopened and unread. But your effort is potentially more than merely wasted. Email service providers like Google filter out e-mailers as spam based on a number of factors, including open rates. So if your email is going ignored by a high percentage of your recipients, all of your future mailings might end up in the system\u2019s spam folder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we talk about an organic list, it consists of recipients who either opted in to receive your mailings or those with whom you\u2019re already established a business relationship. These contacts are likelier to view your communications as being relevant to their needs and that will increase the likelihood that they open and potentially respond to your communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strategically Boost Your Open Rates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your open rates measure the percentage of recipients who actually open and (presumably) read your emails. Keep in mind, whether you\u2019re targeting a business or consumer audience, your recipients are busy. And they\u2019re used to digital junk in their inboxes. It\u2019s quick and easy to clean up such clutter by dumping your email, unread. That\u2019s why first impressions are so important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your most basic first impression comes from your subject line. Make sure it doesn\u2019t come across as schlocky with words like \u201cFree\u201d and \u201cMiracle,\u201d with lots of all-caps and exclamation points. Such subject line language and presentation is another way email service providers filter emails to spam folders. And even if yours does make it to your recipients, they\u2019re unlikely to think such an email is much more than a waste of their time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep your subject lines clear and focused, simple and direct. Don\u2019t overpromise or sound over-promotional. Keep the end-user in mind and remember what you want them to do. Think of your subject line as your billboard. As your audience whizzes down the highway at 60 miles an hour, they\u2019ll only take notice if your outdoor advertising is short, blunt, to the point and relevant to their needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Same with your email marketing subject line. It might be hard initially defining which subject lines work for your business and which don\u2019t\uff0dbut that\u2019s where A\/B testing comes into the picture. Try different approaches, and then measure open rates. You can quickly figure out what works and what copy strategies need to be dumped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pull Window Shoppers into Your \u201cStore\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say you\u2019re strolling through a shopping mall. You see a store with an intriguing sign and the possibility that the shop carries merchandise you\u2019re interested in. So you walk in and see a cheap-looking interior with a mishmash of products cluttering aisles and weird smells in the air. You execute a U-turn and head for the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the same with your email marketing campaign. Your subject line and the relevancy of your list might yield impressive (or at least acceptable) open rates, but that\u2019s only your first metric of success. Once your recipients have opened your email, you want them to stay awhile. You want them to click-through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click-through rates (CTR) measure the percentage of recipients who read your messaging and click the link you provide in order to take the next step. To get to that expected response, you\u2019ve got to first interest your recipients in actually reading and thinking about your communication. That\u2019s done by providing messaging that looks as appealing as it reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t make your respondents overwork. Here are some of the ways that they might struggle to get through your mailing (or, more likely, abandon the effort to do so):<\/p>\n\n\n\n