Data analytics has been a very important aspect of modern marketing strategies. A growing number of companies are using data analytics to reach customers through virtually every channel, including email.
Digital marketing is getting more competitive with each passing day, but small businesses can still rely on a time-tested channel: email marketing. Email marketing is even more effective for companies that know how to use data analytics to get the most out of it.
As a small business, it is natural to make accounts on social media and publish a couple of posts, but such efforts hardly get any results. Running paid campaigns would require a decent amount of data analysis and budget. On the other hand, email marketing is very easy to get started with. Over half of the world’s population (3.8 billion) uses emails. Email has an even better ROI if you combine it with AI-driven automation techniques and leverage data analytics effectively.
Thus, your customers are most likely to have an email address. For every dollar invested, email marketing generates an ROI of $51. This is the highest of all digital marketing platforms, including social media. It is enough motivation to start email marketing for your small business in 2021 if you are still not doing it. In this mini-guide, we will cover the basics of email marketing as well as strategies used for getting conversions.
Getting Started with List Building with Data-Driven Outreach Techniques
As a small business, you can start list building by collecting your existing customers’ email addresses. This will help you send relevant offers to your most engaged customers and increase their lifetime value. When it comes to acquiring new contacts, you can embed a sign-up form on your website, allowing your visitors to join your mailing list. Having good content on your site always helps for this purpose. Most of the time, small businesses personally know the recipients. This makes starting email marketing easier for you. Also, you can ask for referrals to your subscribers.
You will want to use data analytics in your list building process. The right data analytics tools can help you identify the outreach techniques and inbound marketing strategies that are driving the most leads.
Choosing the Right HTML Email Templates
There are many types of email campaigns like welcome emails, newsletters, transactional messages, purchase confirmation, and reactivation emails. Thus, you will need specialized HTML email templates for each of these. If you are going to use Mailchimp, you will get free Mailchimp Email templates. Most email marketing software has drag-and-drop editors, so you can also customize your messages. Depending on the purpose, you should choose mobile-optimized email templates that look visually appealing and render the information effortlessly. See how both of these template structures differ based on the sending purpose (newsletter vs. welcome email):
Data analytics can help with this stage as well. You can use data analytics to assess the performance of different landing pages.
Creating Compelling Subject Lines and Email Copy
Generally, users decide whether they will open an email or not by scanning through the subject lines and sender names. In this case, your sender name won’t be much familiar since you’re getting started, but you should put in efforts for creating compelling subject lines. Try to keep the email short, simple, and persuasive. You should also include pre-header text, which is displayed after the subject line. Also, your email copy should be crisp and convey the message efficiently. Don’t forget to add a CTA button at the end since we’re almost hardwired to take action after reading emails.
This is an even more important reason to use data analytics. You can use data analytics to split-test different subject lines and email copy, so that you can get the best possible engagement metrics.
Leveraging Personalization and Segmentation
Segmentation and personalization are among the top two email marketing strategies used by email developers and marketers. Some of the easiest ways to segment your subscribers is using demographics, location, and behavioral data. Segmentation ensures that your subscribers get the relevant messages that address their unique needs. You can personalize your messages using customer information like their names, marital status, birthdays, and anniversaries. This helps your subscribers feel welcomed and increases their likeliness to purchase from you.
Personalization wouldn’t be possible without AI and other forms of big data technology. You need to use it to your full advantage.
Setting Ideal Sending Time and Frequency for Your Emails
One of the biggest mistakes made by small businesses is sending messages when they’re free. For instance, you might want to send promotional offers on Sunday, but weekends have the worst open rates. This ultimately lowers your morale, but you can increase your conversion rates by simply optimizing your send times. Sending emails between 10 AM to 2 PM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays yields maximum benefits, while you can start with a mailing frequency of 2 emails every month. Following this routine will minimize your efforts and maximize your chances of conversion.
This is another great reason to invest in AI. You can use machine learning algorithms to see which times readers engage with your emails the best, so you can time the delivery for best results.
Leverage Automation Workflows
Automated emails can be especially rewarding for small businesses. With email automation, you can set up workflows based on events and customer behavior. For instance, you can send out a welcome email when a person joins your subscriber list. Or, if a user is browsing a particular section of your product list, you can mail them personalized offers. Drip email campaigns are one of the best examples of using email automation, where small pieces of information known as ‘drips’ are sent based on user interactions. Email automation helps you save on budget and still appear like a big brand.
Data Analytics is Key to the Success of Email Marketing
When you start email marketing as a small business, the best way to be successful is to keep it simple. For instance, you don’t need to put in much time for defining the ideal buyer persona since you will know most of your subscribers. Or, you won’t need to design exhaustive campaigns. It is a good idea to get started, optimize your messages and send times, track results, and move ahead one step at a time when it comes to upscaling. In this way, you can spend enough time understanding the ins and outs of email marketing while getting steady returns from your mailing efforts.
Data analytics is very useful for these steps. You want to take advantage of data analytics tools to make the most of your email marketing strategies.
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