Top Effective Strategies For Better Email Marketing

Emailing, online direct mail or electronic mailing is a method of direct marketing that uses email as a means of mass business communication to send messages to an audience.

Emailing and above all, succeeding is not an exercise to be taken lightly. If the operation may seem simple (send an email), it actually requires mastering some marketing techniques and thinking beforehand about the relevance of its emailing strategy.

In this article, strategies for creating successful emailing has been laid down. Read through the article carefully.

1. Define a goal

This is the step that will define the rest of your emailing strategy. Start by precisely defining the objective that you have to fulfill. Why do you want to email?

The objectives can be varied:

• Inform via a newsletter
• Introduce a new product
• Make an important announcement
• Launch a promotional offer
• Qualify a database
• Prospect
• Etc…

The creation and configuration of your campaign will depend on the objective you set yourself initially. It is around this objective that your choices in terms of targeting, design, or speech will be articulated.

So take the time to set a specific goal and be sure that you really have a mailing need.

2. Define your target

Setting the target for your campaign is the second most crucial step. It must naturally follow from the objective that you set yourself beforehand.

For example, if your goal is to increase customer loyalty, the choice of your target will obviously turn to your customer base.

However, defining your target isn't easy.

Using our example of loyalty mailing, we can further specify the target by choosing only customers who have not ordered for more than 6 months but have already spent more than € 100 with you.

You always have to be very precise to be able to create the most relevant campaign possible.

The more narrow and precise your targeting, the more concerned your recipients will be with your speech, and the closer you will appear to them. And there is nothing more effective than personalized emailing tailored to the recipient.

3. Write the subject

The subject of an email is probably the most important element in ensuring its success. It's simple, if it doesn't make you want to open, your campaign will ultimately have been a waste of time ... and money.

This is why you need to take your time to find the email object that will boost your opening rates.

Often, the object is considered lightly and it is chosen at the last minute. However, it is he who will indeed trigger the opening at the recipient, it is the gateway to your message.

It is therefore advisable not to think about the object of your campaign at the last moment, but to devote one or even several hours to have time to think about it.

How to write the subject of an email?

There is no ideal method, but we recommend the following techniques:

• Don't work alone, two creative brains are better than one
• Write down all the ideas that go through your head on paper, even the most eccentric
• Find at least 20 object ideas that have nothing to do with each other
• Proceed by elimination, and delete those which seem out of context
• Ask your colleagues for advice
• Keep at least two, you'll do an A / B test, it's the best way to know which one will work best

4. HTML emailing

To make an aesthetic HTML emailing, it must be composed of HTML / CSS code. If these concepts seem complicated to you, don't worry: no technical knowledge is required to create a beautiful responsive message. All you need is the right tool.

Anyway, we are talking about HTML / CSS code to evoke the programming language that is hidden behind an email or a website. This code can be written from A to Z by a web designer via specialized software like Dreamweaver for example.

But for a novice, there are email tools that allow you to compose an email by simply clicking/dragging without having to touch the code.

These types of builders are fun, easy to use, and allow you to create emailing and newsletters adapted for mobile in just a few minutes, by moving blocks of content wherever you want.

Also, most emailing solutions have galleries of customizable email templates sorted by categories.

These sources of inspiration are very useful for any marketer who does not necessarily have time to fully create his message or for those who do not feel the soul of a web designer.

Besides, the templates offered in these emailing solutions are fully customizable and adaptable to any type of business. Do not hesitate to browse the galleries of HTML emailing templates available in your solution.

5. Send your emailing campaign

Sending an email campaign is sometimes a little stressful, especially when you have to send a message to a large base of recipients.

So don't miss it! It is essential to the checkpoint by the point that all the elements of the campaign are correct before clicking on send.

Here is a list of things you shouldn't miss:

• Ensure that the web copy and the unsubscribe link are present
• Check that all links work
• Test the display of email on a mobile
• Send tests on different messaging and web-mails
• Check that the total weight of the campaign does not exceed 150Kb. If you are forced to do a heavier emailing because you want to add attachments or dense content, test on all possible mailboxes to verify that it does not fall into SPAM
• Remove any word "Test" from the subject
• Make sure a pre-header exists before the web copy
• Test the response email address to make sure you receive replies
• Once everything looks OK, you are ready to send your message.

However, you need to be equipped with an emailing solution with excellent deliver-ability capabilities.

If you send from France to France, the idea is to use a solution whose routing infrastructure is located on our territory, for certification reasons which will participate in the success of the shipments.

International solutions are not fortunate enough to be recognized by all French ISPs and will find it more difficult to deliver emails correctly.

6. Analyze the results

An emailing strategy does not stop at creating and sending campaigns. It is more than essential to analyze in-depth the statistics of your shipments to better understand what worked and what did not.

For this, professional emailing solutions are capable of providing essential statistical data after each sending and in real-time.

We generally find:

• The opening rate
• Click-through rate
• The reactivity rate
• The churn rate
• The NPAI rate
• The number of complaints
• The number of clicks per link
• Media used for reading
• Mail recipients
• OS used for reading
• Geolocation of recipients
• Exact reading time per contact (only in Sarbacane)

To find out more about all these data, you can find our articles The 5 Great Basic Emailing Statistics and 6 Advanced Statistics to Know in Emailing.

This data is extremely relevant and important for understanding why a campaign worked or not. For example, if you notice a significant drop in the opening rate of your newsletter when your recipient base has not changed, it may be that your subject has not attracted enough attention.

Another example: if your opening rate is excellent but your click-through rate is very low, it may be due to the placement of your action button, which was not ideal.

The numerous other data provided by your emailing solution will also allow you to improve your strategy on many aspects and will warn you in the event of a misstep.

To conclude, emailing is not always easy ... but it is not that complex either! If the work requires a certain concentration and an ounce of creativity, it is not necessary to have the technical knowledge to create, send, and analyze an emailing campaign. Acquiring a complete and easy-to-use solution is more than essential for being able to master your emailing strategy from A to Z.

Author: Axel AMAGBEGNON