Online businesses—whether travel, retail, or service related—all have the opportunity to stay in front of past customers and attract new ones through ezines and email campaigns.
According to a study performed by Econsultancy in July 2010, “68% of consumers aged 18 – 26 use emailed coupons online.” The same study also found that “more than half of consumers (57%) appreciate receiving advertising messages if they are directly beneficial, such as receiving a discount on a product or service.”
In order for your email campaigns and / or ezines to be successful, you must understand the basic elements of an effective campaign and ezine structure. First, it’s important to understand the difference between an email campaign and an ezine, as they are not the same thing.
An email campaign only has two goals in mind: to encourage prospects to take an action—whether that action is to visit your website, learn about new products, or contact you—and to influence them to purchase a product. An ezine’s primary purpose, on the other hand, is to provide subscribers with tips, advice, or helpful information related to a specific topic, that encourages them to visit your blog or social media profile to learn about more helpful tips or to possibly purchase from you.
Below, I have broken down the components of an email campaign so that you can create your very own sales-generating campaigns. (And don’t forget to stay tuned for Part II of this post where I will break down the components of the ezine.)
The Email Campaign
How do subscribers benefit from receiving my emails?
Subscribers to your list voluntarily request to receive emails from you that offer product updates, new inventory updates, free shipping, discounts, coupons, promotions, contests, free gifts, and more. When you give customers discounts on their favorite products or offer free shipping, you are providing them with a reason to look through your website to see if there is anything they need or want for which they can use their newly acquired coupon or discount.
How often should I send out company email blasts?
When sending emails to your subscribers, be sure not to inundate their inbox with junk—this often inspires customers to remove their name from a company’s list. Many companies will perform an email blast 1 – 3 times per week, depending on the promotions, coupons, and popularity of that company. You definitely don’t want to start out with this many updates per week. Rather, try sending out one per week, and analyze click-throughs throughout the month. You may decide to steadily increase the number of emails from 1 to 2 per week depending on your response rate.
What should the email look like?
Creativity is a must when it comes to effective email campaigns. Whether you want to offer a free gift or prize, inform subscribers of a sale, or offer coupons, grabbing the attention of your customers is one of the greatest obstacles you will face in your campaigns.
With that said, think about your website and blog design. Are they fresh, in line with your brand image, and engaging? If so, you’ll want to consider adding some of those design elements to the design of your email templates. Also, make sure the layout of your template is easy to navigate and fonts are legible. If your website or blog doesn’t express your brand image, don’t use those design elements in your email templates—that would simply spread an inaccurate projection of your brand even further.
Below are three real-world examples of email campaigns:
What kind of content should I add to each email campaign?
Once you have the design and layout of your template created, it’s time to create some juicy content. As mentioned above, your emails should offer product updates, new inventory updates, free shipping, discounts, coupons, promotions, contests, free gifts, and more. When you provide receivers with a reason to open your message, you need to provide them with a further call to action within that email that inspires them to visit your website or participate in a free giveaway. And, the more you provide your customers with reasons to visit your website, the more likely they will be to purchase from you on a regular basis.
Below are two examples of emails that offer savings:
Example Above: True Religion Jeans
Example above: Sephora
Also, don’t forget to add essential contact information in all of your messages. This data can be added to the template of your email. If you have social media profiles, provide subscribers with the opportunity to connect with you on these platforms by placing links to all of your active profiles. Sometimes, these subscribers might be more accessible on social media platforms as opposed to email, so providing them with that option is a great way to ensure you stay in front of them.
How do I influence customers to subscribe to my company emails?
Mention updates on social media, and say, “for more coupons and updates, subscribe to our mailing list,” and add a link that directs traffic to your email subscription page. Also, place a sign-up box on your website so that visitors always have the option to sign up for your mailing list.
Other options include adding a link to the subscription page on the footer of your blog and website. Or, place the link to your subscription page on the Thank You page that customers receive after they have made an online purchase.
Check out our blog this Thursday for Part II of this post! And feel free to leave us a comment about this post in our comments section.
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