Sending out an email campaign can be a time-consuming and expensive process.
The wrong type of email campaign can sink your marketing efforts when attempting to connect with your target audience and build long-term business success. On the other hand, the right type of email campaign can really provide a solid ROI for your business.
An email campaign also involves a lot of moving pieces. Choosing the right subject lines, designing your emails, sending them out at the right time, and ensuring that each email is filled with good content are some of the steps involved. As you can imagine, many things can go wrong along the way.
That is where the right type of email campaign service comes into play. In this article, I will discuss with you all you need to know when choosing the right campaign service for your business. By the end of it, you’ll know what it takes to run a successful email campaign using tools that make your business life as straightforward as possible. Let’s dive right in.
What Exactly Is An Email Campaign?
An email campaign is an ongoing series of emails that are sent to pre-collected lists of people. You can set up your email campaigns in several ways, but the most common example would be to create specific emails for each group of subscribers on your list.
There are several reasons why you should think about using email campaigns. If you have dedicated followers or subscribers who like what you do, this could be a great way to keep them interested and engaged with your brand - it's also an excellent way to promote new products and services.
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Many companies tend not to focus much on their existing customer base, preferring instead to work hard trying to get new customers in the door. This is partly a mistake - while getting new customers is important, taking care of your current ones is equally as important; while also being cheaper.
Email marketing campaigns are also an excellent way to get more exposure for your business and increase brand awareness. You can send messages to potential customers, letting them know everything you have to offer and how it could benefit them.
With the right email marketing strategy in place, there's no reason why successful campaigns can't boost sales figures and lead generation for your business.
What Is The Role Of An Email Marketing Provider?
Email marketing providers provide a range of services for both beginners and professionals. They offer a variety of plans, from free ones (that are usually limited by the number of subscribers they can reach) to more comprehensive paid options providing advanced functionality such as KPI tracking or even subscriber data management tools.
In addition, the best email marketing services allow you to link contacts in your mailing list with their social media accounts, making it easier for you to gain exposure on popular platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Email marketing providers also allow you to track the results of your campaigns using detailed reports detailing the number of emails sent, opened, and clicked through. This information will help you make decisions about how to improve your future campaigns.
Choosing an email provider that's right for you is the first step in finding success with your email marketing.
Benefits Of Sending An Email Campaign When Compared To Other Forms Of Marketing
There are many reasons why people opt to use email campaigns rather than other forms of advertising. Let’s have a look at some of the biggest benefits that email marketing offers.
It's Cost-Effective And Saves Time
Sending emails only costs pennies on the dollar compared to traditional print or broadcast ads. Considering the marketing budget is usually one of the most significant expenses for any company, email campaigns can be a lifesaver.
The best email marketing software can make setting up email campaigns and tracking results quick and easy. This can save you a significant amount of time - time which can be dedicated to other parts of running a business.
Email Marketing Services Are Versatile
Email marketing campaigns are a versatile form of promotion. If you send a campaign that resonates with your subscribers, the amount of engagement from the people on your list will continuously increase. This means that more people will take the time to learn about your products or services.
As a result, you're more likely to boost sales and increase your bottom line by catering to this engaged audience. Email marketing is also flexible enough to be used as a platform for other things, such as newsletters, deals and discounts, and even to provide general information.
You may decide to use several of these formats at once so you can diversify the way you promote your business.
Tracking Emails Helps Build Trust With Customers
Email marketing services allow businesses to better communicate with their customers by gathering feedback through surveys or polls. This allows companies to take the customer's perspective into account when planning their next move, which leads to higher levels of trust and loyalty.
People like it when they feel that your marketing efforts are aimed at their needs. They appreciate being given exclusive offers or being considered when dealing with your company, so think about adding a survey to your email campaigns for an improved response rate. An email campaign service ensures that this is easily integrated with your current marketing.
You Can Easily Schedule Your Emails Ahead Of Time
Email marketing providers also allow you to schedule your emails in advance - which means you can plan when it comes to promotional events. Using email marketing to send out holiday emails at certain times of year (such as Black Friday or Christmas) can be an excellent way to boost sales figures - thanks to email campaigns that happen in advance.
You can also use marketing automation to schedule emails to specific people based on particular conditions. For example, you can schedule an email to go out to a particular demographic whenever your business receives new stock. The best email marketing platforms make these types of campaigns easy to set up and maintain.Email Marketing Tools Give You The Power To Customize Your Campaigns
Most email services allow you to place hyperlinks and images in emails to track when they're opened and by whom. This is an excellent way for businesses to control how their messages are received, increasing click-through rates and purchases.
Businesses that utilize email marketing tools can create promotional messages that marry their branding with effective content - which means more people will notice your business name and logo, thus boosting brand awareness.
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The best email service providers make adding custom information to your emails easy; after all, the better personalized and designed your emails are, the better the response you’ll get from your audience.
It's Easy To Set Up And Manage
Nowadays, you don't need to spend thousands of dollars on software or hire someone to keep track of your campaign statistics. With many email marketing providers, you won't need any technical training either.
This might be one of the best reasons why using an email marketing service is a viable solution for any business. There's no need for a huge learning curve here; you can have a campaign up and running in a matter of minutes, which means more time to focus on your business.
Using features such as drag and drop (which is something that's found in virtually all email marketing service providers), you'll be able to set up and manage your campaign without any issues. You can also save your email campaign progress as you go, so if inspiration strikes at any point during your day, it's easy to pick up where you left off.
With those benefits in mind, let's now look at the various types of emails you can send to make your campaigns successful.
Email Campaign Types You Can Use In Your Business
There are various types of email marketing campaigns that you can run. The below will help you make the right choice depending on the occasion.
Promotional Email Campaigns
These types of campaigns are an excellent way for businesses to promote their products or services. You can contact people who have already purchased from your company or send out an advert to those that are new to what you do. If people believe that you have the right solutions, they will be more interested in what your business offers.
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This means that you should always focus on defining the benefits that people will get if they buy your products. Remember that it’s always about your subscribers and the value you can add to their lives.
When sending out promotional emails, make sure that they are sincere and don't come across as spam.
Transactional Email Campaigns
Transactional email campaigns are typically sent out whenever someone makes a purchase or signs up for an account with you. These kinds of messages are often automated, but it's always good practice to personalize them slightly so customers know they’re not just a number.
You can set up these kinds of campaigns strategically when adding products to your website. This means that people will get the right type of email based on the actions they take. It will also mean that you can guide people along the process in their customer journey with your company.
Welcome Sequence / Lead-Based Email Campaigns
Lead-based email campaigns are similar to transactional messages, except they are sent out when someone gives you their contact information. This means they are freshly interested in what you have to say and will probably be open to receiving promotional or transactional emails from your business once they are warmed up.
The best practice here is to give them something of value in return - such as a coupon, highly-quality content, or even a free webinar. Anything that helps them see the value you provide and entices them to open further emails is good at this point.
Features And Tools You Can Use When Sending Emails
An email campaign service offers tools and features that make it easy for businesses to send great email campaigns. Just be aware that these will vary depending on which service you're using. Here are the most common features and tools available.
Subscriber Segmentation
Email marketing services with subscriber segmentation tools allow you to send emails to specific groups of people. You can do this by creating custom segments based on their actions (such as whether they've completed a particular activity or how long they've been subscribed) or by simply importing lists of subscribers.
This is perfect for sending promotional and informational messages to specific customers and creating highly focused content depending on who the recipients are.
Automated Workflows
Automated workflows are great because they save time; plus, they also assist you in saving a lot of money. You won't have to hire a dedicated employee to handle the technical aspect of your email marketing workflows.
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These easy-to-setup workflows enable you to create systems that send the right message at the right time. For example, if someone signs up for your service, then they'll receive a welcome email. If they haven't opened this message after a couple of days, then they will automatically receive an email with promotional material instead - and so on.
Dynamic Content And Templates
Email campaign services with dynamic content allow you to personalize messages, which helps increase click rates and conversions. These tools let you quickly edit messages before sending them out (for example: replacing “Dear valued subscriber” with the actual person's name). Some email marketing services also include a library of pre-written messages that you can use as the basis of your campaigns.
Landing Pages
You can create proven-to-convert landing pages using email marketing services. These are websites where people enter their contact information to receive promotional or transactional messages from your business.
A landing page builder is perfect for conducting giveaways, collecting signups, or promoting contests and events.
Mobile Marketing Tools
Email campaign services typically offer mobile-friendly templates that can be opened on any device. You may even be able to use certain features, such as taking advantage of geolocation so that you can send out messages to people who are close to your business or are able to scan QR codes.
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All of these are handy for increasing the visibility of your company and the products or services that you offer.
Creating A Successful Email Campaign
The best email marketing service for you is the one that matches your business's needs and allows you to plan in advance.
The better your initial plan, the better your campaign will do. This also means that you’ll be able to make any adjustments that need to happen as campaigns are live.
In order to maximize your chances of success, let’s now look at proven ideas marketers have used in the past to create successful email campaigns.
Provide Direct Value In Your Emails
If you want people to open up your messages, you need to make sure they contain content worth reading. It doesn't have to be anything too fancy - in fact, most consumers want useful information that'll help them solve their problems or even just clutter-free text that they can quickly skim through to get the main ideas.
Use Compelling Subject Lines
It always helps if you have a good subject line for your messages, so make sure that whatever you write stands out and piques your subscribers' interest. See if you can make use of words or phrases such as "exclusive," "limited time only," etc.; these are great attention-grabbers and work well with most audiences.
With that said, do not overdo it since you will lose people if you always use the same tactic when creating your subject lines.
Send Messages Often Enough
While sending too many emails can backfire, so will sending an email whenever you have something to sell.
Sending value-packed emails whenever it makes sense is a good tactic. Sending such emails more frequently ensures that people that are interested in what you have to offer, remember. Contrarily, those that aren’t interested can simply unsubscribe.
This is a much better situation to be in as opposed to sending an email and having recipients not remember who you are or what you stand for.
Include Valuable Links
People may love your messages but forget to visit your website unless you explicitly tell them to do so. Point people in the right direction by including a link for them in each email campaign that uses the right call to action.
This can increase click rates and make it easier for customers to find what they need on your website.
Clean Up Your Lists
Cleaning up your list refers to the process of removing those who are no longer interested in receiving your emails. It’s a good idea to remove anyone who hasn’t opened your emails every few months - doing so will keep your email campaign service bill down while increasing your open rates.
Asking people who unsubscribe for their thoughts (and what the reasons that caused them to unsubscribe were) is also a good tactic to have in place. Over time, this can improve the quality of the emails that you send.
Start Small
Remember that email marketing is a powerful tool, so learn how to use it properly before unleashing its full power. Once you've learned the basics, feel free to branch out and try sending different kinds of messages because there are many ways to get creative with your email marketing efforts.
Learning what works (and what doesn’t) is a mix of experience, making mistakes, and getting feedback from others. Starting small ensures that you minimize your risks while maximizing the potential for long-term success.
Email Campaign Service - FAQ
If you're busy with several tasks in your business, then an email campaign service can help you speed up your operations by automating things. This means that you will have more time to spend on other essential matters.
Also, it's a great way of reaching out to large audiences without spending too much money at the same time.
The answer is that it depends. A free email marketing service can work for you as long as you use it in the right way. You'll usually come across limits when using a free tool, but on the positive side, this is good because it helps you test your campaigns without losing your shirt.
A drag and drop editor lets you simply "drag" elements around so that they're positioned correctly in your email campaign. This makes it easy to organize blocks of text, images, videos, etc. Taking advantage of this feature when possible is a good idea.
A drag and drop email also allows you to create different versions of the same email in order to test out what works best.
An ESP is an email service provider; each one has its terms and conditions that need to be met before you can use their services. It's worth noting that some offer trial periods or let you cancel at any time if things don't work out the way they should.
Understanding what’s involved before getting into any long-term contract is important.
Features such as saving email templates, sending unlimited emails to unlimited contacts, having the ability to integrate with several marketing channels, and sending drip campaigns are all examples of more advanced features.
With so many options on the market, it's not hard to find something that will fit your needs without having too many bells and whistles that you won’t use.
These include software such as Constant Contact, Aweber, GetResponse, and many more.
Conclusion
An email campaign service is an excellent way of getting your message out to people without spending too many resources.
Over time, you’ll be able to build upon what works and remove what doesn’t. The key is to keep experimenting so that you can develop a better understanding of how to use the right email marketing tool. Ultimately, building a relationship with your list will allow you to have a source of traffic that you can call your own.
This traffic source will be responsive and open to receiving information about your business, thereby increasing your ROI and bottom line.
