It can be pretty frustrating when you don’t get the results you were hoping for after setting up your email marketing funnel, you’ve just set up your online store, crafted then perfect landing page and developed your very own subject line waiting for the sales to roll in but alas, you got zero conversions. This is every marketer’s nightmare. Just the mere thought of it makes me shiver.
How then do you now make the most out of email marketing?
Don’t worry we’ve got you covered.
The very first thing you must know is that nobody wants to be sold, everyone likes being in control, we all want to make decisions. If you’ve been trying to hard sell your prospects by shoving your impersonal, uninteresting, valueless pitch down their throat thinking it would knock their socks off. We are sorry to say but that’s not the way to go. You want your prospects to actually buy what is being sold by putting up an irresistible offer that actually adds value to them.
Our first tip then becomes;
Really Add Value
This Advice goes for all kinds of marketing, if you are really adding value to people, whatever you are promoting will be bought. Once you take this to heart and are really promoting products or solutions that people will be really interested in, then you are set to start optimizing the rest out of your email marketing funnel.
Email Copy
Ensure your email copy is brief, straight to the point, full of benefits and devoid of unnecessary graphics. Your email copy should be written with a goal in mind, it should be concise and written in a personal customized way like a real conversation, the actual message should contain little or no graphics. The more you fill your emails with graphics the more it tends to be labeled as a spam message and with Gmail automatically sorting high graphic emails as promotions (best case) or spam (worst case) your email might not even be seen or opened on time.
Subject Line
There is a saying that goes like this, “don’t judge a book by its cover” while this statement holds true most of the time, when it comes to email marketing it doesn’t quite cut it, the first thing your prospect or audience will see is your subject line and they would very well judge your whole email buy that single line. Consider this subject line “Do not open this Email” and compare it with this “hi, open me” it is quite obvious that the former will most definitely be opened as it would be considered worthwhile, interesting and will spark curiosity, while the other would be considered unnecessary, and time-wasteful.
A good subject line should portray urgency and scarcity. It should instill curiosity and spark controversy, it should be likable and personal and generally, it should be worth opening. If your email subject line satisfies one or more of the following characteristics, then you are good to go. If not, it would be worthwhile to consider revamping your subject line.
Timing
There are good times and bad times to send an email, imagine sending an email at 1 a.m. Sunday morning. What are the odds of that email getting opened or seen? If you ask me it is next to zilch, nada, zero. You most certainly want to send your emails at hot times of the day when your audience will most likely be active and would be in the best position to open your email. Time zones are something you will also want to consider, especially if you are going international. Some email marketing platforms can help you automate this process, such as Getresponse. You can also use Mailchimp’s Timewarp or Hubspot smart time zone feature. Whatever you do, it is best to send your email at the right time.
Follow up, follow up, follow up
Email marketing is something you do consistently to get the best results. It is not something you try out for a few days and stop. Your first email message may not get the results you are looking for, but when you follow up on it and remain consistent on the job, you will definitely be getting the results you desire in no time. The truth is that some of your prospects may not just have access to their emails at a particular time and there is nothing you can do about that, but when you are consistent and follow up, you would definitely meet them where you want them to be.