Six Email Marketing Essentials for Small Business Owners
Tuesday March 21, 2017
Small business owners are some of the most ambitious, crazy, driven, brilliant and fantastic people in the business world. They are not afraid to jump in, take risks and work long hours for the potential benefit of success. Unfortunately however, small business owners do not often approach email marketing with the same vigor. There are primarily two types of business owners: Those who over communicate through email and those who are afraid to do so. The reality is that email marketing can be incredibly lucrative or it can be the fastest way to drive away potential customers. No pressure right?
Don’t worry, we’ve compiled the following six email marketing essentials for small business owners just like you. Follow these tips to help increase engagement and decrease unsubscribes.
1. Have a Purpose
A lot of emails lack this one simple quality - purpose! Why the heck are you sending this email in the first place? Of course we know the ultimate reason - to drive more sales, increase revenue, gain more customers, etc. - but your recipients need a better reason than that. Make it about them and then tell them what you want them to do. Never send an email without first determining how it will benefit the recipient and how it will lead to a benefit for you.
2. Don’t Talk Too Much
A lot of email campaigns fail to adhere to this simple rule: Don’t talk too much! The average attention span is somewhere around 8 seconds, so try and get the point across in 5. If you take too long to tell a reader why they should pay attention, you will lose them. Keep your content to 1-3 sentences per paragraph and only one paragraph per content section.
3. Really Sell It!
Yes, we are talking about the subject line. Without a compelling subject line you’ll be lucky to have anyone open it. Seriously, what would draw your interest more: “Check out our monthly newsletter,” or “5 reasons why your customers are leaving and what to do about it.” ‘Nuff said.
4. Make It Pretty
We are visual creatures! Remember when we talked about attention span a couple paragraphs ago? Nothing grabs someone’s attention faster than an image. If you can make it move by utilizing an animated gif, even better! But make sure whatever visuals you include are in line with your overall brand. There is such a thing as a bad image...and we have all been on the receiving end of them. Grabbing clip art simply because it is free and you “need an image” is not going to net you a positive result. As a matter of fact you might actually turn off your audience if you include a poor image. It’s worth it to invest a couple dollars each email you send in order to have professional imagery. Trust me, it is far more expensive to lose a prospect that unsubscribes from your newsletter due to poor visuals. Look the part!
5. Timing Is Everything
Honestly, we all get too many emails. Sometimes we read them, sometimes we ignore them, but one thing we all notice - when we receive too many, too frequently from the same company. Don’t be perceived as a spammer. Figure out what your audience is coming to you for and then provide it. Set the expectation up front. Let them know how often to expect your newsletter, or let them know they will receive an email notification when a particular product goes on sale. Don’t be afraid to email your audience but make sure you set the right expectations up front first.
6. Monitor the Results
Want to know if your email marketing efforts are actually paying off? Of course you do. If you use AllProWebTools’ Email Marketing WebTool you have the ability to track open and click rates, along with unsubscribes, number of purchases, and the highly sought after sales revenue. Whatever you use to track your progress, make sure you are tracking it. Analyzing your results will help you provide better services to your clients and will ultimately result in more profits for your business.
Did you know AllProWebTools offers email marketing, automation, marketing reports and the ability to offer coupons to your customers within your emails? Check out our free demo to see for yourself.