delivra beginners guide ebook

THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOEMAIL MARKETING

Whether you’re a new entrepreneur, a recent marketing convert or a veteran business owner, an email campaign could be one of the

most powerful tools in your digital marketing strategy.

Email marketing is not new. Actually, it was more than 40 years ago that a guy by the name of Roy Tomlinson sent the first email. It’s gone through many evolutions since then, but today’s emails are proving to be a formidable method of catching the attention of prospective customers as well as maintaining your existing ones.

If you’re able to leverage it appropriately, you can use email marketing to increase engagement with your targeted audience. This guide will walk you through the basics of getting started on an effective email marketing campaign.

CONTENTS

Why use email as part of my marketing strategy?

Why do I need a service provider?

Developing an overall strategy

Developing a content strategy

Developing permission messaging

Developing a strategy for growing my list

Scheduling mailings

Writing great emails

Testing, testing and retesting

Segmenting an email marketing list

Glossary

4

7

9

12

15

18

20

22

26

29

31

WHY USE EMAIL AS PART OF MY MARKETING STRATEGY?

5

The Beginner’s Guide toEMAIL MARKETING

It’s more personal to your audience.

You may already have a fairly effective marketing plan. Maybe

it includes social media outreach, word-of-mouth referrals,

and ads in local publications. You may have regular customers

and a few new ones coming in every once in a while. But if

you’re not taking advantage of email messaging, you could

be missing out on opportunities for repeat business or

getting new clients who are looking for the types of services

or products you sell. In fact, 65 percent of marketers at B2B

companies say that email is the most effective tool they use.

Thanks to recent technological advances, today’s email

marketing campaigns can come across more personal. It is

now possible to directly target the interests of the various

groups of people in your audience. This type of personalization

is called segmentation. It allows you to tailor messages that

are more relevant to a particular group of people. It’s a great

way to maintain communication with your audience without

coming across as if you’re talking to thousands of people at

the same time.

It’s more effective than social media.

According to a recent study by SocialTwist that involved 119

referral campaigns, more than 50 percent of those who

became new customers were referred through email, 26

“51 percent of people

are discovering new

websites through

email (compared to 32

percent for social, 18

percent for PPC, and

54 percent through

organic search).”

- Conductor, 2014


6


percent through Facebook and 22 percent through Twitter.

“Email remains a significantly more effective way to acquire

customers than social media — nearly 40 times that of

Facebook and Twitter combined.” - McKinsey & Company, Why

marketers should keep sending you emails, Jan 2014

Not only that, but with mobile email open rates steadily

increasing within the past few years, a marketing plan that

doesn’t include email won’t be nearly as successful as it could

be. Your content is also less likely to be shared, as B2B users

are 88 percent more likely to share content via email.


WHY DO I NEED A SERVICE PROVIDER?

WHY DO I NEED A SERVICE PROVIDER?

8


Sure, you could craft emails by hand and try to tailor them

to various audiences, but a service provider allows you

to measure ROI and gauge your successes and failures –

something sending messages through your personal email

account won’t accomplish.

There are a number of different service providers with helpful

features like 24-hour support, analytics, auto-response, user

segmentation and tracking history, to name a few. Make a list

of specs you absolutely want or need from a service provider

before making a decision. A good service provider simplifies

email marketing while fitting your budget.

Laws like the CAN-SPAM Act regulate the types of messages

businesses can send and require that you allow subscribers

to opt-out of your mailing list. Your service provider can

suggest how frequently you should email subscribers or

how easily they should be able to unsubscribe to emails, but

it’s ultimately up to you to decide the best features for your

messaging.

“... a service provider

allows you to measure

ROI and gauge your

successes and

failures ...”

WHY DO I NEED ASERVICE PROVIDER?

DEVELOPING AN OVERALL STRATEGY

10


You wouldn’t reveal a new product or service without first

developing a marketing and advertising plan, right? The same

goes for starting an email marketing campaign. You’ll need to

decide what you want the campaign to accomplish, who you

want to target and how you’ll succeed.

Determine your goals

First of all, you should have a clear idea of what you want

the campaign to accomplish. Do you intend to advertise new

products and discounted items in order to increase sales? Are

you focused on educating your audience and gaining upsell

opportunities? Or is this simply a campaign designed to create

brand awareness? The tone and frequency of your messaging

depends on your goal.

Know your audience

Being aware of your audience’s needs is another key factor in

how you’ll strategize and frame your messaging. For example,

a consumer-based audience likely wants to hear about

new products and discounted items, whereas a business

audience will be more interested in new services and software

updates. Also consider how often you should send emails to

subscribers. Keep them informed, but don’t be a nuisance.

“According to

Outbrain, 44 percent

of email subscribers

purchased an item

they first saw in an

email, and 35 percent

of email subscribers

open emails based on

the subject line.”

DEVELOPING ANOVERALL STRATEGY

11


DEVELOPING ANOVERALL STRATEGY

Analyze your competitors

Take a look at how your competition is doing with email

marketing campaigns. What are their strengths and

weaknesses? How can you improve on their tactics? Are they

using software that makes them more efficient or organized?

If you notice that your competitors are more successful with

their email marketing campaigns, it may be because they’re

sending quality content to their audience. According to

Outbrain, 44 percent of email subscribers purchased an item

they first saw in an email, and 35 percent of email subscribers

open emails based on the subject line.

DEVELOPING A CONTENT STRATEGY

13


Once you’ve developed an overall strategy for your email

marketing plan, it’s time to map out the most important detail

– the content you’ll be sending to subscribers. Here are just a

few topics you should discuss:

Develop a mix of messages

Switching up your messaging keeps readers interested and

less likely to hit the “unsubscribe” button. Try using messaging

that includes helpful advice, free or discounted merchandise,

service information, updates, etc.

Determine intervals

There’s a fine line between too few emails and too many

emails. How frequently you message consumers determines

whether your emails will be helpful or annoying. Sending one

email a day is enough to keep most readers informed and

interested, but unless the email serves a purpose for you or

the subscriber, the best option is not to send it.

Place content ideas in a calendar

Keeping a log of ideas you’ve come up with will help you stay

organized and ensures you won’t miss an opportunity for

sending out successful messages. Using Basecamp or Google

Calendar allows you to share ideas with higher-ups or product

developers and gives them a chance to send feedback.

“ Switching up your

messaging keeps

readers interested

and less likely to hit

the ‘unsubscribe’

button.“

DEVELOPING ACONTENT STRATEGY

14


Regularly review your content calendar to tweak & update

Touch base with key stakeholders regularly so you have an

opportunity to hear new ideas or gather updates. This also

gives you an opportunity to discover what type of messaging

has been working and what needs improvement.

DEVELOPING ACONTENT STRATEGY

DEVELOPING PERMISSION MESSAGING

16


Permission-based messaging is when a user actively signs

up to receive emails from a business, rather than unwittingly

giving their email addresses to someone and getting

bombarded with spam. Of course, getting people to willingly

hand over their email address isn’t easy, so here are a few

suggestions:

• Offer something free at sign-up

• Say you won’t send spam or sell their email address

(and mean it)

• Create a survey they can fill out to make your emails

more relevant to their interests

• Allow them to sign up for specific mailing lists for

service updates, new products, discounts, etc.

When you ask permission to send users emails, make it very

clear as to what you’ll be sending them and what you’ll do (or

not do) with their personal information. Subscribers will want

to know how many messages you’ll send and what types of

emails (promotional, updates, discounts, special offers, etc.)

they’ll receive.

While a service provider strives to ensure your emails aren’t

blocked, some emails may still end up in the junk folder when

sent to certain addresses. To prevent this from happening,

“ When you ask

permission to send

users emails, make it

very clear as to what

you’ll be sending them

and what you’ll do

(or not do) with their

personal information.“

DEVELOP PERMISSION MESSAGING

17


DEVELOP PERMISSION MESSAGING

immediately request to be whitelisted – or added to a list of

approved IP addresses (or senders) – when someone first

subscribes. Prompting subscribers to add you to their address

book or list of contacts should prevent future emails from

being marked as spam.

DEVELOPING A STRATEGY FOR MY GROWING LIST

19


If your email marketing efforts have hit a plateau – or you want

to prevent yourself from reaching that point – you’ll need to

make a plan for growing your mailing list. One surefire way

to do this is to offer your audience a free product, service

or piece of content in exchange for becoming a subscriber.

People are a lot more willing to join a mailing list if they know

they’ll receive a gift.

Another method for growing your list of subscribers is to offer

rewards for referrals. If a current subscriber refers someone

to sign up for your mailing list, reward them with a free or

discounted product or service to make them more likely to

refer someone in the future.

Also consider following up with subscribers who receive your

emails but haven’t responded to your offers or CTAs for a

while. Making them active again may be as simple as switching

them to a mailing group that’s more relevant to their interests.

Utilize social media, word of mouth and other channels to

promote your mailing list as well.

“People are a lot

more willing to join

a mailing list if they

know they’ll receive

a gift.“

DEVELOPING A STRATEGYFOR MY GROWING LIST

SCHEDULINGMAILINGS

21


How often you should email someone depends on why they

signed up in the first place and what they expect from your

messages. Don’t send emails simply because you can – each

message you send should have a purpose that informs or

otherwise benefits the reader. If you can’t answer why you’re

sending an email to your subscribers, it’s best not to send it at all.

One useful tool for ensuring that messages are sent at

appropriate times is an auto-responder feature. If your email

service provider offers this feature, you can create messages

that automatically go out when someone first subscribes

to your mailing list. Some also allow you to send automated

messages based on a subscriber’s unique opens and

downloads, or interest in specific whitepaper topics.

“ ... each message you

send should have a

purpose that informs

or otherwise benefits

the reader.“

SCHEDULINGMAILINGS

WRITINGGREATEMAILS

23


What makes a great subject line?

Your subject line is arguably the most important aspect of your

message. It’s the first thing subscribers read, and it’ll determine

whether they even bother to open the email. There are quite a few

ways to make your subject line stand out, like:

• Make headlines short – Around 6 to 10 words; you should

be able to read the entire line without opening the email.

• Be clear and concise – The email message should quickly

get to the point, and should have a beginning, middle

and end. Avoid rambling. The subscriber may quickly lose

interest.

• Write comprehensive email campaigns – If a subscriber

has downloaded a whitepaper before, anticipate the topics

they will be interested in as a follow-up. Your email service

provider can give you tips on how to develop subsequent

emails that will be of interest to your audience.

• Provide value – Whether providing useful resources or a

discount, make sure that the email delivers some type of

value to the recipients.

• Personalize – If possible, insert the person’s name in the

subject line. If that’s not an option, you can still use “you”

and “your” to make the message more personal.

“Your subject line is

arguably the most

important aspect of

your message.“

WRITINGGREAT EMAILS

24


What makes great copy?

Similar rules apply to the actual email copy as the subject

line. Keep it personal, keep it short and sweet, and inform

subscribers of updates or discounts that are useful to them.

Following is a summary of do’s and don’ts when writing email

content:

DO: optimize for mobile. According to Litmus, 53 percent

of emails are opened on mobile devices, compared to just

22 percent on desktop programs. Needless to say, how your

emails will look on mobile devices should be a big factor in

your content layout. Simple things like making the font larger

or narrowing the email down to one column will make it easier

for mobile users to read.

DO: use proper grammar and spelling. Ensuring that your

content is free of errors not only makes your messaging more

intelligent, it shows you put a lot of effort into making your

emails as flawless as possible. Some subscribers might not

bat an eye at the occasional misspelled word, but an errant

misplaced apostrophe may be enough to make someone

unsubscribe.

“Keep it personal,

keep it short and

sweet, and inform

subscribers of

updates or discounts

that are useful to

them.“

WRITINGGREAT EMAILS

25


WRITINGGREAT EMAILS

DON’T: forget the CTA. A call-to-action gives readers a

clear idea of what they should do after they read your email,

whether it’s downloading a new e-book or checking out a

description of your latest product.

DON’T: ramble. Again, emails should be short and sweet,

as subscribers (especially the ones who primarily use mobile

devices) don’t want to scroll through a dozen lines of text to

get to the point of your message. Focus on why you’re sending

the email, what you want the person to do and how your

message will benefit your audience.

TESTING,TESTING &RETESTING

27


Measuring the success of your email marketing campaign

can be done multiple ways depending on what you want your

campaign to accomplish. For instance, if you simply want to

find out how many subscribers are even opening your emails

or clicking on the URLs, you’ll want to measure the open rate

and click-through rate. If you want to know how many emails

fail to reach subscribers, measure the bounce rate.

How to do A/B testing

One way to find out if one message will be more successful

than another is to try A/B testing. A/B testing for email

marketing is when you send two small test groups the same

message, but written differently, to see which one is most

effective. An example of this is writing two subject lines that

basically say the same thing, but have different tones, like:

“How to Measure Your Email Marketing Campaign’s Success”

“Is your email marketing campaign failing? Find out today”

As you can see, both have the same message, but one

will likely resonate with your subscription base more than

the other. When you’ve measured which one garners the

most responses, send that message out to the rest of your

audience.

“Measuring your

email successes and

failures should give

you an idea of how

you can improve your

messaging.“

TESTING, TESTING& RETESTING

28


TESTING, TESTING& RETESTING

What to do to tweak your email marketing campaign for

increased effectiveness

Measuring your email successes and failures should give you

an idea of how you can improve your messaging. If you see

an increase in the number of people opening your emails

or visiting your site, you know that the type of messaging is

relevant to your audience.

On the other hand, if you have a portion of your audience

unsubscribing, it could be because your messaging is

no longer relevant to that group of people. Always give

unsubscribers a short survey asking why they no longer wish

to receive your emails. This can help you prevent further

opt-outs for the same reason.

SEGMENTING AN EMAIL MARKETING LIST

30


What is it?

List segmentation is when you divide your mailing list into

groups based on the type of audience you want to target for

a particular message, promotion, etc. This can be extremely

helpful for sending the right message at the right time to the

right group of people.

Why is it effective?

Segmenting allows you to automate emails with targeted

messages so that they are more relevant to a select group

of users. An example of this would be to send a calendar of

scheduled webinars only to those who have signed up for

webinars in the past or requested more information about

them. A subscription list of business clients would most likely

read your emails from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, whereas

a list of consumers are more likely to read emails at nights

and weekends.

“Segmenting allows

you to automate

emails with targeted

messages so that they

are more relevant to a

select group of users.“

SEGMENTING AN EMAILMARKETING LIST

31


GLOSSARY

Account: Your database where

contacts, content, mailing data and

reports are stored.

Account overview: A commonly used

report that gives you a snapshot of your

account with standard mailing statistics,

which you can customize by time range.

Blacklist: A list of spammer IP addresses

whose emails are blocked.

Bounce back: When an email fails to reach

the recipient. This can be due to issues like

an incorrect mailing address, disconnected

email or full inbox.

Campaign: A report tool that

allows grouping of mailings sent so all

grouped mailings can be viewed in one

report.

Category: A static subset of the contacts

database. Categories do not use queries.

Click-through rate: The percentage of

unique recipients that click on a URL in your

email message.

Contacts: Database of email addresses and

demographic fields.

Content: The HTML message sent to

contacts

Custom fields: Available database fields

that can store contact information such as

Name, Address, Phone, Dates etc.

Draft mailing: A saved mailing that has not

yet been sent to contacts or a subset of

contacts.

Engagement: Open, click and

forward reporting, rolled into one

calculation. There are two types of

Engagement - contact and mailing.

Google Analytics: Additional

tracking function that allows sent

mailing activity to be reported back to

Google Analytics used on your website.

HTML email: A type of email that can

include various fonts, colors and designs.

Media Library: A place to store image files

(gif, jpg, png), PDF documents, Word

documents and other HTML files.

32


Open rate: The definition of this phrase

can vary, depending upon the ESP you’re

working with. In general terms, an open

rate includes images downloaded by a

recipient and the number of clicks on a

link. On the other hand, a unique open rate

calculated by dividing the number of unique

subscribers that do either of those things

by the unique number of recipients in the

entire campaign.

Opt-in: When a user subscribes to or gives

a business permission to send emails.

Opt-out: When a subscriber cancels an

email subscription from a business.

Plain text email: An email that doesn’t use

HTML; often making it easier to read, but

less creative.

Scheduled mailing: The ability to schedule

your mailings at future dates and times.

Spam: An email that’s sent to someone who

hasn’t subscribed or opted-in.

SMS: A separate interface that

allows communication to subscribers via

text messages to cell phones.

Split test mailing: This mailing

feature allows two or more pieces of

content to be sent to a segment or

category where results can be compared

to determine which mailing performed most

favorably.

Subscribe form: An HTML form hosted on

your website that feeds back to your Delivra

contacts database.

Template: Stored content that allows

to create text and HTML email designs

and store them for future use.

Text to subscribe: A feature that allows

new subscribers to simply text a keyword to

a shortcode to join your contacts database.

Unsub: An email address that has

unsubscribed from email communications.

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call 866.915.9465 or visit www.delivra.com

Documents

delivra beginners guide ebook