Email marketing can be an extremely effective way for small businesses to reach new customers and nurture relationships with existing ones. Here are some tips on how to get started with email marketing for your small business.
Choose an Email Service Provider
The first step is to find an email service provider (ESP) to handle sending your emails and managing your subscriber list. Popular options like MailChimp, MailerLite, and AWeber offer affordable plans for small businesses. Look for a service that includes professional email templates, automation features, and detailed analytics on opens, clicks, etc.
Create Your Email List
You can’t do email marketing without email addresses! Start collecting subscriber emails in various ways – your website, business cards, social media, and promotions are all great places to add signup forms or CTAs to grow your list. Just make sure you have permission to send emails to each address you acquire.
Design Your Signup Process
Don’t just add a basic signup box and hope people notice it. Create a multi-step signup process to convert more of your website traffic into subscribers. Offer an incentive like a discount code or free resource in exchange for their email address. Use tools like exit-intent popups and floating bars to capture emails.
Craft Your Welcome Email
The welcome email is one of the most important parts of your onboarding process. Use it to introduce yourself, share more about your business, and deliver the lead magnet incentive promised during signup. This is something a digital marketing agency like Renaissance can help with. Confirm they want to receive emails from you and outline what to expect from future communications.
Plan Relevant Email Content
Map out the types of emails you want to send on a regular basis. This might include promotional emails, newsletters, cart abandonment reminders, subscriber surveys, and more. Identify your goals and KPIs for each email campaign before creating content.
Test Different Subject Lines
Don’t underestimate the importance of compelling subject lines. About 50% of email opens come down to the subject line alone. Test different options that highlight value, urgency, curiosity, emotion, social proof, and personalization to see which gets the best open rate.
Automate Your Emails
Take advantage of automation tools in your ESP that allow you to schedule emails to go out at certain times, trigger campaigns when subscribers take specific actions, and more. This saves time and ensures consistency in your email marketing program.
Design Responsive Templates
Nearly half of all emails are opened on mobile. Your email templates need to look great and be easy to read on any device. Use responsive templates that flex and adjust based on the size of the screen.
Personalize Your Content
One of the advantages of email over other channels is the ability to personalize content for each subscriber. Use merge tags to include first names, location information, purchase history, or other data to tailor your emails and make them more relevant.
Analyze Performance
Pay close attention to email metrics like open rate, clickthrough rate, conversions, and unsubscribe rate. These provide valuable insights into how your subscribers respond to different email content so you can continually optimize your campaigns.
Email marketing takes consistent effort, but following these steps will help you create an effective email program. Pay close attention to engagement metrics and be sure to continually tweak your emails based on subscriber behavior patterns. With smart email marketing implementation, you can build stronger relationships with customers and grow your small business.
