Maximize ROI with Email Marketing

According to a poll done by Direct Marketing Association, the ROI on an email marketing campaign can be as high as 4300%! Executed right, this marketing channel gives brands the potential to convert audience members without wasting advertising funds elsewhere. Last year, over 838 billion marketing messages were sent. This year, that number is expected to grow even larger. Email marketing is truly the most efficient way to advertise online, but it must be done right.

The Three Pillars of Email Marketing
There are three pillars to a well-built email campaign.

• Unique Content

An email campaign should offer value that consumers can’t find elsewhere. They need a reason to subscribe to a mailing list and read newsletters or promotional messages each time one delivers. Recipients want to receive advertisements and information that will immediately benefit them.

• Target Demographic

Brands need to identify their niche market and then do their best to mail only to those interested parties. General mail blasts can reach the wrong audience, have high-bounce rates and hurt the overall open-rate of a campaign. Funds should be allocated in a way that will efficiently reach the right demographic.

• Establish Trust

Spamming followers is a sure-fire way to lose them. Once a company gains a captive audience, they cannot exploit their attention unless they want users to unsubscribe. More than spamming, campaigns need to be consistent with their quality of content, deliver on a set, pragmatic schedule, and be transparent about 3rd-party advertising. Consumer trust will ensure that emails are opened and the content is considered on a regular basis.

  Tips & Tricks

The email itself is the most important part of the campaign. Here are a few pointers on knocking it out of the park.

• Senders and Subject Lines

Most people may not consider the from and subject line of an email highly influential. However, both of these have the greatest impact on a viewer’s likelihood of opening the message. To drive it home, 33% of viewers open emails based on subject line alone, while subject lines less than 10 characters long have an open rate of 58%. In regards to from lines, readers are more likely to open an email if they recognize the sender. Senders and subject lines need to tell, not sell, to be the most effective. Also, avoiding caps lock and exclamation points makes the message seem more legitimate.

• Call to Action

Studies have shown that the average recipients only reads the subject line or the first few lines of an email before making a decision. Emails should ask an audience to engage with a product or service from the start. Ask readers to join a mailing list, print a coupon or view products on a brand’s website to make them convert on a measurable scale.

• Data

Brands often overlook a healthy data list. This results in a high bounce rate and low conversion rates. Data lists should be groomed regularly, used in moderation and investigated for reoccurring bounces. Maintaining a strong data list also involves complying with the guidelines in the federal CAN-SPAM legislation. Emails of users who unsubscribed need to be removed from data files and added to a suppression list to ensure parties that opted out won’t be bothered by future mailings. Ignoring this regulation could result in a hefty lawsuit.

Getting Started

In the same poll that discovered an ROI rate of 4300%, researchers found that 66% of consumers made purchases online due to a marketing email (Direct Marketing Association). Email advertising has become common practice for big-name brands across the board and any company looking to beef up their internet presence should start there. Completely new to the market? Focus on establishing an audience then developing those followers into a loyal community. As long as the three pillars are incorporated into the email campaign, companies will experience an ROI significant enough to catapult their success. Have you had success with email marketing? Tell us about it here! Madrivo