Category: Email marketing

It’s enough to strike panic into the heart of any small business owner: closed offices, physical distancing and economic downturns. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced most of us into our homes – small business owners and customers alike – with little contact with the outside world. But in times of crisis, a hero always emerges. For small business owners, that champion is email marketing.

Despite the popularity of online social channels, email continues to be an integral part of daily life. In 2019, Statista reports there were 3.9 billion email users around the globe. And that number could grow to 4.48 billion email users by 2024. Email marketing is definitely here to stay.

This is good news for small business owners – email
communication is one of the most cost-effective marketing tools. Through this
channel, you can share your latest deals and offers, keep customers informed
and maintain customer relationships.

During this COVID-19 crisis, your customers are checking
their emails for relevant offers and updates. Your business should be popping
up in their inboxes, too. Here are some key things to remember when planning
your email marketing strategy in the coming weeks.

Select the right
customers.

Before sending each email, carefully consider your audience.
Don’t send your email to everyone in your database. Why? Customers will delete
broadcast emails they consider irrelevant.

Instead, use segmentation to determine the appropriate list
for your email. This practice allows you to separate your email list based on the
unique interests and preferences of your customers, including geographical
location. With targeted groups, you can send more emails with relevant content.
Although this takes time, it’s worth the effort. Your customers will reward you
by opening your emails more often.

Don’t have an email list? Here are a few simple tips to get you started:

1) Offer an incentive:
When you give away something of value, customers will often provide their email
address. Try offering a free sample, newsletter, online tutorial or a
complimentary service.

2) Build your email
list organically: Ask your customers if they would like to join your email
list to receive important updates. If you are providing an essential service
for customers during the COVID-19 crisis, leave an email sign up sheet in a
visible area.

3) Collect emails through your website: Create a pop-up ad or message on your home page that encourages visitors to sign up for your email list.

Grab their attention.

When staring at an overcrowded inbox, customers are tempted
to delete emails without opening them. That’s why your email subject line is
your first line of defense. You have one chance to grab their attention – so
you have to get it right. Always make your headlines short, punchy and
memorable. A little FOMO (fear of missing out) can go a long way, too. Give
them a reason to want to read more.

Make it personal.

A personal email shows your customers that you care – a
sure-fire way to build trust and relationship. Address your customers by name
in your emails. You can include this in the subject line of the email, the
salutation or throughout the body of the email content itself. And even if they
don’t purchase your products or services through your email, your company will
be top-of-mind for future business.

Solve their problems.

What challenges are your customers facing in light of COVID-19?
Your email should clearly describe how you can help solve those issues. If your
business is running on reduced hours or has closed temporarily, your customers
would appreciate an email notification. If your business has also made changes
to respect physical distancing, include that information in your email. Your
customers will be grateful that you went above and beyond to keep them safe while
supplying their needs.

Don’t be a stranger.

Your customers need to hear from you regularly. Continue to send emails that contain relevant content, especially as changes occur due to COVID-19. Remember to post this information on your social media channels as well to give your customers real-time updates.

Product updates, new offers, short-term promotions, company milestones, weekly newsletters or blog posts can all be shared in an email. But don’t forget to plan ahead for your emails. Set up a calendar to schedule emails that align with your customers’ needs at specific times of the year. This will keep you ahead of the game and build relationships that result in continued business.

We’re all in this together. It’s time to let your customers
know you care and that you’re here to help during the COVID-19 crisis.

Contact a representative at webhoster.ca today to launch your email marketing campaign.

 

Smart bloggers know the Benefits of Building email lists. It is one of the Best ways of retaining visitors and making prospective clients keep returning to the blog. However, creating an email list is one thing, but properly doing it is another. We`ve put together five email list mistakes you should avoid if you want to boost your email list and improve your business.

5 Things you Shouldn`t Do when Building an Email List

Requesting Irrelevant Information

Building an email list is unarguably essential, and it is inevitable to request visitors` information. However, when making an email list, avoid asking visitors for too much information. Demanding that they fill their full names and addresses is excessive. Their first name and email address is enough information if you desire to increase your opt-in rate.

Excluding Subscription Confirmation

If you use a double opt-in feature that requires people to confirm their subscription, it would be great to inform intending subscribers. This way, they wouldn`t lose the opportunity to get listed. This further implies that you won`t miss the chance to reach out to them via email. Failure to do this may, over time, cause you to lose a significant portion of potential leads. Endeavour to have a notification that appears upon every attempt to subscribe so that people can effortlessly confirm their subscription.

Have no System of Converting Commenters

You have put together some good content and attracted some traffic; great! Some of these people even write comments, probably because they find your content worthy of engagement. It is not enough to reply to their comments. You should have a system in place to redirect them to a landing page so they can subscribe. This would encourage them to engage your content, and you can boost your email list.

An About Us Page with no Opt-in Forms

After coming up with a beautifully-written About Us page, you shouldn`t lose the opportunity to retain these people you have convinced to remain on your site. Your About Us page is probably the most-visited page on your site, so leverage it by integrating opt-in forms, so that interested visitors can subscribe immediately.

Using Default Email Templates

Internet users feel better engaged when they have human interactions on web pages. There are many computerized requests already, and your email list request doesn`t have to be one of them. Those default messages lack the spark and emotions to drive people to subscribe. Always personalize your call-to-action to attract more subscribers to your email list. Create something that suits your brand and is compelling enough to get your visitors to take action. This way, they feel convinced to subscribe to your email list.

Conclusion

You probably don`t see email lists as commonplace as you did anymore. It is one of the most effective ways of building your blog traffic and generating leads. As you have seen, you can manage your email lists better if you avoid these five mistakes that we have discussed. To get some assistance with your email list, contact us at Webhoster to give you all the support you need.

Email marketing automation is simply the process of sending automated emails to subscribers. In this case, the emails are sent to a particular subscriber when that person meets a certain trigger. You simply set up the email once and then as more people continue to meet the trigger you defined, the Email will continue to be sent to them automatically.

Effectively Planning and implementing  email automation is critical for the growth of your business. Sending automated emails which are timely, hyper-relevant and personalized ensures that emails are opened and clicked more frequently, thereby increasing visits and revenue for your business.

Here are some Superb Pointers you need to know about Email and Marketing Automation

 1. Show Personal Care To Your Audience 

Effective and constant communication with the audience is crucial to the growth of any business. Email Marketing automation effortlessly helps to you stay in touch with your subscribers at every point by sending relevant message at the right time. This increases the chances of building a long-lasting relationship with subscribers. Automation workflows allow you swiftly organize your contacts and segment lists; this helps you interact with your audience more personally. You can also send personalized messages to a target segment of your audience to convey a specific message.

2. Saves Time

Pre-writing mail messages and then scheduling the messages means less day-to-day management on your part. Once the automation process has been set up, you have time to devote to more important aspects of your business such as developing new products and services. All you simply have to do at intervals is to monitor your marketing campaign, then analyze reports and review emails that are not generating the expected results. Then you can optimize your marketing campaign more efficiently without having to deal with your lead nurturing manually.

3. Grow Your Revenue Faster

Effectively planning and implement an  Email marketing automation with a great sales funnel would produce a considerable increase in sales. Using automation tools to track the click-through-rates and actions by subscribers helps you segment and identify the most interested and engaged leads, thereby generating sales more easily. Furthermore, utilizing a behavior-based automation series that suggests more products that correspond to each customer’s purchase behavior can also lead to more sales.

4. Optimize Your Marketing Campaign Faster

Email marketing automation tools allow you track all email activities for Key Performance Indicators. These tools also give you access to a wide range of useful information such as emails that generated clicks and responses, which emails generated purchases, which emails require improvement in order to scale.

Analyzing these data helps you evaluate which of your content attracts more people to your products or services, which converts them to leads, and what convinces them to buy. This helps you re-strategize and adjust future initiatives, thereby helping you reach your goals in a more cost-effective and time-saving way!

Conclusion

In this fast-paced business environment, Email and automation marketing is that crucial element of your marketing campaign that helps you communicate with your audience efficiently and on an even more personal level. If you need help automating your campaign or simply require a team to be in charge of your entire marketing campaign, then look no further. Contact our Email marketing experts at Webhoster today to automate your email campaigns.

 

Marketing is getting people to know about and patronize a business, product or brand. A business can manufacture a product or deliver a service, that people would love but without effective marketing, customers would not be duly informed.

What is a marketing message ?

A Marketing message is any media based information targeted at attracting customers to patronize a product. In creating a marketing message, it is necessary to understand the product and service being rendered to the customers, and tailoring the message according to the goals, vision, the mission of the business.

The 7 components of a brilliant marketing message are: 

1) Identifying who the target customers are and speak to them.                                   

This is the most important component when creating a brilliant marketing message. Without a proper understanding of who the target audience is, the message would not be properly drafted and you may be talking to the wrong people. Understand the customers before creating this message, know the demographics of the audience, and speak to them. Engage the customers, and this would help in creating a perfect marketing message.

2) Express the numerous benefits that customers can derive from patronizing the brand?

To get customers interested in a brand it is important to clearly state the benefits of using a brand’s product or service. Humans want things that benefit them in different ways, things that add value to them without leaving them at a disadvantage. Benefits are not what the product does, but rather what is the added advantage of using the product. So, it is important to state clearly the benefits of the products and you will be sure to attract more customers.

3) Be concise and straight to the point.

In creating a brilliant marketing message, it is important to be factual and to be concise. Do not beat around the bush, people do not like to waste time reading long product information. So, it is necessary to hit the nail on the head. Describe what the product is for, what it does, benefits, and other very important information.  For example: ‘This product is good for you because it saves time and energy. It reduces any stress.’

4) Weigh and consider the customer’s point of view.

As a brand, it is important to view the product from the eyes of customers. Get feedback, get constructive criticisms, and get acknowledgments, from customers. Allow customers to input any necessary ideas aimed at improving the brand and tailor marketing messages along the customer’s feedback. Once you have the interest and attention of the audience, they feel heard and would patronize more.

5) Differentiate your product from another competitor.

What makes your product, brand, service different from the next best person? Why should yours be used instead of the other? It is important to inform customers on reasons why your product is unique, better than the competitors’.  In doing this, it is necessary to understand who the competitors are, their products, what makes them competitors, and this will help in creating a good marketing message. Distinguish your business and what you must offer from others.

6) Originality and Factuality.

Brilliant and exceptional marketing messages must be original. The message should be about the product or service, it should be peculiar to the product. There should be no form of plagiarism in drafting marketing messages because no two products are the same; they differ from each other in different ways. Also, marketing messages should be based on facts about the products, being dishonest about products makes the brand look bad to the customers.

7) Use familiar and understandable language.

What is the point of the message if the customers do not understand what the message is about?

Do not use jargons, rather make the message easily understandable and make it feel familiar by using informal words.

Conclusion

Incorporating these inputs into the preparation of your marketing message will surely define your brand, and stand it out amongst its competition, and ultimately converting prospects to active customers.