3 Reasons to Update Email Marketing with Marketing Automation Posted on August 17, 2016March 6, 2020 by Jessica Lunk This blog post was updated on February 21, 2020. It seems like a new hot marketing tactic is popping up every day (do you need to be on Snapchat? Should you invest in video marketing?). So it’s easy to overlook email marketing – the old standby that businesses have used for decades to reach potential customers. However, email is still a very powerful and effective marketing tool for turning contacts into customers. In fact, according to McKinsey & Company, “E-mail remains a significantly more effective way to acquire customers than social media—nearly 40 times that of Facebook and Twitter combined.” So how do you harness the power of email? Email marketing software for small business has come a long way from the “batch & blast” email systems of the past. Today, email marketing software with integrated marketing automation technology helps small businesses to dynamically respond to the individual needs of their prospects and customers. Here are three reasons to embrace an all-in-one email marketing and marketing automation software as a critical component of your company’s toolbox: 1: Make the Most of Email Marketing Data Stand alone email marketing software tracks basic metrics like clicks and opens. While click-through and open rate indicate how effective your emails are, they don’t do much in the way of guiding your contacts to the next step in their customer journey. Marketing automation software is a tool that lets you do more with your email marketing data. Marketing automation tracks which email links your contacts click on, which pages they visit on your website, and even which forms they fill out. This data paints a picture of what your contacts are most interested in, allowing you to focus your marketing campaigns accordingly. 2: Provide Context to Each Email Send One of the reasons that many people overlook email sent from different businesses is that it feels generic. That is, the company is trying to cast such a wide net and reach as wide an audience as possible, but it leaves those who receive it feeling like the business sees them as anonymous walking wallets. However, email marketing software for small business allows you to add contextualization to every aspect of the email marketing experience. In a stand alone email marketing software, you might have lists like “Customers” and “Prospects” that you manually import from your email client, spreadsheet or database. When you use marketing automation, however, you can create dynamic lists. You can pull an up-to-date list based on your contacts’ interests, their demographics, or their contact status. By creating distinct groups of customers, you can send targeted emails to the groups likeliest to respond to these particular messages and offers. You can also set up triggered email that helps to follow up on earlier interest a customer may show. You can create entire nurturing email campaigns to organically move customers through the sales funnel while letting you monitor where they are at each step of the way. By sending relevant resources and solutions to those who need them, you show your contacts that you understand their needs, building trust – and eventually sales. 3: Take Advantage of Autoresponses and Transactional Emails When it comes to email marketing, naturally, the focus is building marketing emails and campaigns that drive conversions. However, transactional emails are opened far more than marketing emails. Think about it. When you send a marketing email, you’re pushing a message out to your audience – whether they’re ready for it or not. When it comes to transactional emails, however, you’re sending an email in response to an action from your contact (like paying for a service, or requesting more information from your website). Transactional emails therefore have higher engagement, giving them the potential to generate far greater revenue than marketing-focused emails. Transactional emails are the perfect opportunity to make a lasting impression on your prospects and customers. Personalize where it makes sense. Make sure they are in-line with current company branding. Opt for friendly language. Buffer, for example, does a great job of making a run-of-the-mill invoice into an opportunity to showcase their company culture: Not only is the Buffer email super personal, but the “P.S.” also provides a touch point with the customer – an opportunity to be heard. Marketing automation can help you offer a next step in your transactional emails to make prospects and customers feel more invested in your business so you can capture additional revenue. For instance, if a prospect fills out a form to receive an e-book from your website, send a thank you email with a link to the e-book they requested, but also take the opportunity to help them to learn more about your services. Ask them to check out a related video, for example, guiding them further down the path to conversion. Marketing automation software can monitor engagement with transactional emails. As with marketing emails, you have an opportunity to see what works and what does not and to make even this once-perfunctory part of your company communication more in line with customer expectations. Marketing automation is a powerful way to utilize email marketing to its fullest so you can squeeze every opportunity from your list of prospects and customers. With marketing automation, you send more personalized messages, building trust and nurturing relationships into more sales for your business.
9 Tips to Boost Email Conversion Rates Posted on March 15, 2016December 5, 2018 by Katie Culp Smartphones have invigorated email marketing as an important medium for Internet marketers. And just how big is mobile email use? Check out these statistics for 2015: 45% of email opens occurred on mobile, 36% on desktop and 19% in a webmail client. 67.2% of consumers use a smartphone to check their email 75% of Gmail users access their accounts on mobile devices. Gmail now has 900 million users. Mobile email click-throughs grew 22.8 percent on Black Friday, from 44.7 percent in 2014 to 54.9% in 2015. This increase is noteworthy because mobile opens were up only 2.7 percent, from 56.1% in 2014 to 57.6% in 2015. 68% of Gmail and Yahoo! users’ opens occur on a smartphone or tablet Email is used in a variety of ways and plays an integral part in any business’ model. An effective email marketing strategy keeps existing customers while expanding your prospects. So what do you do to improve your email conversion rates? The following tips will provide you with the ideas you need to make the most of this giant market: Optimize for mobile – With so many people accessing email on their device, it pays to make sure your emails look great on mobile. Use mobile-optimized email templates and test your emails using a service like Litmus to make sure everything looks good across the most popular mobile and desktop email clients. Offer an incentive – Offering coupons, discounts, contests, demos, and free downloads all serve as draws to acquire new conversions. Make sure you segregate them into a new email group once the desired action is completed. Don’t hide your subscribe buttons – Make your opt-in button large and colorful. Also, don’t hide your opt-out or unsubscribe button in your emails. Sure, it sucks when people unsubscribe, but think of it this way, you are getting closer to those who have an interest in your products or services so your open and click-through rates rise. Offer free educational content – Including lead magnets on your site offering content that is high quality, live webinars, and educational videos give you many opportunities for you to capture emails. Users feel they are getting something of value and are more prone to give back something in return. They also give you insight on what that contact is interested in. Be persistent – Many customers require multiple interactions with a business before they commit to purchasing. Develop email nurturing campaigns that links to 3 or 4 resources or blog posts that tell a story with each email round. End each campaign with a relevant call to action. Set these campaigns up in your marketing automation software to automatically move your leads through the sales funnel. @MikeKawula Tenacity, and more tenacity. And then keep trying. #BizapaloozaChat — Howard Yermish (@hyermish) March 10, 2016 Keep it simple – Easy to read, simple copy with one call to action stands out more to the reader than a wall of text and multiple links. Make it easy for your prospects to understand and follow through on what you ask them. Measure results – Email is a perfect way to figure out which of your pitches works best. Try split testing different subject lines, wording, images, videos, calls to action, etc. Having data to understand which works best for you and your audience helps you target, communicate, and convert your prospects better. Quick loading pages – With more people using smartphones to read emails, links to pages must load quickly. Be sure your site is mobile ready! Work with your site developers to test site loading speeds and make sure they are loading quick enough to keep your customers engaged. Personalize emails – Too many businesses have developed a philosophy of sending everything to everyone. This does nothing to help you create a trusting relationship with the people on your email lists or to boost email conversions. If you segment your lists, personalize email campaigns with a recipient’s first name in the subject line, and send them an offer that is relevant to their past experiences, you have the potential for a winning email marketing campaign. By employing these tips, you will boost your email conversion rates while also building up an engaged group of customers.
Razor Sharp Email Nurturing – Dollar Shave Club Posted on March 21, 2014June 1, 2016 by Jessica Lunk At Hatchbuck, we love seeing awesome email nurturing campaigns in the wild. Here is a great example of a personalized email campaign that compels customers to convert. Dollar Shave Club’s call-to-action campaign cuts to the point and asks for the sale. Here’s what Dollar Shave Club gets right, and how you can add these tips to your own call-to-action campaign: Segmentation This campaign speaks to those abandoned cart leads who filled out a form to sign-up, but didn’t pull the trigger to make a purchase. These are super hot prospects that have already engaged with Dollar Shave Club, and liked the product enough to almost buy. Key Takeaway: When developing a call-to-action campaign that asks for the sale, hone in on your most engaged prospects. Perhaps they signed up for a free service, abandoned a shopping cart, downloaded a competitor comparison, or visited a pricing page. The more engaged they are with your brand, and further along they are in the sales process, the more receptive they’ll be to this type of campaign. Single Call to Action Following best practices, there is only one path for prospects to take: sign-up/join now. Each of these emails has a single call to action that funnels prospects to the same landing page that also has a single call to action. There are no other distractions from the main intent of the email – getting prospects to convert to customers. Key Takeaway: Focus on a single call to action, whether it’s to connect with a sales representative or make a purchase online. Omit extra distractions to keep prospects on the path to conversion. Alleviating Fears: Thou doth protest too much, methinks Part of Dollar Shaves Club’s challenge is to address the barriers that stopped shoppers from buying the blades. These are HOT prospects that were clicks away from converting to a new customer. To confront those barriers to entry, these emails rejects frequent protests right away, like, “But, I don’t need razors every month!” and “What if I don’t like the blade I choose?” Key Takeaway: What protests do you hear frequently from your prospects when they turn down your solution? When you understand the barriers your prospects face, you can ease their mind up front. For example, do you hear that your offering is too expensive? Explain how the value it adds negates the cost. Are your prospects often concerned about a specific risk? Explain your warranty, or the flexibility of your contract upfront. Benefits are the Star Dollar Shave Club doesn’t beat prospects over the head with features like “best stainless steel blades,” or “soft rubber-grib handle.” Instead, they speak to buyers’ emotions by pointing out the intangible benefits of getting razors delivered to your door. It’s not just a razor anymore – it’s a way to avoid the frustration and inconvenience of making another trip to the drug store. Key Takeaway: Features aren’t meaningful to consumers unless they alleviate a glaring pain point or challenge they face. Identify ways that your offering makes your customer’s lives better, whether it saves them time, adds to their status, or eliminates a frustration. Egos Remained Intact Dollar Shave Club could tell their prospects that they’re super dumb for not saving money on razors. But prospects don’t want to feel dumb, they want to feel like they’re smart and made a smart decision with their purchase. So – in a snarky way that reflects their brand – DSC gives prospects the opportunity to feel like geniuses : “Hey, forking over big bucks for razors is not something a genius would do – and you’re clearly a genius.” Key Takeaway: No one wants to be called out for being wrong or unsophisticated. Make your prospects feel smart by making the decision to go with you. Don’t Let Great Customers Slip By According to Gleanster Reaserch, on average, 50% of your leads are qualified, but just not ready to buy. A benefit-focused email nurturing campaign with a single call to action helps your business follow-up with the most promising prospects. Don’t let lack of follow-up prevent your business from converting new customers. Nurture hot prospects with the right messaging to get them through the door.
Put the Heart Back into Marketing, Integrate Email with CRM [Infographic] Posted on February 13, 2014June 20, 2018 by Jessica Lunk No one wants to be just another face in the crowd, they want to be known. So put the heart back into your messaging. Track your contacts’ information, preferences, and pipeline status with CRM. Then, use that data to nurture them through email marketing tactics. By marrying your CRM with email marketing, you can ditch the one-to-many blast and give your customers and prospects the warm fuzzies with one-to-one communication that they can actually relate to. In turn, they’ll show their love with higher engagement and increased sales. Stats & Sources: Email marketers estimate 30% of email revenue derives from targeting to specific segments. – DMA “National Client Email Report” (2013) 61% of US and UK internet users want marketers to demonstrate knowledge of the types of offers they like in email marketing messages. -e-Dialog “Manifesto for E-mail Marketers: Consumer Demand Relevance” (2010) Relevant emails drive 18 times more revenue than broadcast emails. – Jupiter Research Triggered messages average 152% higher click-through rates than “business as usual” marketing messages. – EmailInstitute “3 Key Trends in Email Marketing & What to Do Now” (2013) Despite relatively low volumes, trigger email campaigns accounted for 21% of email revenue. Over 75% of email revenue is now generated by alternatives to generic one-size-fits-all campaigns. – DMA “National Client Email Report” (2013) Marketers who take advantage of automation—which includes everything from cart abandonment programs to birthday emails—have seen conversion rates as high as 50%. – eMarketer “Email Marketing Benchmarks: Key Data, Trends and Metrics” (2013) Organizations that nurture their leads experience a 45% increase in lead generation ROI over those organizations that do not. -MarketingSherpa “2012 Lead Generation Benchmark Report” (2012) 50% of leads are qualified but not yet ready to buy. – Gleanster Research Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. – The Annuitas Group