One of the oldest forms of digital marketing, email marketing, is still just as effective as it was many years ago. In fact, it has become even more effective in recent years following the dreaded events of 2020. With people spending more time at home, ecommerce businesses have returned to email marketing \u2013\u00a0and have seen great success.<\/p>\n
Email marketing is an excellent method for promotion, lead generation, brand awareness, and sales \u2014 all while staying cost-effective.<\/p>\n
But how do businesses use email content to get conversions? Emails often include promotional material, coupons, content offers, etc. that can lead to a sale \u2014\u00a0and it often does! Email marketing campaigns have one of the highest average return on investment (ROI) of any digital marketing strategy.<\/p>\n
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To understand how successful your email marketing campaign is, you first must understand key email marketing metrics. Being able to optimize these metrics is the best way to get a high return on investment for your business.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start off super simple: open rate is the percentage of people who open your email. This metric indicates if your email subject lines are eye-catching enough when it hits the inbox. Keep an eye on your open rates to make sure people are actually reading your emails, but it doesn\u2019t tell you how effective the email campaign is beyond the subject line or preview text.<\/p>\n
Boost your open rate by throwing \u201cNEW\u201d in your subject line. People love to be the first to know \u2014 just make sure it makes sense for the context of the email. If your subject line doesn\u2019t make sense when they open it, you can bet they won\u2019t do it a second time.<\/p>\n
Click-through rate refers to the total number of clicks compared to the number of emails delivered. This metric is very useful, as it directly tells you what percentage of your email list interacts with your content. If you notice a low click-through rate, it could be a sign that your content just isn\u2019t cutting it for your target audience<\/a>.<\/p>\n A conversion simply refers to any desired action that you want the reader to do. Most of the time, this action is a sale, \u201cconverting\u201d someone into a customer. Conversion rate is one of the best metrics for knowing exactly how successful your email marketing campaign is. Looking at the ratio of conversions to total potential customers in your email list shows you exactly how successful your current campaign is \u2014 and if adjustments need to be made.<\/p>\n When an email \u201cbounces,\u201d the email was not successfully delivered. Therefore, the bounce rate is the ratio of bounced emails to the total emails sent. An email can also have either a soft bounce or a hard bounce. Soft bounces are due to a temporary issue with a valid recipient, whereas hard bounces are due to invalid or non-existent email addresses.<\/p>\n While bounce rate doesn\u2019t directly monitor the success of your email marketing efforts, it shows you the health of your subscriber list. If you consistently have a high bounce rate, email service providers may think you\u2019re a scammer.<\/p>\n To avoid being seen as a scammer, make sure you are compliant with CAN-SPAM<\/a> (and GDPR if you operate in the UK), which are laws regarding email marketing.<\/p>\n The unsubscribe rate is the percentage of recipients who unsubscribe from your email list after opening it. We shouldn\u2019t have to tell you this, but a high unsubscribe rate is bad. While every email sees a few unsubscribes, you should be concerned if this rate skyrockets after a particular send.<\/p>\n Before you start sending out emails without any rhyme or reason, you need to take some important steps to ensure success. If you don\u2019t have an airtight email marketing strategy in place, you say goodbye to your deliverability, click-through rate, conversion rate, and bounce rate metrics. Let\u2019s go through it step-by-step.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t send an email without an email list. To gauge interest in your email content, create a sign-up form with a clear CTA (call-to-action) on your website and landing pages so that users can opt in. Companies also see success with using pop-up forms for quick and easy sign-ups.<\/p>\n You can also promote your email list through other marketing channels to get sign-ups, such as promoting on social media or through a digital ad.<\/p>\n Not only is an opt in required before sending marketing emails, but they also need the ability to unsubscribe when they feel like it. You may think these rules hurt your email list, but it\u2019s quite the opposite. You want people in your email list that want to be there. Yes, it\u2019s that simple!<\/p>\n New subscribers who opt in – and stay away from the unsubscribe button – are more engaged with your email content and are more likely to convert when you want them to. It\u2019s a win-win for everyone!<\/p>\n With the power of data and analytics (and email marketing automation), you can send personalized emails to certain members of your email list depending on their interests and preferences. Email list segmentation can boost your conversion rate since you\u2019re sending emails specific to the target audience for that email.<\/p>\n Email marketing platforms can help you with your email-sending process. There are many tools available to try, such as Hubspot<\/a>, Mailchimp, Marketo, or Getresponse (pricing varies, but they are typically free to start). Most tools also offer several email templates to help those just starting out.<\/p>\n Each email marketing service offers different features, so be sure to do in-depth research to know, which is the right one for you.<\/p>\n Email frequency and timing are key! Email service providers like Hubspot have features that allow you to set a maximum number of emails that can be sent in a given period of time to avoid overly frequent emails.<\/p>\n Copywriting is just as important as email design when it comes to open rates. You can have the most beautifully designed email in all the land, but it doesn\u2019t matter if your subject line copy is boring \u2014 no one will read it.<\/p>\n For a successful email marketing campaign, focus on the goal of the email and what you want email subscribers to do.<\/p>\nConversion Rate<\/h3>\n
Bounce Rate<\/h3>\n
Pro Tip!<\/h4>\n
Unsubscribe Rate<\/h3>\n
Get Started With Email Marketing Best Practices<\/h2>\n
Gather an Email List<\/h3>\n
Why Opt In?<\/h4>\n
Pro Tip!<\/h4>\n
Choose an Email Marketing Tool<\/h3>\n
Pro Tip!<\/h4>\n
Write Your Email Copy<\/h3>\n
Types of Emails:<\/h4>\n