Since the advent of social media, we have already been through several iterations. Since MySpace came about in 2003, it’s been followed by Bebo and Facebook, then Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok and others that have come and gone. And we’re all desperate to leverage the massive reach each platform facilitates for marketing. 

But as each giant has grown and fallen, to be replaced by the next thing, one form of communication has remained consistent – email. 

Everyone has one, most people have two or more for work and personal means. If you successfully master email marketing or build up a massive newsletter, then you can reach loyal customers, safe in the knowledge that while the medium might evolve, it will never die. 

Who you gonna email?

First and foremost, you need someone to send the email to. Here are a few ways to increase your email list.  

• Offer incentives – tell customers to leave their email addresses in exchange for some benefit. That can be a 10% discount on your first order, a coupon, a white paper, or a free trial. It really depends on what you’re selling. 
• Pop ups – according to Wix, having a pop-up on your website encouraging them to enter their email to receive the latest news, views, offers or something else is a great way to get more email address.
• Traffic from other sources – if you have compelling content on other social media platforms, customers will be intrigued to find out more. Encouraging them by saying “For more interesting stories etc… sign up for our newsletter”.
• Leave email address as they purchase – as customers exit your site, ask them to leave their email and add a “tick this box to get our newsletters/email updates”.
• Competitions and prizes – the lure of prizes will help you grow your newsletter

Newsletter or one-off?

You need to decide if this is a one-off campaign or if you are starting a newsletter. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Why not do both?

Newsletters take time, energy and commitment over time. It looks even worse if you start a newsletter and then it slowly tapers off, missing weekly launches or depleting in quality. It’d be better not to start one. 

But if you do find the time and energy to keep at it, the ROI might be slow at first but eventually, you’ll have a loyal readership who are engaged in your brand and more likely to turn into sales.

What’s more, you can track a lot of data with newsletters, like click-through rates, so you learn what works and what doesn’t. 

A one-off campaign can be very focused on your latest product and is a powerful tool to accompany a launch, a deal or a particular event. 

The good news is you can do both – an ongoing newsletter and the occasional one-off campaign if you have particular products that are timely. The newsletter can grow your email list, which, in turn, will make for more addresses for your one-off campaigns.

Segmentation – know your audience

There are many factors that determine the success of your email marketing, good segmentation drives 50% more response than other aspects such as creativity, timing, offer, and so on, according to the Direct Marketing Association. 

For segmentation, the DMA advises:

• Have clear objectives to help set your segmentation fields
• Align segmentation strategy to the goals
• The focus of every email campaign should be on getting the right message to the right customers by dividing customers into key segments
• ROI – email campaigns are cheap but not free. Weigh the cost of each additional level of segmentation against the return you’ll get on the time it takes.
• Test – continually reexamine your segments to make sure you have the right messages going to the right people. Perhaps an initial assumption of who’s interested does not match the data. There are structured tests, such as AB testing, that may help. 

Examples of great email campaigns 

Rip Curl – This brand is great at combining one-off sales with a newsletter, according to Campaign Monitor. The surfing brand has an eye-catching email campaign designed to excite any surf-lover.

It sends effective emails for its Mirage Boardshorts that evoke a “buy now” feel with action buttons, simplicity and limited information beyond the shorts themselves. It also has an ongoing newsletter to make sure readers have a finger on the pulse of the surfing world which grows its email list and creates brand awareness. 

Whale and Dolphin Conservation – This brand uses newsletters as a means to an end – readers become event attendees, who become donors. The WDC opens with a simple statement that most of its readers will surely agree with, to ensure they are engaged, like: “I wish to end whaling”.

The brand packs the emails with information about whales and in particular digestible updates about whaling regulations. 

The newsletter has created an engaged readership, which it leverages for event attendees and, in turn, donations or fundraising. 

Conclusion

Email marketing is here to stay. In the right hands, you’ll take your marketing to the next level.