Transcript Slide 1
Cliff Tillery– Digital Marketing Consultant Blab a bit about email marketing ◦ Some basic ideas, tips and tricks Look at Mailchimp and Constant Contact and how to use it Do some networking A lot of business owners collect email addresses all the while thinking, “I’ll get around to doing something with those someday” Here’s why that’s a mistake (Like we all didn’t already know why…) It’s easier to sell to people that already know you (and quite possibly still like you) than it is to sell to strangers. Who doesn’t have an email account- almost 3 billion in the US alone- major traffic It’s a very personal medium It gets minutes of attention (which on the internet is like dog years) Your target market expects to get offers this way It’s a direct conversation with your buyers Some “experts” say a 1-5% conversion rate is good It depends on the industry and what you’re trying to accomplish Measure the conversion rate by the price per sale to get actual ROI (a 2.5% conversion rate of $50/per sale isn’t as good as a 1% conversion rate for a $300/per sale.) DON’T SPAM Many business owners think it’s ok to grab email addresses and just spam, spam, spam Do you really want your business reputation to be connected with spam? Email marketing is all about: ◦ Top of mind awareness ◦ Staying in touch with your target market ◦ Letting them know what’s going on in the industry and with you Write your emails to one person rather than as if you’re talking to a stadium. People like the personal touch Don’t waste my time. Don’t just email because you should. Email because you have something important to say. Give me something- give me a tip, a resource or inspiration. Oh, and how about a discount or freebie? Make me a part of the secret club or inner circle. Use a real name in the “from” section. Feel their pain- identify the pain points of your target market and be the solution in what you email them. It’s ok to use their name, but don’t be creepy. Using my name too much makes me feel icky Be trustworthy. That should just go without saying Every email is another shot at proving your value We’re all busy. Wading through our email isn’t the bright spot of our day, but we are looking for nuggets Gmail tabs make it harder to get noticed. They’re sorting the mail for you which works against you (First the spam filter now this!) A lot of your emails will go ignored. Many will get no clicks. Don’t take it personally. Mailchimp- my favorite (and not just because it has a monkey. Who doesn’t like a monkey, though, right?) Constant Contact- just as good, but sadly, no monkey involvement. Both give you great analytics Both give you flexibility to develop templates and experiment (and you definitely should!) Open rate: the number or percentage of people that open your email (helps you measure the attention that email got) What’s a good open rate? As close to 100% as possible. People keep telling me 14% is good Click through rate: the number or percentage of people that opened your email and clicked on the link. The higher the better. 5% is great. Where should you send them when they click? Ah, glad you asked! In all your marketing, have a call to action. Seriously, ALL your marketing. Emails are no different. What do you want the reader to do? Ideas: ◦ Go to your website (increase traffic, sign up, buy stuff) ◦ Call you (and pay you lots of money to do what you do) ◦ Go to your social media sites (like you, follow you, etc.) ◦ Attend stuff (Hmm, that’s a good one!) The need to be attention grabbing but relevant. Short descriptive beats cheesy lures Succinct is always better with notification emails Promise something good, solve a problem, ease some pain, etc. Humor- it’s a mixed bag. We’re big fans (or…try to be!). Know your audience first Controversial subject lines- again, tricky territory. “Your sales skills suck” got trashed. One word subject lines can come off as spammy “Panic”, “Followers”, “Renewal” Numbers & Lists- Blog post titles can make good subject lines such as “Top 3 Mistakes Email Marketers Make”, “47 Reasons Your Digital Marketing Needs Help” Punctuation or unicodes- small figures that help lead eyeballs through the clutter. Exclamation points have been so used that they get ignored. Need to be under 50 characters Alliteration is good- “Email Marketing Makes You Money!” All caps= NOT GOOD! (No one wants to be yelled at!) Use you/your to help personalize Do A/B testing as much as possible. Urgency can work- “Two Days To Decide” Localization Can help as well- “Award Winning Marketing Firm In Gwinnett” Looked at more than 260 million delivered emails and 540 campaigns. (Yeesh!) Subject lines with 6-10 words performed best Roughly 35% of emails are opened on phones Using the recipient’s first name bumped open rates by 2.6% Movie titles or song lyrics in the subject line were opened 26% of the time Your test results are in :( Sorry about your job Most of the car is fine DID YOU MEAN TO ‘REPLY ALL’??? Your Son, and His Future at Our University B4 u open, promise not to get mad Your IRS Tax Lien Your Match.com profile has been suspended due to low interest RE: The car and the dog. The car is fine. Re: paternity test results Think of emails you open & read vs the ones you don’t Brevity is good Bullet points are good Avoid long text Maintain consistency in your branding- use your logo/colors/usual voice Include a link for the reader to click to (send them somewhere) Include your social media icons Beware the email clutter- too many choices send the reader into analysis paralysis Make sure it looks good on all devices Use relevant images. Pictures have higher engagement rates, tell your story and support your text Naturally, if your email looks awful If your subject line is boring When was your email sent? Test this-are mornings or afternoons best for your business? Is your list valid? Lists you buy can often be a risk for less active emails • We’ve developed a free tool that you can use to help you measure the effectiveness of your digital marketing. • Go to: • Take the free assessment. • digital.makeitloud.net We’re beta testing this, so help us work out the kinks! 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