Email marketing remains one of the most effective marketing methods. Here is the most comprehensive technical guide to best way do email marketing you will ever need.
Email marketing is a way to send automated emails to your customers or leads. You can use email marketing to promote your products or services, to collect information, to announce changes or updates, or to thank your customers for their business. Email marketing can be a powerful way to build relationships with your customers and to generate leads.
Welcome to my definitive guide to best way to do email marketing. In this guide, I will go over all of the concepts and topics that you should be familiar with before diving into the world of email marketing.
I will speak about the following topics:
1- Overview of Email Marketing:
- What exactly is email marketing?
- Is Email Marketing Still Effective?
- How Does Email Marketing Work?
- Advantages of Email Marketing
- How to Automate Your Email Marketing
- Best Email Marketing Strategies
- Top 7 Email Marketing Tools Every Marketer Should Know
- How to Write Email Marketing Copy That Drives Results
- Email Marketer Types
- Structure of the Email Marketing System
2- Deep Email Marketing System
- What exactly is SMTP?
- What exactly is an Email Marketing Application?
- Services for Email Marketing
Best Way to do Email Marketing
3- Creating Email Lists
- What exactly is list building?
- What are lead magnets?
- What Exactly Are Opt-In-Forms?
4-Provide Excellent Content
- Send an Email of Introduction
- Do Not Pitch Immediately
- How to Create an Effective Email Newsletter
- Use Email Automation While Keeping It Human
5-Analytics and Segmentation
- Understanding Email Analytics
- Open Rate of Emails
- Click-Through Rates
- Rate of Unsubscription
- Segmenting Your Email Marketing List
6- Essential Terminologies
- Inbox and spam.
- Email bouncing
- Reputation of IP and Domain
Overview of Email Marketing
What exactly is email marketing?
Simply put, email marketing is a type of digital marketing in which you collect emails from people who are interested in a specific niche (List Building).
Then you send emails to those individuals promoting a service, product, blog, or anything else in order to increase revenue and web traffic.
Is Email Marketing Still Effective?
Yes, of course!
Today, 94% of Internet users use email, while 61% use social media.
Email marketing is the preferred marketing method for 75% of adult online users.
The “opt-in” feature of email allows consent-based marketing, which means people are subscribing to your list and allowing you to market to them and send them messages.
When you build your lists properly, you can target a specific audience by location, demographics, or interests, or simply people who enjoy your content.
Email messages have a much wider range of formatting options than social media messages. In the final section, we’ll go over email templates.
Email allows for more reporting and analytics, including click-through rates, open rates, bounce rates, and conversions.
So, if done correctly, email marketing can significantly increase your income. I will show and guide you on how to start successfully and how to follow the best practices, so don’t worry.
Remember: You’re a Guest in Their Inbox
Everywhere they look, people are bombarded with interruptions, pitches, and advertisements.
You may believe your email is unique, but to the reader, it is one in a million—and not in a good way.
This is why good manners are essential.
Receiving an invitation to someone’s inbox is akin to being invited to their home for dinner. If they ask you to remove your shoes, you do so politely.
Respect their email inbox in the same way. You’re a visitor they’ve invited into their lives, and they have the right to ask you to leave at any time. So be on your best behavior and keep in mind that you’re a visitor in their inbox.
How Does Email Marketing Work?
Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies, thanks in part to its simplicity and automation.
It can also help with other marketing initiatives such as lead generation, sales, and content marketing.
Three essential components are required for an effective email marketing campaign:
1. A mailing lists
An email list is a database of subscribers who have agreed to receive emails from you.
You need an active, engaged email list to build successful email campaigns.
There are numerous methods for building an email list. One of the simplest is to create a lead magnet (also known as an offer) that your target audience will appreciate, such as a coupon, in exchange for their email addresses.
2. A provider of email services
An email service provider (ESP), also known as an email marketing platform, is software that assists with email list management. It also aids in the creation and execution of automated email campaigns.
You can also use an ESP to create automatic triggers when your audience performs specific actions, such as sending a cart reminder if a user adds an item to their cart but does not checkout. Personalizing interactions with these triggers increases engagement and open rates.
3. Clearly Defined Objectives
Email can help you achieve a variety of business objectives, including driving sales, increasing brand awareness, and generating and nurturing leads.
Keep customers engaged, boost customer loyalty, and increase lifetime value
To run a successful email marketing campaign, your email list, ESP, and goals must all be in sync. Then you can start working.
The first step is to divide your email list into segments based on subscriber demographics or actions.
Create an email or series of emails to persuade customers to take action (your goal).
Finally, use your ESP to send emails and automatically monitor the campaign.
Advantages of Email Marketing
When compared to other digital marketing strategies, the main advantage of email marketing is primarily two:
1- Price: Did you know you can send up to 100,000 emails for $10?
I’ll go over how you can save a lot of money with email marketing later, especially if you use your own email marketing system.
2- Simplicity: Email Marketing Automation makes things simple!
Today, we have many Email marketing services such as MailChimp, Aweber, GetResponse, and others that make it simple for you to manage your email marketing campaigns, email lists, and everything else.
Even if you use your own system, which will be much less expensive, you can have the same simplicity and features as those companies.
How to Automate Your Email Marketing
While the automation process varies by ESP, there are several universal steps you’ll take when automating the process.
Define Your Email Segments
Effective campaigns start with list segmentation. Use the data about your subscribers to group them. This allows you to create more personalized campaigns.
Depending on your audience, this data might include:
- Behavioral data from your website.
- Demographic data, such as location, age, or gender.
- Topics that are important to them.
Design an Efficient Email Series
After segmenting your email list, it’s time to design a series. This is a list of emails that fulfill the objective of the campaign.
Determine the Right Triggers
Determine which actions will cause the next email in the sequence to be sent after you’ve designed your workflow. Customers opening your email, clicking on a link, or failing to open it within a predetermined time frame are all examples of triggers.
Depending on your objectives, your email triggers could look like this:
- A subscriber joins your email list. Send a welcome email with a coupon and a selection of popular items.
- Send a second email promoting new arrivals after one week.
- A subscriber browses your women’s clothing section Send an email promoting a new collection
- Subscriber adds an item to their cart but does not complete the purchase Send an email reminder with a 10% off coupon.
While this example is for an ecommerce company, similar series can be created for nurturing leads, promoting a course, or driving traffic to your blog.
Best Email Marketing Strategies
To be successful with email, you must create strategic campaigns. Here are some of the most effective strategies.
Use the Proper Email List-Building Techniques
The quality of your email list determines the success of your email marketing campaigns. To create a list, you must employ list-building strategies that are tailored to your target audience.
A case study promoted on LinkedIn, for example, may help a B2B brand build a list of engaged subscribers, but it would fail if used by a B2C brand.
Here are some good list-building strategies:
- providing a coupon
- Hosting a webinar and creating a downloadable asset
Maintain Good Email List Hygiene
Another important email marketing strategy is to maintain good email list hygiene. Removing inactive subscribers and invalid email addresses will help you improve your sender reputation.
Send an email to subscribers who haven’t opened your messages, asking if they’re still interested. If they aren’t, cross them off your list.
Maintain Your List
Send emails to your list on a regular basis to keep your subscribers interested (warm). Infrequent emailing may cause subscribers to forget who you are, resulting in low conversion rates.
If some of your subscribers go cold, you can run a paid re-engagement campaign.
Concentrate on One Goal
Create each campaign and email with a single goal in mind. Email marketing does not allow you to kill two (or more) birds with one stone. It only confuses your audience and decreases conversion rates.
Define and Monitor the Correct KPIs
More than just sending subscribers an email every few weeks is required for success. You must track the performance of your campaigns to determine which strategies are effective. This entails identifying and monitoring the appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs).
Your KPIs may include the following, depending on your objectives:
- Rates of opening
- Click-through-rates
- Unsubscribe rate for sales blog traffic
The Top 7 Email Marketing Tools Every Marketer Should Know
You’ll need email marketing tools to optimize your processes in order to run a successful email campaign. Here are the top seven email tools that will help you succeed:
Providers of Email Services (ESP)
An ESP is one of the most important email tools you’ll need. Among the best ESPs are:
Contact Contant: Because of features like automated product recommendations and shoppable emails, this is ideal for e-commerce email marketing campaigns. Monthly plans begin at $36.
Sendinblue: Sendinblue is ideal for small businesses running straightforward email campaigns. It has a robust feature set that includes a CRM, live chat, and SMS, among other things. Paid plans start at $25 per month, but there is a free version available.
Pardot (Salesforce): B2B email campaigns necessitate a platform designed specifically for the B2B buyer journey. Pardot is the ideal choice. To build high-growth email campaigns with Pardot, however, expect to pay at least $1,250 per month for up to 10,000 contacts.
Tools for Improving Email Deliverability
Email deliverability refers to an ESP’s ability to successfully deliver emails to your recipients’ inboxes. An email deliverability tester will be in the toolbox of any wise email marketer. Here are a few of the best:
MailGenius: MailGenius examines your emails for potential spam triggers. You can use it to run deliverability tests to ensure that your emails arrive in the inboxes of their intended recipients. MailGenius is a free application.
GlockApps: GlockApps displays real-time delivery results, such as whether your email was delivered to the Inbox, Spam folder, Gmail’s Promotional or Social tabs, or if it was never delivered at all. Personal accounts are free, with prices increasing from there.
Email Testing and Tracking Application
Testing and tracking campaign performance allows you to create optimized campaign iterations. What are the best email marketing tools for testing and tracking?
Litmus: Litmus can be used to test and track emails in both traditional web clients and popular mobile devices.
This functionality may be available through the ESP you use.
Email Personalization Software
Use an email personalization tool to go beyond simply adding the names of your recipients.
Hyperise: No tool performs better than Hyperise when it comes to personalizing email marketing campaigns. It allows you to add dynamic, personalized images to each of your emails, including social media profile images.
Other tools, such as your ESP or customer engagement platform, may also provide this functionality.
How to Write Email Marketing Copy That Drives Results
Whatever your goal is, email marketing copy is everything.
That is why yours must be well-written. Here’s how to go about it.
Understand Your Audience
Knowing your audience is the first step in creating compelling email marketing copy. This will allow you to segment your list more effectively and create more targeted email copy.
Create an Attention-Grabbing Subject Line
The subject line is one of the most important aspects of email copy because it determines whether or not readers will open your email. Follow these guidelines to create an attention-grabbing subject line:
- make use of keywords
- Make it profit-driven.
- Personalize as much as possible using the active voice
- Get the Preview Text Right
Emojis, depending on your audience, may also help drive open rates. Avoid terms that may set off spam filters, such as clearance, free, bargain, cash bonus, and so on.
Get the preview text right:
The email preview text appears directly beneath or beside the subject line. It serves as an elevator pitch to persuade people to open your email and is limited to a maximum of 140 characters (email client dependent).
A well-written preview text expands on your subject line and reinforces your value proposition. Make it clear what the email is about and give users a reason to open it.
Make it Easy To read
Creating it simple to read Since most people are busy, they won’t stop to consider what you’re trying to say.
- Make your email copy easy to read and understand.
- Use short sentences and paragraphs to accomplish this.
- Using bullet points to avoid jargon and complicated words.
Your readers will be more likely to engage with your emails if they find them easy to read.
Utilize Storytelling
Stories are an effective way to capture attention and convey a message. That is why, in your email copy, you should use storytelling.
Consider using the “Attention – Interest – Desire – Action” concept to pique users’ interest and entice them to take action.
Take Advantage of Psychology
Humans are hardwired to react in predictable ways. Use psychological triggers to guide your readers toward your campaign’s goals. Some examples of such triggers are:
- apprehension of missing out (FOMO)
- social proof through color psychology
- These triggers, when used correctly, can assist you in creating effective email copy.
Email Marketer Types
I divide Email Marketers into two categories:
I refer to the first type as “bulk mailers.”
The second category is “straight marketers.”
Of course, I made these terms up to make it easier for you to understand; they are not scientific.
Bulk Mailers: Bulk mailers are people who collect, scrape, or buy people’s emails in order to send them promotional emails in order to sell their service or share an affiliate link in order to earn a commission. They are regarded as spammers.
Why do spammers exist?
Because they are sending emails to people who have not authorized them to do so and whom they do not know.
Marketers who are straight:
The “Legal” form of Email Marketing, in which websites and business owners promote their services and send updates and newsletters to only those who have subscribed to their lists.
Structure of the Email Marketing System
Where to Begin?
To put it simply, if you want to work with Email Marketing, you must first understand the Email Marketing System Architecture.
Any email marketing system is made up of two parts:
This is the technical part: the sender (SMTP service). You can use it to send emails over the internet.
The Management Application, where you can configure and manage your Email Lists, Marketing Campaigns, monitor and analyze results, and manage your sending servers, among other things.
So we connect the two to create an Email Marketing System.
We now have two options:
1- We can use an Email Marketing Company that combines both parts in one platform, such as MailChimp, Aweber, Getresponse, or others.
2- Alternatively, you can create your own email marketing system by creating or subscribing to a Sending Service (SMTP) such as AWS SES, Mailgun, Mandrill, etc.
Installing an email marketing application such as Mailwizz, Mailster, Mamura, Interspire, or others.
Then you connect the two to create your own system.
There is only one minor disadvantage to building your own system for the first time, which can take up to 2-3 days to set up correctly. However, you will be able to send ten times as many emails for a fraction of the cost.
For example, you can send up to 100K emails for as little as $10.
2. Deep Email Marketing System
What exactly is SMTP?
I mentioned that the SMTP service is the first component of an email marketing system, so what exactly is SMTP?
SMTP, or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, is a technical term that simply refers to a network protocol that is in charge of sending emails over the internet.
What exactly is an Email Marketing Application?
Now that we have an SMTP server capable of sending emails, the main question is how do I send emails? How do I save my email lists and set up email marketing campaigns? How can I track my campaigns and send automated email messages?
Simply connect an Email Marketing application to the SMTP service, and we can manage and control everything while the app sends emails via the SMTP.
Services for Email Marketing
The other option is to sign up for an Email Marketing service that will provide you with both parts (SMTP and the Application) in one easy, simple platform, without having to worry about any technical stuff.
1. Which email marketing service is the most effective?
When selecting any service, you should consider the four factors listed below:
- Price
- Features
- Simplicity
- Support
1. Pricing: I’ll do a quick comparison of the top five email marketing companies.
Assume we have a list of 5000 contacts (emails).
And we want to send an unlimited number of emails to those contacts each month.
All businesses will begin with at least $49 per month.
MailChimp costs $74.99.
CampaignMonitor costs $49.
79$ for GetResponse
AWeber: $49.00
ConvertKit costs $79 USD.
As you can see, all services start at 49$ for 5000 contacts and can go up to 400$ for 75000 contacts, and so on.
2. Features: When we compare features, we notice that the majority of the services have nearly identical features.
Yes, some, like GetResponse, have funnel builders, while others, like AWeber, provide image hosting capabilities.
However, when it comes to the core email marketing features, such as list building and management, campaign management and monitoring, forms builder, and integrations.
All of these tools have the same powerful features.
3. Simplicity: All of these top companies have simple platforms that anyone can learn to use in a single day.
4. Support: All have excellent support and response in general.
So, what should you do?
To make things easier for you, if you’ve just started your online business and don’t have a large list, and you only need the core email marketing features, go to the pricing page and select the cheapest service, or even the Free plan.
If you believe you require more features, you can compare each one and the detailed features that each one offers, and then choose the best one for your needs.
However, if your company is expanding and you are planning large email marketing campaigns, you can go ahead and build your own Email Marketing system if you cannot afford the recurring prices of these companies.
With your system, you can send $100,000 to an unlimited number of subscribers for only $10.
Making Your Own System
To develop your email marketing system, you must configure and set up two components:
- The SMTP Server (the sender)
- The Email Marketing software.
“I don’t have any IT skills, and I don’t want to bother my head with this stuff!” you may say.
I’m here to take what you think is difficult and turn it into a piece of cake. YES!
Create an SMTP server with a “Sending Score” of 10/10.
So the first step is to create the sender server, also known as the SMTP server.
We can construct this server using a variety of methods and applications, including:
- PowerMTA
- Postfix server
- Exim
- Sendmail
or other services may be used.
If you are unfamiliar with these terms, don’t be concerned.
Alternatively, you can use an SMTP service such as AWS SES, Mailgun, or Mandrill.
Then, install an email marketing application such as Mailwizz, Mailster, or another. Then you connect both and your system will function as if you are a MailChimp or other service subscriber.
How does this function?
You must configure an SMTP service such as Amazon SES, which is the most affordable SMTP service compared to all other SMTP providers and has high performance sending rates with a super delivery score.
If you want to learn more about Amazon SES and how to configure it, watch the video below:
You can also watch this video to learn how to build your own SMTP server:
The next step is to configure a mailing application. You can use a variety of apps. You can watch the videos below to learn how to install Mailwizz and Mailster, both of which are available for a one-time fee of $50.
Click Here to Get Mailwizz
Configuration and Setup of Mailwizz
Configuration and Setup of Mailster
What is the Best Way to Do Email Marketing-The Definitive Technical Guide
-
Creating Email Lists
What exactly is list building?
Okay, now that we’ve figured out the email marketing system.
Where do I begin?
The first step is to develop a business strategy and consider how you will collect leads (emails) and build your email lists.
So List Building is the act of organizing emails into Lists.
So you can email them… I believe it is self-evident.
What exactly is a lead magnet?
Using a Lead Magnet is the simplest and most common way to properly build Email Lists.
Simply put, a lead magnet is something that people receive for free in exchange for their email addresses.
It could be a free ebook, course, software, or anything else. However, it is preferable to be related to your service and people’s interests in order to build a targeted email list.
Also, provide a High-Quality Lead Magnet so that people will trust you and want to get your premium paid services later when you promote through emails.
There are numerous other methods and tactics you can employ to build a targeted email list.
It is the general concept of list building. Let us now go over some more details and other methods to build and grow your email lists and go through some practical examples.
1- Newsletter Subscription
It is the fundamental strategy for email collection. Almost every website will have a box somewhere on the page asking you if you want to subscribe to the newsletter and receive updates.
If you are interested in the content of that website, you will subscribe to receive updates.
How do I include subscription forms?
It is extremely simple nowadays because almost everyone uses WordPress, Blogger, Joomla, or even a pre-made website that includes such forms by default.
Simply connect these forms to your email marketing systems such as MailChimp, Aweber, or your own application such as mailwizz or Mailster.
2- Optin boxes that pop up or slide in
You can use timed popups on your website to appear while someone is reading an article or so.
Best practices and suggestions:
Sense of humor: To grow your email list, try injecting some personality into your call to actions, such as this one from Optimonk:
Use keywords like “Download,” “Featured,” “Exclusive,” and “Access” instead of “Sign Up” and similar phrases to add value to your call to actions.
Allow people to form their own opinions about the value they will receive if they subscribe.
Use Timing: If you set the offer for a limited time, you will get more people to subscribe. You can show a countdown timer to encourage people to get your offer before it expires.
3- Incorporate your newsletter into your social media profiles, forum profiles, and email signatures.
If you have a following on Twitter, LinkedIn, or a fan base on Facebook, Pinterest, Quora, or any other Social Network or Discussion Forum, try to inject your Newsletter into these places to gain new subscribers.
4- Host a Giveaway:
Giveaways are widely regarded as one of the most effective strategies for expanding not only your email list but also your presence on social media, YouTube, and other platforms.
To create and manage a Giveaway, you can use platforms such as easypromosapp, rafflecopter, shortstack, or gleam.io.
5- Paid Facebook Lead Ads:
You can use Facebook Ads to run a campaign with the goal of collecting leads, and people will be able to sign up directly from Facebook. The email list can then be exported from Facebook to your email marketing application.
There are numerous other tips and strategies for building email lists, but this was a highlight of the most well-known strategies used by marketers.
Now that we have our lists and our system, let’s go market!
So, now that we’ve established our email marketing system and email list, you can begin sending emails with excellent content and marketing services.
Email Marketing Step 2: Provide Excellent Content
Email marketing is all about setting expectations, and it is your responsibility to do so.
You can expect a successful email campaign if your call to action is strong and your follow-up is consistent.
If, on the other hand, you promise to send one email per week and instead send them every day, you’re setting yourself up for failure. (And annoy your mailing list.)
On the contrary, if someone expects daily updates or critical product updates and you fail to deliver, they will be disappointed.
This is why the first follow-up email is so important to the success of your email marketing campaign.
Send an Email of Introduction
Here’s an example of a standard welcome email from Airbnb to a new customer. It walks you through the steps, including how to create your profile, verify your information, and book your first stay.
Spotify sends a similar email that confirms the subscription and informs the user of what to expect.
Take advantage of the fact that almost all email service providers allow you to create an automated welcome sequence.
The first follow-up email should be sent as soon as possible to introduce yourself and explain what new subscribers can expect.
It’s better to be detailed in this first email than quick and unobtrusive, but if you can pull off quick and concise, all the better.
It’s simply a matter of living up to their expectations from here.
Do Not Pitch Immediately
You aren’t running an email list for the sake of running one—you want to engage customers and make sales.
It can be difficult to transition from an email list that provides a lot of free value to a list that pitches a product for money.
To do it effectively, plan how and when you’ll send the pitch. You don’t want to catch everyone off guard with a pitch all of a sudden.
If people expect sales pitches every now and then, your campaign will be much more successful.
Put yourself in the shoes of the reader if you want to get into the habit of selling frequently.
Check to see if your messaging is in line with the expectations you’ve set. Pay attention to the customer’s interests and send relevant offers down the line if at all possible.
Those who send blind offers are far more likely to lose permission to do so in the future.
Because each company has different needs, there are no hard and fast rules about how frequently you can pitch or provide content.
Just keep in mind that an email list is a valuable asset, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
How to Create an Effective Email Newsletter
Let us examine the distinction between a good and a bad newsletter.
The first sign that you’ve received a bad newsletter is that you don’t recall signing up for it.
This typically occurs when a company fails to maintain a consistent email routine or manually adds someone to their list after receiving a business card or personal email.
Make certain that everyone remembers you—the best way to accomplish this is to send regular updates. Send an email at least once a month, preferably once a week.
The most compelling newsletters, in my opinion, are those that do an excellent job of combining messaging and updates.
While the email may include a list of product updates and images, it is balanced by a personal message or friendly memo.
Rather than pitching the reader/customer, use your newsletter to strengthen your relationship with them.
Save the pitch for one-of-a-kind updates, deals, and announcements.
Use Email Automation While Keeping It Human
If you’re just getting started with your email list, it’s tempting to believe you’ll have time to personally respond to each new subscriber.
It becomes nearly impossible to keep up once you have more than a handful of subscribers.
You’ll start creating more complex campaigns and keeping up with everyone all of the time will be impossible.
Top marketers appear to be able to pull this off, but how?
The key to their success is email automation.
This automatically sends emails that have been pre-scheduled and emails that are triggered.
You can avoid “going dark” for any length of time by scheduling a set of emails to send ahead of time.
Companies frequently plan a series of emails that will automatically deliver over a period of days to months, warming up anyone who signs up for your list.
That way, when it comes time to announce a new product or a sale, you’ll know they’re listening.
You’re much less likely to annoy your readers now that you’ve built a relationship over several weeks or months.
Step 3 of Email Marketing: Analytics and Segmentation
Now that you understand the fundamentals of an effective email campaign, let’s move on to the next step.
Specifically, use segmentation and analytics to improve the effectiveness of your broadcasts.
Understanding Email Analytics
We’ve talked about the importance of analytics in web copy, and email is no exception.
Every email service provider I’ve ever worked with offers free analytics.
Though they are all important, the open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribes are the three most important.
Let’s take a look at each one and see what you can glean from them.
Open Rate of Emails
Your open rate tells you how many people read your emails. It works on the basis of an invisible tracking pixel that loads when someone clicks on your message.
Open rates indicate the quality of your relationship with your subscribers. People should be eager to read your emails and open them as soon as possible.
If your open rate is low, it usually indicates that you have a large number of unengaged subscribers. You must concentrate on providing value and managing expectations. Here are some suggestions for increasing your open rate.
Click-Through Rate
Then, your click-through rate, or CTR, shows how many people clicked on a link in your email (if any).
If your CTR is low, it means your message is either not being targeted correctly or is simply not getting through. Focus on improving your copy in this case.
Rate of Unsubscription
Finally, your unsubscribe rate indicates how many people clicked the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of your email.
If your unsubscribe rate is higher than your opt-in rate, you’ve moved past the point of creating value and writing good copy… You have a lot of work ahead of you.
You’ve essentially constructed a sieve, and those who sign up eventually leave. If this describes you, look at when people leave and take action based on those leaks.
Rework it if they leave after receiving a particular automated email. Think twice about how you present deals if they leave after viewing marketing materials.
If they unsubscribe before the end of your email funnel, you must modify your original call to action to be consistent with the rest of your correspondence.
If you pay attention, email analytics can provide very specific clues as to what you’re doing incorrectly.
Of course, “paying attention” is the key here.
Segmenting Your Email Marketing List
Email segmentation, for those who are unfamiliar with the term, is the practice of dividing your email list into more targeted groups.
Here are a few ideas for list segmentation:
customer list (in comparison to unpurchased leads)
daily email list of newsletter subscribers (in comparison to weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc)
demographics like age, location, or job title interests like marketing or sales
Dividing your list, like targeting in paid ads, allows you to send more targeted communications.
Some customers, for example, may want both product and sales updates, whereas others may only want to hear about new product updates. Sales team leaders may be interested in learning about a new sales feature but not a new marketing tool.
Furthermore, you can send specific emails to buyers thanking them for their purchase, such as this one from Chrome Industries.
With segmentation, you can send a broadcast to only those who did not open your previous message (ask them why), or to those who expressed interest (a second pitch).
You can also A/B test titles, content, or best practices by split-testing messaging among different groups.
As you can see, segmentation isn’t rocket science, but it is time-consuming, which is why many people don’t take the time to do it correctly.
If you do, you will quickly separate yourself from the crowd.
But, before you hit the send button, you should be familiar with the following terms and concepts.
6- Essential Terminologies
Open and click Rates:
For example, when you send an email marketing campaign, you may send a message to 1000 people.
Naturally, not everyone will read the message.
So the open rate of this campaign is the percentage of people who open the message. I believe the concept is straightforward.
If 300 people opened the message, for example, the open rate is 30%.
The same is true for click rate, which is the percentage of people who clicked on any of the message’s links.
It is critical to track both Open and Click rates and analyze the results to determine how successful your campaigns are.
How do you monitor?
This feature is typically built into all email marketing applications.
So, whether you have your own email marketing system or subscribe to an email marketing service (as previously explained), you will be able to easily monitor these metrics.
You should also be aware that you can conduct a split test. You divide your campaign into two campaigns and change the subject line and content, as well as use different SMTP servers.
Then you compare the results to see which campaign performed the best.
When you send an email to anyone, it may be classified as spam and will not arrive in the inbox.
As a result, the recipient will not be notified of the message, lowering your open and click rates and causing your email marketing campaigns to fail.
Why are emails classified as spam?
We have three major factors that may flag your emails as spam.
1- Spammy Keywords: There is a list of keywords and words that are classified as spam keywords; therefore, if your message or subject contains one of these keywords, it will most likely be marked as spam.
2- DNS records and message authentication (Dkim, rDNS, SPF):
SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework.
An SPF record is a TXT record added to your Domain DNS Zone that allows you to specify which mail servers are permitted to send emails from your domain.
Messages sent from servers not listed in the SPF record will be marked as spam or rejected.
For example, you cannot send an email from your own server to “[email protected],” nor can you use Google’s domain. It implies that you are attempting to spam.
Similarly, you can configure SPF to prevent anyone from using your domain to send emails. As a result, configuring SPF is critical when it comes to making your domain trusted by other mailing providers.
To configure SPF. Add the following record to your DNS zone:
v=spf1 a ip4:XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX ~all
Replace with the IP address of your server.
Only your server can send emails from your domain at this time.
Domain Keys Identified Mail (Dkim):
A Dkim record is a DNS text record that contains a public authentication key. This key will be validated using a private key stored on your server.
All emails will be signed, which will prevent alterations and protect your email’s originality, which is critical for your server to archive high sending scores.
Reverse DNS (rDNS):
The reverse DNS is known as a pointer record, and it is used to point your IP address to your domain; it is the inverse of the regular DNS A record.
When you dial the IP address, you will be given the name. It is also necessary for configuring your mail server and improving your sending score and reputation.
Email List Health:
It is critical to keep your email lists healthy and clean in order to keep your mailing system healthy. To keep your email list healthy, remove any inactive or invalid emails that may cause your bounce rate to rise, which will harm your reputation.
Click Here for my Free Email Validator tools and start cleaning up your lists.
You May Also Our Digital Marketing Tools
Domain and IP reputation
When you build an SMTP server or subscribe to an SMTP service, such as Amazon SES, you will be assigned a dedicated IP address.
Your IP address and domain will both receive a score. This score determines whether or not your server sends it to the inbox.
So, a higher score indicates a good reputation, which translates into better delivery to the inbox.
Bouncing emails
Bounce rates and bounce handling are critical considerations when running professional and successful email marketing campaigns.
What exactly is a Bounced Email?
Simply put, when you send an email to someone and it is not delivered for whatever reason, it bounces back. As a result, it’s known as a bounced email.
Why Do Emails Fail?
The primary reason for this is when the target recipient’s email address is unavailable or does not exist. If the target email is temporarily unavailable, you will receive a Soft Bounce; if it does not exist at all, you will receive a Hard Bounce.
The most important thing to understand is that your bounce rate will have a significant impact on your email marketing system, as higher bounce rates may result in you being blacklisted and having your IP and domain reputation reduced. As a result, your emails will be marked as spam.
FAQs
What are the advantages of using email marketing?
Email marketing can help businesses reach a larger audience, increase sales, recover abandoned carts, and deepen relationships with their customers. It is also one of the least expensive marketing strategies.
How do I start building an email list?
Create an email list by providing a downloadable asset, hosting a giveaway, or providing a free email course. Consider including an email collection banner at the top of your website. Increase your email list by providing a downloadable asset, hosting a giveaway, or providing a free service.
What are the rules for email marketing?
CAN-SPAM and GDPR (for Europe) mandate that you protect users’ privacy and refrain from sending emails to purchased lists.
What exactly is email automation?
Email automation enables you to create complex email campaigns that send automated emails based on actions, such as when a subscriber adds an item to their shopping cart or downloads an asset.
How do I categorize my email list?
Divide your email list into segments based on demographics, interests, or customers versus non-customers. Then, for each segment, send personalized messages.
Conclusion
If you’ve been ignoring email marketing or putting your strategy on autopilot, it’s time to change things up.
Email marketing generates enormous returns for marketers who learn how to do it correctly—and it doesn’t have to be complicated.
To begin, keep in mind that you are a visitor in the inboxes of your subscribers. You are only one click away from losing their attention for good. Be courteous, respectful, and provide value.
You’ll want to follow through on your promises. Provide what people have requested and send emails on a regular basis to meet their expectations.
There is no magic formula for increasing email automation. It all comes down to what works best for you and the voice and style of your company.
Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you can advance to email segmentation and analytics. Send separate emails to different groups to deliver more useful emails.
What email marketing strategies do you use to keep your subscribers interested?