4 Goals for Your Email Marketing Campaign

Now that we’re a few weeks into the New Year, the reality that it's time to commit to the goals you've set for yourself is probably settling in right about now. If email marketing is on your to-do list for 2017 (and I hope it is!), you’ll want to start with setting measurable and attainable goals. After all, when you have clear objectives and targets to aim for, it can make it easier for you to stay motivated and execute a game plan that helps you get the list growth, engagement rates and business results you’re looking for. To help you get started, here are four email marketing campaign goals you can work towards this year.

1. Grow your subscriber list

As an email marketer, your subscribers are your most valuable asset. That means in order to run a successful email marketing campaign, you need to build and maintain a list of people who regularly open, read and engage with your messages. Your subscribers are people who voluntarily sign up to receive email updates from your business. Some could be long-time customers, while others might be first-time visitors on your website or blog who want to learn more about your company or get answers to a problem they face.  Even if you have a healthy list of contacts, gaining subscribers is critical to maintaining an engaged audience – after all, the average email marketing list decreases by around 22.5 percent every year. [bctt tweet="Even if you have a healthy email list, gaining new subscribers is critical for an engaged audience."] If you’re hoping to grow your email list this new year, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind. Make it easy for people to subscribe to your emails. Where does your audience interact with your company the most – on your blog, website, social networks, etc.? Adding a sign up form on the platforms where your company is the most visible is a great way to start collecting new contacts. Also consider how you can optimize the positioning of your form on these pages. Placing your sign up form at the top of your homepage or using a pop up or slide-in form, for example, can increase visibility of your form and encourage more people to subscribe to your list. Provide a valuable reason for subscribing to your list in your sign up form. Most people are protective about their personal information and require a compelling reason for giving you their email address. That means it’s crucial that your audience understands the value of your emails from the get-go. Explain what your audience will receive in your emails and how frequently they’ll get them. You might even want to add some positive feedback you've received from current subscribers, if you have the space. This way, you can connect with the right people and set a foundation based on trust when you send them relevant emails. Setting expectations on your form also helps prevent any unpleasant surprises, which could motivate your subscribers to mark your emails as spam if you send them something they didn’t expect. Check out this sign up form below, which visitors will find on DigitalMarketer’s homepage: By using a delayed overlay opt-in form and large text, there’s no doubt viewers will understand the purpose of the form and the value they could potentially get for subscribing. Plus, it makes it easier for people to either sign up or close the form if they’re not interested.

2. Increase your open rates

Open rates are a key measurement for determining the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign. Even though they vary across industries, open rates show how many people were compelled by your subject line to open your message and hopefully read your email content. It can also shed light on your deliverability and list health – average to high open rates mean that a good percentage of your subscribers are receiving your emails and seeing them in their inboxes. The more people open your emails, the more opportunities you’ll have to turn them into loyal customers or advocates of your brand. To improve your open rates, you need to stand out in overcrowded inboxes. [bctt tweet="The more people open your emails, the more chances you’ll have to turn them into loyal customers."] Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when planning your next email send. Spend extra time writing your subject line. The subject line of your email can make or break its overall performance, especially when you consider that the average business user receives up to 121 emails per day (!). To get your subject line to stand out, keep it short and concise. Also, opt for direct, actionable language. Crafting a compelling, persuasive subject line will help capture reader’s attention and entice them to open your email. In some cases, you can try different tactics like creating a sense of urgency in your subject lines to motivate subscribers to read more. Including phrases like “limited-time only”, “Hurry” and “Last chance” are all effective ways to create a sense of urgency. You can also reference specific details around how much time is left on an offer (like specifying the number of days, hours or minutes).  While there are a number of ways you can add a little urgency to your subject lines, here are a couple of examples of what it looks like: You can also use elements like personalization and emojis to help make your emails pop, like the following subject lines: Use confirmed opt-in. To build an email marketing audience that looks forward to your messages, get permission from contacts before adding them to your list and promise them something valuable. After they subscribe, follow through on that promise with each message you send to build an engaged audience who looks forward to your emails. Using confirmed opt-in also allows you to filter out potential subscribers who signed up to your list by accident or aren’t really that interested in your emails. But more importantly, it gives people an opportunity to validate that they definitely want to receive your emails. Remember, the more people you have on your list who actually want to hear from you, the better your open and click-through rates will be.

3. Improve email click-throughs

If you already know that a lot of people are receiving and opening your messages, you might find that not as many are clicking your call-to-action. Click-through rates measure the number of subscribers who click on the links in your message and are one of the most effective ways to quantify audience engagement with your emails. Improving your click-through rate can help build relationships with website visitors, subscribers, and longtime customers, creating an opportunity to bring in more business. If improving your click-through rates is on your to-do list this year, stick to these email essentials:  Always send relevant, valuable information.  Any time your subscribers read an email, they will always ask themselves, “What’s in it for me?” Keep this in mind whenever you prepare an email to send to your audience. If you can clearly identify what subscribers will get out of the email (whether it’s education, an exclusive offer, etc.), then it passes the test. Another way to improve engagement is by segmenting them into like-minded groups and sending relevant, targeted messages tailored to their specific needs and interests. If your emails are crafted for a broader audience, consider segmenting your subscribers and sending them targeted content to help capture their attention. Doing so can help increase engagement and improve your relationship with them. Include a clear call-to-action.  Every email you send to subscribers should include a single call-to-action (CTA) that stands out and visually pops — whether it’s downloading an ebook, reading a blog post or scheduling a free consultation. Each CTA should offer something valuable to subscribers and stand out from the rest of your email. Experiment with its placement, wording and design to determine what kind of CTA creates a higher click-through rate.   In this email below from Candace Payne (aka Chewbacca Mom!), she makes it extremely easy for new subscribers to download the incentive offered on her sign up form: With only one CTA that's offered right at the top of the email, it's easy to take action as soon as the email is opened.

4. Retain customers and turn them into brand advocates

One of the benefits of email marketing is that it engages old and new customers long after the sale is made. Customer retention is crucial to the success of any business, and emails have the unique ability to build relationships with past customers, prompting them to purchase from you again in the future. To boost engagement among your existing customers, here are some tactics to consider: Send exclusive content and targeted offers. While it’s important to nurture leads before a purchase, it’s critical to maintain relationships with them after now that they’ve become customers. This can help establish a relationship that is based on trust, appreciation and authenticity. One of the best ways to do this is to offer exclusive sales and discounts, courses, ebooks and other content based on their interests. Segmenting customers in this way can help you send targeted content to people who want it most. Not only does this encourage customers to make another purchase, but it also demonstrates your vested interest in their relationship with your business. Consider sending emails based on past email engagement (if they clicked a link for a specific product, they may be interested in more content related to that topic), interests or geographical location. Feature user-generated content and customer testimonials. Highlighting customers by sharing feedback or social posts about their experiences with your brand can go a long way in showing them you value their support. [bctt tweet="Featuring customer feedback about their experiences with your brand shows them you value their support."] This also incentivizes other customers to follow suit and share their own experiences, in the hopes of getting recognition from your business. Want a fun way to encourage customer feedback? Turning it into a social contest and offer a prize to a randomly selected individual!

Take your email marketing campaign to the next level

Setting email marketing goals for the year can help grow your email list, increase subscriber engagement and grow your business. And by making these commitments, it makes it easier to identify what tactics you need to try or continue using throughout the year in order to crush your goals. For more on how to improve your strategy, check out our newest resource, The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing. There you’ll find more detailed information on list building, what to write in your emails, how to improve email performance and more!

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Contributer : Email Marketing Tips