In an era dominated by social media platforms, instant messaging and push notifications, the question may arise whether email marketing is still relevant in 2023. However, the answer is a resounding YES! Companies around the world continue to focus on email marketing and consider it an effective and valuable communication channel. In this article, we explore the continued importance of email in marketing strategies, how often emails are read nowadays, whether we should continue to send newsletters to our subscribers and what steps to take to optimise an email marketing campaign.
The question on everyone’s lips is: If in 2023 companies still focus on email marketing, if people still read email, if we still send newsletters to our subscribers and what should we do to optimize an email marketing campaign?
Email remains one of the most direct and personal means of communication in the digital environment. Although there are multiple channels for social media and online interaction, email offers a more private and personal way to communicate with your audience. It’s a channel through which you can deliver personalised messages, exclusive offers and relevant updates to your loyal subscribers and customers. Email marketing also makes it easy to measure and analyse results, giving you an in-depth understanding of your recipients’ behaviour and preferences.
There are still millions of people around the world who access and read emails on a regular basis. Although it may seem that other communication channels have gained ground, email remains an important source of information and communication for many users. However, it is important to understand that the importance of reading email varies depending on the target audience. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the behaviour and preferences of our subscribers in order to deliver relevant and engaging content.
How do we build a successful email marketing strategy?
What should we look for to measure the success of such a campaign?
Email marketing strategy is an essential component of your digital marketing plan. Whether you have an existing database or are building it from scratch, it is important to approach this strategy with care and planning. In this article, we’ll explore the key steps to building an effective email marketing strategy and how to measure the success of such a campaign.
- Defining objectives and target audience: The first step in building an email marketing strategy is to clarify your objectives. What do you want to achieve through your email campaigns? It can be to increase sales, generate leads, strengthen relationships with existing customers or build brand awareness. A clear understanding of your objectives will guide your entire strategy.
- Creating valuable and personalized content:
One of the key aspects of a successful email marketing campaign is content. Make sure your messages are relevant, valuable and personalised. Tailor your content to the interests and needs of your audience segments, offering solutions, information and offers that engage and help them. - Segment and personalize messages:
Segmentation is essential for an effective email marketing strategy. Divide your database into relevant segments based on demographics, preferences or buying behaviour. This way, you can send personalised messages tailored to the needs and interests of each subscriber group. - Continuous testing and optimisation:
Testing is a crucial aspect of a successful email marketing strategy. Experiment with different elements such as subject line, design, content and calls to action to identify what works best for your audience. Monitor key metrics such as open rate, click rate, conversion rate.
What do we do with unsubscribed users?
A crucial aspect of your email marketing strategy is retaining existing customers. We have all faced the situation where someone decides to unsubscribe from our newsletter. But it’s important to ask ourselves if we should let these customers go without doing anything or if we can do something to bring them back. In this article, we explore the options available and the strategies we can implement to retain and reconnect these unsubscribed customers.
- Communicating with those who have unsubscribed:
A first step in dealing with those who have chosen to unsubscribe is to communicate with them. You can create a feedback form and send it to these customers to better understand why they chose to unsubscribe. This way, you will get valuable information about what they didn’t like and you can promise to make changes based on the feedback received. - Trying to bring them back:
Based on the feedback you receive, you can try to bring back these unsubscribed customers. There may be a specific reason why they chose to leave your newsletter list. If possible, you can address those issues directly and promise improvements or changes in your future communications. Show them that you value them and want them back in your community. - Maintaining the quality of campaigns:
If you care about the quality of your subscriber list, it’s important to understand that sending repeated emails to unsubscribers can negatively affect the quality of your campaigns. If a subscriber has unsubscribed, ideally you should remove them from your newsletter list so that you don’t send to them again. This will help maintain a quality email marketing campaign and build a trusting relationship with the remaining subscribers.
About Email Marketing – New Subscriber Databases
It is always a good idea to work on expanding your database with new subscribers. While it is important to pay attention to existing customers and try to reconnect them, you should also think about strategies to attract new subscribers. Developing a larger database is crucial as it gives you your own independent communication channel. While social media platforms may fall down or there may be restrictions in advertising, your newsletter remains a constant omnichannel. You have control over it and are not dependent on other platforms. It is therefore important to grow your database, but also to be careful to retain your existing customers.
The two effective ways to grow your database with relevant subscribers
One of the priorities of any email marketing strategy is to increase your database of relevant subscribers. However, the question is: what are the top two ways to achieve this goal? In this article, we will explore two effective and widely used strategies for growing your relevant subscriber database and examine the benefits they offer. We’ll consider offering an ebook and implementing newsletter subscription campaigns, as well as using incentives and metrics to measure success.
- Offering a relevant ebook:
One of the effective ways to attract relevant new subscribers is by offering a valuable ebook. On your blog or other platforms you own, you can implement special sections or pop-ups offering this free ebook in exchange for the user’s email address. Make sure the ebook addresses an interesting and relevant topic for your target audience and provides value through the information provided. This will attract attention and motivate potential subscribers to provide their contact details.
- Newsletter subscription campaigns with incentives:
Another effective way to increase the database of relevant subscribers is by implementing newsletter subscription campaigns. In addition to the usual subscription sections, you can add incentives to encourage visitors to subscribe. These can be gift codes, exclusive offers or access to premium content. Make sure the incentives are valuable and appealing to your target audience, so that they provide a real benefit in exchange for their contact details. This way, you’ll get interested and relevant subscribers for your email marketing campaigns.
To evaluate the effectiveness of your database growth strategies, it is important to track and measure certain metrics. Two of the most important metrics are open rate and click-through rate. A high open rate indicates subscribers’ interest in your content, while a high click-through rate shows that your messages are relevant and engaging. Monitor these metrics and adjust your strategy based on the results to get the most relevant and engaged database.
3. What does the perfect email look like?
In terms of the ideal email composition, personalisation plays a crucial role in 2023.It is essential to understand and deliver exactly what our users want based on their preferences.This information can be obtained through A/B testing. For example, special attention is paid to personalising email titles and content, whether it is text or visual elements.You can experiment and test these aspects to find the right balance. If you notice that users react better to newsletters with predominantly text content, then you can focus on this direction.If they prefer a newsletter with an emphasis on visuals for quicker uptake, then you can put more emphasis on the visual component.You should also consider the industry, the type of company and the products you offer.For example, in the fashion industry, visuals may be more relevant. In the case of regular newsletters, it may be more effective to focus on the text content, as you want to provide information and not necessarily promote a product.
Ideally, you should segment your database according to different criteria. You can do this according to customer preferences, the time of day you send emails or the type of content. For example, for fashion products, you can have different segments for footwear and clothing. Creating a high level of personalisation is essential as it creates a deeper connection with users and increases loyalty. As email is considered an intimate channel, when you send what users want and anticipate their needs, you create a more personal and enhanced experience. In addition, this year has seen a growing trend towards interactive content in emails. In addition to images, you can also include videos, gifs or interactive buttons. However, the effectiveness of these can vary, and some prefer to direct the audience to their landing page via a “Send” button. This offers the opportunity to achieve wider retargeting on your own site.
- When do we send a newsletter?
In order to avoid spam and maintain a constant contact with subscribers, it is recommended to send the newsletter regularly, but with a suitable interval. Studies show that the best days for interaction are Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and the hours between 9 and 12 or 12 and 5 are most conducive (according to Hubspot). In principle, you can start with these times and days, but it’s important to test to see what works best for you.For example, I noticed that for some clients, Thursday or Friday were the ideal days to send.In terms of times, sometimes in the evening or between 9 and 11 at night had a high open rate.You start with this information as a starting point, but then adjust according to the specific situation of your subscriber base.
What tools do we use to send a newsletter?
There are a variety of tools available for sending a newsletter, and their popularity and use varies depending on the needs and preferences of each individual or company. Here are some of the most popular and widely used tools:
- MailChimp: This is a well-known and widely used tool for sending newsletters.It offers personalization, segmentation and performance tracking features.
- The Marketer: It is a tool specialized in the e-commerce area and offers not only newsletter functions, but also SMS sending and other integrated services.
We hope this article has been helpful in understanding how you can implement an email marketing campaign. If you have questions or need additional help, check out our online marketing services and contact us for email marketing support. We are here for you!
