“If social media is the cocktail party, then email marketing is the ‘meet up for coffee’. The original 1-to-1 channel.” — Eric Harbison.
The great man said it all. So, do you want a solid relationship with each of your customers? All you have to do is master all the right email marketing hacks.
There was a time when getting people to know about your services could be so much ordeal. No social media, no emails (at least the virtual ones). Nah, just forget about owning a platform that can fetch you a wider range of customers.
Yeah, that was life in those good ol’ days, when it was just caves and humans. A scene many people will consider a nightmare now. But, of course, oh, how far we’ve come from those days. And science keeps making things easier for us.
Are you just starting up your business, or you’ve been in it for a while, but you can’t seem to tie down the right audience? Aye? Then, you should know that email marketing might just be the online skill you need to get those knots right. So, join me as we look into the most powerful yet simple hacks that will be sure to give your email marketing skill the right boost it needs.
Why Do I Need Email Marketing Skills: Just How Far Could Email Marketing Hacks Take Me?
Well, if you want to grow your business and not forever limit yourself to your local community, email marketing is just that next best bet. And if you are part of the few that have tried it before but with little or no luck, you can trust some tried and tested hacks to set you back on the track you’ve so long wanted.
Email marketing helps you deliver the right statement about your brand right in the comfort of your potential customer’s dwelling. And frankly, nothing gets better than that.
No long trips, no use of credit cards, just a simple thought-out message that helps connect you better with your customers in more ways than most social media platforms can offer. Email marketing is a jewel many have connected with over the years, and you can very well improve in it, too, if you just know the right way to go about it.
Whether it is to grow your business or to be able to offer email marketing services to your client’s customers, you don’t really have to sweat it too much. All you have to do is learn the hacks.
Powerful Yet Simple Email Hacks That Can Get You Going
No one will know your shop has the best bread in town if they have zero clue about your existence. And even if you have a signboard to tell people about it, there is a high chance your customers will be almost nonexistent when the board can’t tell them what you sell in a way they will understand.
Below, we’ll look through some tips that can spice up the whole saga while highlighting some major blunders many people who are already into email marketing make.
- Your Subject Line Is Important
You will hear people tell you not to judge a book by its cover, but in a world moving so fast as ours, most people are guilty of doing the judging thingy. No one really has the time to go through your email before deciding if it’s worth their time or not.
All you get with them are those critical first five seconds. It’s either you have their attention or not. So, yes, you need your subject line on point.
Now, the mistake many people make with this is that they tend to overdo it. You want them to click on it, of course, but when it seems too attention-seeking, several people will pass it off as a scam. Some good tips for your headline are:
- Make it short, make it real, e.g., Rough day? Bet this will help.
- You want to get them curious, but you also need their trust. E.g., Your Marketing Sucks: Why You Need To Think Local.
- You can make it urgent, throw in a word that talks about the scarcity, e.g., Last chance to make your decision!
There are many way to do this, you can make your subject conversational, throw in some trending key phrase and all, but one thing sure is that you need their attention arrested. It helps if you know the exact type of audience you are dealing with.
- Be humane; make it a bit more personalized
This doesn’t mean you go off talking to them as if you know all there is to know about them; that, of course, will come off creepy and uncomfortable. But, you want to show that specific customer that you are talking to them—just that one person. And you sure want to sound like a human with emotions.
Some use their customers’ first names to create this feel, and others try to use the “you/your” person to make this known. You need to hone this skill too. Right from the automated message you send to your first-time subscriber to those sent just to wish them well, you want them to have a sense of familiarity with you.
While you shouldn’t go overboard with the familiarity, you also don’t want to sound all too formal like a machine. People feel comforted when they know you share their pain or joy and they listen more when you give your opinions and speak in a language they understand. So, leverage that.
- Don’t Forget To Tell Stories
This never gets old. The right story is all you need to earn your customers’ trust. And you need it to get as real and interesting as possible. You can make a story out of one of your customers’ reviews. Or maybe interest them in answers to most FAQs that revolve around your products and services.
One tip for this is not to use a complex font to tell your story; if possible, use plain text. It helps the realism.
- Your Content Matters Most
If you are not selling what people need, they go to the next shop. That’s a simple fact. A catchy subject line is not enough to get the job done; you need to give them value.
Tell them what they need to know, advice them on how to make their next best choices and interest them in anything helpful they might never have thought of. If they give you their attention, they want something worthwhile in return.
A tip to this is not to always sound so positive. Wait, what? Yeah, you read that right. Sometimes, instead of telling them the tips needed to grow their business, you tell them about the costly mistakes most business owners make.
You need to get real with them. Get them interested. Make them think. Get them entertained.
- You Will Need Emails. Lots Of Them, Actually.
You find your audience within the people whose emails you have. So, it would be best if you had a handful of them. You can have a pop-up lead generator on your blog and a great landing page, but you get a bigger audience from the emails you are able to gather through your social pages.
Facebook and Twitter are always great platforms to check out. You just have to put up a catchy lead generator card that has a direct link to your subscribing list. A good example of a good lead generator is one that shows social proof.
E.g., “Join the over 30,000 awesome subscribers who get my firsthand email marketing tips every week”.
It helps to be socially active too. As you build up those emails, don’t relent on how much you engage them subsequently, both on your social handles in their mails. It helps to have a time scheduled for your messages; only make sure they don’t ever get boring.
- Pin Down Your Audience And Keep Retargeting
You need to understand the kind of audience you are dealing with to know the right language to speak to them. Are your audience in their early twenties? They might do well with most trending statements. In their late fifties? Then, you might want to bring it down a teeny bit.
Also, retargeting helps you understand your audience better. You need to track their activities on your site, the reason for subscribing and discover other things that might interest them.
A customer might have joined your mailing list because of the goods you sell, while another subscribed because of an added benefit you promised. You don’t want to lose your audience because they aren’t giving them the right attention.
- The Little Things You Don’t Know Counts
- One, you shouldn’t hold them hostage. They should be free to unsubscribe if they want to. So, it helps to leave that choice open to them. Sure, it’s not a good experience to see them leave, but them staying isn’t helping you either.
They only take up space and are least bit interested in what you sell, so why hold on to them? Free them, and you both will be happy in the long run. Just be sure to fill them in on what they will be missing.
- Too much CTA can be cringe-worthy. CTAs are cool, but you don’t want to paint the whole page with them. Many people do this, and really, all it screams is desperate alert, which can be a big turn-off.
- You want them to refer you? Then grant them bonuses for doing just that. This is an organic and easy way to gain more subscribers. Promise your subscribers bonuses if they refer you, and be sure not to go back on your word.
It doesn’t have to be something extraordinary; just make do with something that works for you and them. Some give out great eBooks; others give out free products. It’s your choice.
Let’s Wrap It Up
We’ve come a long way, and I hope you are enlightened. Really, enough with the buck of your email marketing tricks failing when all you need is some insightful hacks.
Hence, be sure to try out the tips listed above. And if you want to share some of the hacks you’ve learned in your experience with email marketing, feel free to share them in the comment section below.
Rock on!