What Is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is a digital marketing channel that leverages email marketing campaigns to engage prospects and convert them into customers. Email marketing comes in various forms; campaigns can be deployed in mass to entire lists, or automatically triggered on a 1:1 basis, based on an action by the user. This can be browsing a website, a webpage, a specific item, or abandoning their shopping cart. Effective marketing emails convert prospects and turn one-time buyers into loyalists.

Why Email Marketing?

Email marketing is extremely important for your business, especially when running a Shopify or eCommerce business. Other digital marketing channels aside, when executed properly, email marketing can be the king when it comes to driving eCommerce revenue.

Here are the top three reasons you should focus on email marketing for your business:

1. Communication. Studies show that over 95% of consumers check their email daily.

2. Ownership. Any and all email addresses that you collect are yours, whereas social media platform and accounts are open to suspension or even deletion at any time, for any reason, without notice. However, no one can take your email marketing list away from you.

3. Conversion. Email marketing consumers who receive offer in their inbox spend over 130% more than those who do not. Moreover,email marketing can generate over 4000% ROI (returns on investment).

Launching Your Email Marketing Channel

Are you interested in launching email marketing but need some tips to help you get started? There are several keys to a successful email marketing program but it doesn't need to be complicated.

1. Start collecting email opt-ins. Add a website pop-up, and opt-in form in your footer, and

2. Select your email service provider. Selection one that meets your needs and your goals.

3. Setup automations. Make sure you have a welcome flow and cart abandonment setup.

Email Marketing List Growth

Simply placing an email list sign-up form on your website is not enough to drive real list growth. You need to draw people in with something captivating that gets people to bite. This is also know as a "offer."

A lead magnet is something you provide to your email subscribers in exchange for their email address. This can include PDFs, MP3s, videos, or discounts. The key is to find one that works and stick with it.

Some examples are:

• eBooks
• Case studies
• Webinars
• Free trials
• Free quotes
• Quizzes
• Free shipping
• Coupons

What Makes a Good Offer?

You already know that an offer needs to provide value at no cost to the consumer, but if you want your opt-in offer to actually be effective, you need to consider these:

1. Accessible: Offers are only effective if subscribers can access them quickly, so keep them simple.

2. Actionable: Offers need to provide something that your audience can put to use.

3. Relevant: Ensure that your offer solves a problem for your prospect.

Creating An Email Marketing Form

The purpose of your email marketing form is to convey the benefit of your offer, so your visitors accept it and opt-in to your email marketing program.

Here's what you need:

1. Catchy Headline: lear description of your offer.

2. Simple Form: First name and email address is all you initially need.

3. Call To Action: Make sure to use a  pops out on the page.

Choosing an Email Marketing Service

If you're looking to send emails, you first need to figure out what your needs are. Different email marketing service providers offer different things. Some have better deliverability options and some have really strong lifecycle marketing capabilities. Some offer SMS and push notifications, and some just offer the basic necessities. Here are a few email service providers that are easy to start with:

ActiveCampaign

Drip

Klaviyo

Email Marketing List Segmentation

Email marketing list segmentation is the process of dividing your email subscribers into smaller lists based on specific details about them.

Instead of blasting your entire database, email list segmentation lets you send targeted email marketing messages to the subset (segment) of subscribers who you think will be the most interested in specific content. For example, you want to send an email to sell tires, are you going to send that email to people who you know just purchased a new set of tires from you last week, or are you going to segment your list and possibly exclude those people? Additionally, you may even want to target people who you know should be ready for a new set of tires since they purchased a set 24 months ago. This group would be more likely to purchase new tires and your email campaign would be in a better position to perform well.

There are several ways to divvy up your list. Here are a few ways to get you started:

• New Subscribers: send new subscribers a welcome email or a welcome series.
• Categories: new moms, pet owners, small business owners etc.
• Location: target based on local events, sales, weather etc.
• Engagement: reward your more engaged subscribers with an offer.
• Inactivity: re-engage subscribers who have been for a while.
  

Email Marketing Best Practices

Get Emails Delivered to the Inbox

• Make sure recipients have opted-in to your email marketing service.
• Warm up your IP address and domain.
• Verify your domain.
• Avoid “salesy” language..
• Don’t use deceptive subject lines.
• Include your location.
• Include an easy way for subscribers to opt-out of your emails.

Any professional email marketing service will manage your email marketing inbox placement and deliverability. NITRO PLUG Email Marketing is one of the world leaders in this space.

Purge Inactive Subscribers

You need to ensure that you have a regular email marketing cadence, so your list doesn’t go bad. Folks sometimes abandon email accounts, or sometimes simply disengage from lack of interest.

You need to ensure that your list is always updated with your most active email marketing subscribers by occasionally removing your most inactive. An email marketing subscriber could be considered "inactive" having not opened or clicked one of your email marketing campaigns within the last 6-months or more.

However, before purging and abandoning them altogether, you need to attempt re-engagement. Something along the lines of "We Miss You," or "Hello Stranger" would suffice for subscribers who are paying attention but simply needed a break.

Also, ensure you give your subscribers the option to update their preferences. This way, they have the ability to choose their cadence or message stream.

Optimize Email Deployment Time

Timing can have a significant impact on your email marketing program and whether or not your marketing emails receive strong engagement, so carefully test and optimize your send days and times.

Test. Test. Test.

As professional email marketing service we are always, always testing and you should run your operation the same way. Don't ever guess or assume that you know what will work without having data to support your theory. Test your subject lines, test your content, test personalization, test products etc. Use your test results to drive your email marketing program and your email marketing strategy.

Mobile Optimize Your Emails

Over 50% of users are opening emails on a mobile device and you need to ensure that your email marketing service is catering to mobile users.

Make sure your email marketing template has a responsive design and that you use images that load easily. Ensure you adjust your subject lines so they're not cut off on mobile devices.

Email marketing is continuous learning. Even after following best practices, you could still miss a thing or two. Give yourself some time to test and learn what works best for your email marketing program, your business and your subscribers.

If you need help, check out our full email marketing service.