In order to achieve success goals, you need a successful email campaign management strategy. Do you want to increase email open rates, click-through rates, and conversions? Of course you do! In this blog post, I will discuss 11 steps that will help you create email campaigns that are engaging and generate results. Read on to get the tools to tweak your next email campaign for improved results.
What is Email Campaign Management About?
Email campaign management is the process of planning, executing, and analyzing email campaigns in order to achieve desired results. It involves planning the email content, designing the email, writing the email copy, and tracking the results of the campaign.
Define Your Email Campaign Reason
When it comes to email campaign management, the first step is to define your email campaign reason. That might be anything from promoting a new product to sending out a monthly newsletter.
To help, these are the 4 most common questions I get (among several others) to address:
- Specific: Do you want to launch a new product or service?
- Specific: Do you want to ramp up (sales / awareness of) an existing product or service?
- General: What do you want to achieve with your email campaign?
- General: Are you intending to build website traffic?
As you can see, it’s important to determine your email campaign goals before moving forward. Are you working to build sales or some other subscriber engagement?
I should note also, you need to determine what your measurements will be will you primarily be using KPIs (key performance indicators), or analytics such as:
- Open rates
- Click through rates
- Unsubscribe rates
Once you know the purpose of your email campaign, you can move on to building your email list. This can be done through sign-up forms on your website or blog, or by purchasing email lists.
Build the Email List
The next step in email campaign management is to build your email list. This can be done through sign-up forms on your website or blog, or buy purchasing email lists… No… Never ever purchase email lists. Once you have your email list, you need to segment it into different groups. This will allow you to send more targeted and relevant email content.
The most common list building techniques use opt-in incentives (commonly some freebie), as well as slide in, pop-up, and exit intent applets.
Segment Your Email Lists
Now that you have built your email list, it’s time to segment it into different groups, this is among one of the most common email campaign management tweaks. This will allow you to send more targeted and relevant email content. There are a number of ways to segment your email list, but the most common way (I often see) is by demographics such as:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Interests
Another way to segment your email list is by purchase history or level of engagement. This allows you to send targeted content to those who are most likely to convert.
By targeted content, I’m also referring to a form of personalization, where the specific content is created for the segment (so that it’s more engaging).
Employ Engaging Email Content
Once you have segmented your email list, it’s time to start thinking about the email content itself. This is where you need to get creative and think outside the box. The email content needs to be engaging, otherwise your subscribers will simply delete it or worse, unsubscribe from your list. Form experience, most people involved in email campaign management will outsource content writing to a professional service.
Some ideas for engage email content include:
- Use images and videos
- Write short and concise copy
- Use bullet points
- Use A / B testing
It’s important then, to ensure you have a content plan in place for your emails. What types of emails will you send?
- Abandoned cart reminders
- Automatically scheduled sales blasts
- Product service announcements
- Regular content based newsletters
Make Email Personal
One way to make your email content more engaging is to make it personal. This means addressing your subscribers by name, including their purchase history, or even using their location in the email. By making the email personal, you are increasing the chances that they will read it and engage with your content.
Note: Email campaign management always needs to be personal.This is how to benefit your subscribers, and help them feel they are part of your community.
Ensure a Simple Layout and Design
Another way to make sure your email content is engaging is to have a simple layout and design. This means using short paragraphs, clear headlines, and easy to read fonts. You also want to make sure the email is mobile friendly, as more and more people are reading email on their phones.
Keep Your Email Copy Focused
When it comes to email copy, you want to keep it focused. This means writing email copy that is clear and concise. You also want to make sure the email copy is relevant to the email subject line and the email content itself.
Use Direct Clear CTAs
Once you have written your email copy, you need to include a call to action (CTA). This is what you want your subscribers to do after reading your email. The CTA can be anything from clicking on a link to visiting your website or even making a purchase.
Make sure your CTAs are clear and direct. You also want to make sure they are relevant to the email content. For example, if you’re promoting a new product, your CTA should be something like “Click here to learn more about the new product.”
Leverage Compelling Subject Lines
Your email subject line is what will get your subscribers to open your email in the first place. This means it needs to be compelling and interesting. You also want to make sure the subject line is relevant to the email content.
Some tips for writing compelling email subject lines include:
- Keep it short and sweet
- Use emojis
- Use numbers
- Ask a question
- Use power words
Establish a Regular Schedule
When it comes to email campaign management, one of the most important things you can do is establish a regular schedule. This means sending email campaigns on a regular basis, whether that’s once a week or once a month.
The key here is to be consistent with your email campaigns. This will keep your subscribers engaged and interested in what you have to say.
Initiate Your Campaigns and Track Results
Once you have established a regular email schedule, it’s time to start your email campaigns. This is where you will get the maximum bang for your buck, by using an automated email marketing platform like MailChimp, Aweber, or Constant Contact, etc.
This is because automated systems can be tweaked to send email to each person, based upon where they are in the customer funnel, or wherever they are in the passage.
When starting your email campaigns, you will want to track the results. This means looking at things like open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates. By tracking the results of your email campaigns, you will be able to see what is working and what isn’t.
This allows you to tweak your campaign while in progress, and can also highlight areas of opportunity in future email campaigns.
Conclusion
Email campaign management can seem like a lot of work, but if you follow these 11 steps, you will be well on your way to success!
By following these email campaign management steps, you will be well on your way to email marketing success!
You can learn much more about email campaign management by visiting our Small Business Email Marketing posts. As well as find out more about Email Campaign Management.