Email marketing is an art form. There is a lot to test and consider: timing, personalization, formatting, content and more. Before launching any campaign, it’s important to have a solid strategy in place.
This week, Stephan Hovnanian of Shovi Websites joined us for #SproutChat to share his top tips for building a quality list of email subscribers. Hovnanian offered sage advice for setting tactics to ensure you’re fostering a relationship built on trust. Our #SproutChat community weighed in too with some other wise recommendations. Here are three key takeaways from this week’s discussion.
Consider the Full Brand Experience to Increase Conversions
Email should be personal and direct. Customize your messages based on the customer’s stage in the buying cycle as well as the his or her previous engagement with your brand. Your emails should be interesting and relevant in order to compel the recipient to take the next step. While it’s important to scale your efforts through some automation, a smart segmentation strategy will enable personalization to offset sounding robotic.
A1 (a): Map out the entire lead nurturing process, then watch behavior to find pitfalls & leaks. #SproutChat
— Stephan Hovnanian (@stephanhov) August 26, 2015
A1 (b): and design content to meet expectations, build trust, provide value, so you can invite at the right time. #SproutChat
— Stephan Hovnanian (@stephanhov) August 26, 2015
A1 calls to action and values, yes, but also give multiple opportunities to click! #SproutChat
— Jamie (@JamieNRutter) August 26, 2015
a strong subject line. consumers aren’t going to open the email, if it doesn’t entice! #sproutchat https://t.co/YpbNHc2fAw
— jake green (@j4kegreen) August 26, 2015
A1. Eye-catching relevant creative with a clear value proposition & CTA. Reduce to one column––design mobile-first. #Sproutchat
— Brandon Stettenbenz (@UXcelsior) August 26, 2015
Respect the Highly Coveted Inbox With Clear Expectations
When someone signs up to join your email list, state exactly what to expect. Also, let them out of the communications flow easily: The option to unsubscribe should be clear and easy to find. To help manage expectations and keep people in the fold, give them a few options by segmenting types and frequency of emails. Make it readily apparent that you are first and foremost offering something of value—and not just trying to make a sale.
A2: Setting expectations is huge, would you hand over your email without knowing what someone will do with it? #SproutChat
— Stephan Hovnanian (@stephanhov) August 26, 2015
A2. Always set expectations. The more the customer knows, the happier they will be #sproutchat
— Alexander Wilson (@anthrofoodie) August 26, 2015
A2. Always be white hat when it comes to email. Be nice. Be ethical. Be treated as you’d want to be treated. #SproutChat
— Reva Minkoff (@revaminkoff) August 26, 2015
Test, Test & Test Some More
Email tools have come a long way. Find one that offers the right metrics to give you insights into your audience. Test time of day, type of content, calls to action and anything else you can think of—but be careful not to bombard your email subscribers. Still, don’t let them forget about you either. With time and practice, patterns will reveal themselves so that you know clearly what is working and what is not.
A5: You need to combine your email marketing stats with website tracking and goals, so you can get the complete picture. #SproutChat
— Stephan Hovnanian (@stephanhov) August 26, 2015
A5 (b): I look at drop-off rate over the full email series, then tweak timing, content, and triggers to keep them engaged. #SproutChat
— Stephan Hovnanian (@stephanhov) August 26, 2015
One parting piece of advice from Hovnanian, which is worth adopting as your email mantra:
Remember, people sign up to get self help, not to be sold to. The more you learn about them, the higher your conversion rate #SproutChat
— Stephan Hovnanian (@stephanhov) August 26, 2015
Hear more of Hovnanian’s advice through his posts “What to Do Next With Those Landing Page Emails” and “How to Tell if You’re Boring or Overwhelming Your Autoresponder List.”
Join Us
Next week’s #SproutChat topic will be “How to Host a Successful Webinar,” featuring Michael Patterson, Sprout Social’s Digital Marketing Specialist, who runs our partner webinar program. See you next Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 2 p.m. CT.
The post #SproutChat Recap: How to Attract & Retain Quality Email Subscribers appeared first on Sprout Social.
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