5 essential steps to creating a successful email marketing campaign

Martha Warner Author

Ready to launch your email marketing campaign? This post outlines the 5 essential steps you need to follow to create a campaign that converts.

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Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash

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How many emails are sitting in your inbox right now?

I’m sure it’s way more than you are willing to admit or even want to go through. According to Finances Online, there are an estimated 300 billion emails sent and received on a daily basis. Yep. Billion with a b.

So what can you do to land in your ideal client’s inbox and convince them to open the email?

Create a successful email marketing campaign that actually converts!

Email marketing is one of the most powerful tools for businesses to connect with their audience and drive conversions when done well. Creating an effective email marketing campaign needs careful planning and implementation. Let’s look at the different types of marketing campaigns and the 5 essential steps you need to follow to see success.

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What is an email marketing campaign?

An email marketing campaign is a series of emails that have a goal in mind. These emails are used to capture the attention of your leads and current customers. The goal is to get the recipient engaged in your content and lead them to the end result of your campaign (see different types below). Each email should have a clear call-to-action (CTA). Whether that CTA is to reply to your email, visit your website, or make a purchase, each email should have a clear goal in mind.

If your email marketing campaign is done well, you should see an increase in brand awareness, a boost in website traffic, a rise in sales, a positive impact on other marketing platforms, an engaged audience, and a better insight into your business.

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Types of email marketing campaigns

Choosing what kind of campaign to create requires an intentional strategy. There are many different kinds of campaigns for your business goals; however, the ones listed below are some of the most common types of campaigns and the types that Martha Warner, LLC can help your business with.

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• Welcome sequence. Welcome emails are a great way to let your new contact know more about you and your brand. This email is the first (and usually followed by a few more) that the subscriber receives after signing up for your email list, grabbing a freebie, or making a purchase.

• Monthly newsletters. Monthly emails are one of the most popular types of campaigns, and they’re a great way to keep your audience engaged. Your monthly newsletters are sent on a consistent basis (once or twice a week, biweekly) and offer an opportunity for you to tell a story, give business updates, or share helpful tips to build trust with your subscribers and show your authority in your niche.

• Re-engagement emails. Re-engagement emails are needed when your list goes cold. These emails are you reaching back out to your subscribers in an effort to get them interested again if maybe you haven’t sent an email in a really long time or your subscriber hasn’t opened up one of your emails for a while.

• Promotional campaigns. A promotional campaign is an email campaign you use when you are ready to launch a sale. It can be a new program offer, a new service or product, a webinar, a sale, and SO much more, but the end goal of your promotional campaign is to make a sale.

• Post-purchase drip. After a subscriber makes a purchase, you can send them emails. These may include a few nurture emails, post purchase follow-up emails, service review requests, or saying thanks by providing them with another sale.

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5 steps to follow in your next email campaign

Now that we know the types of email campaigns you can implement, let’s talk about the steps you should follow to make sure your efforts are a success!

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Build your list

You need a list before you think about creating the perfect email campaign. However, while you are working on growing your list, create your welcome sequence so that you are ready to welcome your first subscriber!

Building a quality email list is important for the success of your email marketing campaign. You want to ensure that you are reaching the right audience who is interested in your products or services.

Some ways to build your list:

• Create a lead magnet

• Add an opt-in form everywhere on your website

• Run a contest or giveaway

• Join others in a freebie swap with their list

• Create a CTA on your blog posts, social media posts, YouTube videos, etc.

• Send readers to a landing page

• Guest write for other businesses

• Collect emails at in-person events

• Host a webinar or free challenge

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It’s important to note that you regularly clean and update your email list. Remove any inactive or bounced email addresses to maintain a high deliverability rate and avoid being marked as spam.

It's not just about the quantity of your email list but the quality. Focus on building a list of subscribers who are engaged and are more likely to open, read, and take action on your emails.
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Segment your list

Segmenting your email list means to separate your subscribers into different groups based on certain criteria. Segmenting allows you to customize the emails that you are sending with the goal of creating a more engaged customer.

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There are different ways you can segment your list, and some are easier to manage based on your email marketing platform.

Some popular segmentations are based on:

• Email engagement.

• When the subscriber joined your list. (Pro tip: you don’t usually want to send your regularly scheduled emails while the subscriber is still going through your welcome sequence).

• Location

• Their interests - you may have multiple freebies and they are only interested in one certain area of your business

• The source of their sign up

• Email interaction

• Products purchased

• Landing page activity

• Plus SO much more

Why is segmenting your list so important? It will allow you to determine your ideal customer for that certain campaign and create content that will help you convert them into a paying customer.

Create engaging and informative content

Creating compelling and personalized content is one of the most critical parts of creating a successful email campaign. Your subscribers can be filled with dozens of emails every day, so what will you do to make yours stand out?

You need to know your target audience in and out. You need to know what their pain points are and what you can do to help them. Use this information to create content that is not only engaging/entertaining but is informative as well.

Some fun ways to grab their attention:

• Personalize the subject line with their name

• Add an emoji or two

• Place images, gifs, memes, or videos within your copy

• Break up long text with headings or bullet points

• Ask questions

• Use statistics

• Offer real value

• Tell a story about yourself

One way to see what's working and what’s not is to do A/B testing on your emails. Create an email that is the same in context, but switch up one aspect of the email. You can try out different subject lines to see which one gets opened more, different designs within your email, or place a different CTA within your email.

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Don’t forget the call-to-action (CTA)

Every email you send needs some kind of CTA. And it doesn’t always have to be a sale.

Some popular CTAs include:

• Read about

• Find out more

• Download now

• Watch now

• Order now

• Add to cart

• Hit reply

• Leave a comment

• Write a review

When writing your emails, you should have one clear CTA. What’s the point of the email? What do you want your reader to do? Figure that out and narrow in on that action. Be specific about exactly what you want them to do.

Keep your CTA relevant to the copy on your email. Say you want your reader to sign up for a free webinar you’re delivering in a few weeks. Make sure your copy is related to that event, and then make your CTA specifically about signing up for that event. Don’t go off on an irrelevant story or also try to get your readers to purchase a product within the same email.

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Track your analytics

Once you have sent your email marketing campaign, you should always check how it performed. Analytics will provide you with insights about how your emails performed and what you could do to improve in the future.

Analytics you should be tracking:

• Open rate: the number of people who click to open your email.

• Clickthrough rate: the percentage of readers who clicked on one or more of the links or buttons you provided within your email.

• Bounce rate: the number of emails that were not delivered successfully. This is incredibly important because it may show you if you are having problems with your email provider.

• Conversion rate: how many email recipients completed your desired CTA by filling out a form, making a purchase, downloading your freebie, etc.

• Unsubscribe rate: the number of people who hit the unsubscribe button after opening one of your emails.

Creating an email marketing campaign does not have to be something scary or that you avoid. Work on building your list, catering to the appropriate audience, creating engaging copy, having a clear CTA, and tracking performance. When you do, you’ll be one step closer to not being one of the billion messages left in the inbox.

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Do you need help getting started, or don’t have the time? We can help you set up a specific email sequence or create monthly emails. Each email option includes a meeting, a round of edits, and setup in your platform.

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Categories: : digital marketing