Email Marketing
The Bend Ridge Group Will Help You Build Lasting, Profitable Relationships via Email Marketing
At Bend Ridge, I work with clients who use MailChimp to help them build and communicate with their subscriber lists. Whether you’re just starting out with email or are looking to make improvements, you can rely on the Bend Ridge Group to get you up and running. And if you require ongoing help with hands-on, monthly management, we’ve got you covered.
The Approach to Your Email Marketing
Businesses across the country and around the world have recognized that email marketing is the most powerful method of connecting with customers in a personalized way, staying top-of-mind with prospects and driving revenue. Are you emailing your prospects and customers on a consistent basis?
Is your content answering questions and offering insights relevant to the questions and problems your prospects and customers have?
The long-term goal is building you a healthy list, meaning a steadily growing list of people who want to hear from you, trust in your expertise, and in some cases enjoy your entertainment value or dose of inspiration. When you follow best practices, your subscribers don’t hit the delete button when they see your emails in their inbox.
If you’re brand new to email marketing, here’s what we’ll do:
* Have a conversation about your business – your plans, goals, objectives and other marketing initiatives.
* Ensure your website is connected to Google Analytics (or similar) and Google Search Console (additional charge if you require this service)
* Ensure your website is responsive/mobile friendly (additional charge if you require this service)
* Review your list building tactics or add list building tactics
* Plan campaign(s) around your objectives
* Set up a MailChimp account if do not have an automated ESP (email service provider) in place (Client pays for any fees associated with a paid MailChimp account depending upon the list size and email frequency.)
* Create a branded email header
* Write newsletter and/or nurturing sequence emails
* Schedule/publish email campaigns
* Report on results
* Make tweaks, rinse, repeat
Email Marketing Metrics that Matter
One of the most important metrics in email marketing is the open rate. Why? Simply put, if your email doesn’t get opened, it doesn’t get read.
The subject line certainly has an effect on open rates, especially if you’re emailing newly opted-in folks. However, over time, a healthy list is a group of subscribers who signed up and stayed with you because you’re delivering content to them that they find useful, educational, or even entertaining and don’t pester them with too many sales pitches. When your list is more loyal to you, the “catchy” subject line matters less, because your subscribers will willingly open and read your emails based on the history of your content being highly relevant to them.
Case in point for a travel industry client: This is a seasonal business, so we’d see a pattern of interest based on the high seasons. According to MailChimp, this industry averages a 20.65% open rate and a 2.30% click rate. The client enjoyed a much higher open rate and engagement among their 27 monthly newsletters sent in a 36-month period, experiencing an average open rate of 42.56% and an average click-through rate of 9.20%.
A loyal, engaged list is the result of building rapport and trust and offering the content that subscribers look forward to reading!
If your content is interesting, helpful, useful and engaging, people will continue to open your emails. If you pester them with irrelevant content or constantly hit them with a sales pitch, your list will suffer and your business with it. Emails that hit the sweet spot with your subscribers will result in more customer referrals, more customer upsells and new customers!
What’s the link between email marketing and your website?
Your emails will direct readers to your website to complete an action that is valuable to your business, such as downloading content, purchasing a product, or booking an appointment. This means your website’s performance must be measured and you can only measure it if you have a feedback mechanism in place, like Google Analytics.
If your email marketing campaign is to perform its best and be properly measured and evaluated, then your website must be mobile-friendly and must have analytics in place to give you feedback.
