Email Marketing Practices 2018 For Successful Email Marketing Campaigns

Up to 38% of B2B marketers said that email marketing has the biggest impact on revenue, making it as their most effective digital marketing strategy. Email is also considered effective in customer retention with 56% of marketers agreeing on this. Many email marketing practices have emerged, but not all will survive in the coming years. So, keep up with the fast-changing digital trends.

We’ve compiled the best email marketing practicing that will help you go through the next year and beyond. Gone are the days of email blasting, there’s a new email strategy that works wonders for your business.

Email Marketing Practices For 2018 

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Remember Audience Is Above Else

Knowing your audience is one of the most important pieces of data you can leverage to improve your email strategy. But understanding your audience extends beyond just simple demographics.

Do you know how your audience prefers to receive communication and when they are most likely to engage? Understanding the ins and outs of audience behavior allows you to effectively personalize your email messages with language, tone, and delivery that truly speaks to them.

Email Design Template 

Whether you’re using a professional tool or have outsourced email marketing services to o code your emails, your email design should align with your overall brand found on your website.

You don’t want your recipient to open your message and have no idea who it came from. Clicking through from an email to your website should be a smooth experience so they know exactly how and where they can take the next step.

Pay Attention To Your Demographics

As your business scales, you will likely find yourself sending email to lots of different countries all over the world.

Ensure you are compliant within each state, country you send email to by knowing your audience demographics, and checking applicable email legislation.

Understand The Engagement Metrics

The best way to evaluate the success of your email campaign is to review your engagement after each email send. Engagement metrics like opens, clicks, unsubscribes, etc. are your window into your recipient’s inbox and how they feel about your newsletters.

If you see high open and click rates, your recipients are finding your emails useful.

If you see addresses on your email list that never engage, it may be time to try to bring them back on board with a re-engagement campaign.

Check The Frequency Of Your Email Marketing Campaign

If you’re watching your engagement metrics, then you should be able to derive how often your recipients would like to be contacted. An even better way to figure out how often you should email your recipients is to let them tell you in a preference center.

A preference center is a powerful tool that helps maintain the right expectations between the sender and the recipient. There are different forms of preference centers that make sense depending on your program. Check out 3 common preference centers here to see which one is best for your program.

Time To Say Goodbye To “No-Reply” From The Line

Email marketing is a powerful tool for communication, but it should be much more than a one-way conversation. When you are using a “no-reply” email address in your marketing email is like putting a wall between you and your recipients and stunts two-way communication, a bad factor that will likely discourage recipient engagement.

Allowing your customers to reply directly to an email campaign opens up opportunities for conversations you may have never been able to start before.

All feedback is valuable, so opening yourself up to this form of communication feedback will only help your program in the long run.

Re-engagement Campaigns

Re-engagement campaigns help maintain a strong email list free from inactive email addresses. But how do you know when to remove subscribers? Removal rates can vary based on your industry.

A standard best practice is to first segment out your recipients who consistently have low engagement rates and then send them a winback styled email asking them if they’re still interested in receiving your email.

Testing Your Email Campaigns 

It’s important to A/B test every part of your email, from subject lines to your calls to action (CTAs). Some tips to keep in mind during your tests:

Only test one element at a time (otherwise your results will be inconclusive). Make sure you have a significant sample size in your testing.

Mobile Optimize Your Email Campaigns

If your emails are still not optimized for mobile, you are being left behind.

Statistics show that about 72% of email opens were done on a mobile device, and 61% of those were opened on smartphones in the second quarter of 2015.

To optimize your email for mobile, start with your subject line. Mobile devices can only show up to 25 to 30 characters for the subject line compared to desktop. It is strategic to keep your email content concise because the mobile device screen is smaller. For your CTA, it’s best to put it in front or at the center where it’s more noticeable.

Since not all mobile devices can display email images, you might want to plan an “image off” experience so that your email does not look like trash without images.

Understand Customer Comes FIRST

We know this is a familiar customer service motto, but it’s worth repeating for email marketing. Don’t send email just to send email (or to hit quotas). Send email that is going to be valuable to your users and that will strengthen your relationship with them.

Listen to your subscribers by watching your metrics, grant unsubscribes in a timely fashion, and never forget to show your appreciation by saying “thank you.

Don’t Forget Your VIP Customers

Your VIP recipients are your biggest brand ambassadors. Subscribers who always open and click and maybe even share your email deserve a little extra attention for their loyalty and engagement.

Have a new email template or call to action you’d like to try out? It’s a good idea to start with your VIP recipients first.

Survey your VIPs to see how you can improve your email program and be sure to reward them with special offers and discounts. Reward and retain them and you’ll both notice the benefits.

Save Time And Drive Revenue By Saving Yourself From The Hassles Of Email Testing.

We Test Before We “HIT” Send 

Simplify the way you drive customer engagement and achieve your business goals with email marketing campaigns. Enjoy powerful, yet straightforward segmentation, flexible and frustration-free campaigns, and actionable analytics, all designed and  developed by SME Networks. 

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