How to start an e-mail marketing campaign: 8 things to know

Anyone who owns a business knows how important marketing is in order to expand and grow. Far from being a single-faceted entity, it has many aspects including e-mail marketing.

Since e-mail marketing is a very useful tool for expanding your clientele, you should take advantage of this article which will provide you with some tips for developing your very own e-mail marketing campaign.

Developing your e-mail marketing campaign strategy

1) The subject of the e-mail

At first glance, the subject of the e-mail seems to be a minor aspect of the content, yet it isn’t. Indeed, it constitutes the first contact between your email and your recipients, and this will work to considerably motivate their decision to continue reading. Moreover, if your email marketing takes the form of a newsletter, it should never be taken for granted that the recipient will necessarily read the content of the e-mail, based on the pretext that they receive it every month.

In order to have the best possible chances of people opening your e-mail, it would be important to get the interest of your potential clients by clearly identifying the advantage they will have when opening your e-mail. So put forward a promotional offer or suggest a new service that is available. Also, avoid a long subject. Not only will it be unclear, but it is more likely to be ignored. In this regard, it seems that e-mail objects that are 50 characters or less are more likely to be opened.

4 examples of good newsletter titles: 

• We exchange your opinion for gifts - Urbania (newsletter sent March 28th 2018)
• Your credit request has been refused - Ghislain Larochelle (newsletter sent September 23th 2017)
• How to Implement a Content Marketing Platform in a Global B2B Organization - Content Marketing Institute (newsletter sent August 31st  2017)
• 5 activities for broke students - La voix du Quartier des spectacles (newsletter sent October 10th 2017)

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2) The email's content

As the cornerstone of your e-mail is undoubtedly its content, this point will be of particular importance. The crucial thing here is to give the members of your mailing list a reason to read you, knowing the fact that they are often inundated with a large number of e-mails every day. To make yourself stand out, ask what you have to offer that sets you apart from the competition, as it will give you the chance to quickly catch the attention of your readers.

Regardless of what you are hoping to promote, present it as a call to action to make your goal clear to your recipients. Regarding this call to action, it should lead your potential readers to a page devoted solely to the subject contained in your e-mail. This will save them the hassle of searching your website for this information and closing the window out of frustration and disinterest.

Another important point is to be concise and clear in your explanations. Since people are solicited by a large number of emails every week, they likely have a limited attention span. Lastly, do not hesitate to show a slight dose of humour in the content of your e-mail. This touch of originality will make your readers smile and will avoid their plunging into trouble during reading.

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3) What about images?

Regarding the visual aspect of your e-mail marketing campaign, the integration of images would certainly be a plus. Not only does an image provide a concrete illustration of the service or product offered, it will also break the monotony of continuous text. This is an important point that we’ve addressed in our article “How to use images on your website."

Sending e-mails in your marketing campaign

4) The mailing list: reaching your clients

To collect names for your mailing list, include subscription forms for your newsletter on your website. Is your newsletter up to date? Those very useful recommendations will guide you in the development of a newsletter that will entice your readers. On your subscription page, provide details on the information that will be sent to the recipient so that he sees a potential source of interest in signing up! These may be in the form of promotional offers, tips or news related to your area of expertise.

Also, nothing prevents you from collecting the addresses of your current customers (with their approval) if your company has been up and running for a while. Are you involved in the community? You could easily take advantage of the network of contacts you’ve developed, encouraging people to give you their e-mail addresses. 

Why not get help from your employees to increase the size of your mailing list? They can easily recommend some of their relatives or friends. Another way to do this would be to encourage your customers to recommend their friends in exchange for exclusive offers.

As a point of clarification, be aware that the anti-spam law allows you to contact a customer with whom you have done business, as long as the last transaction happened within the last 24 months. Once you have accumulated a certain amount of names, do not rest on your laurels. Take action as soon as possible, building this list to solidify your customer base quickly. In addition, be aware that you may lose sight of some individuals who may change e-mail addresses, making the presence of their name on your list completely useless.

5) Canadian anti-spam regulation and other rules about sending email

The first thing you need to know before answering this question is that you cannot legally send e-mails without the prior consent of the recipients. The legal framework for e-mail marketing, including the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation, sets out how to connect with potential customers.

Secondly, be sure to target the audience to which you send your e-mail. Otherwise, your efforts will not lead to the results you want. In-depth knowledge of your recipients will tell you the right approach to present the information you will share, especially when it comes to special offers.

6) Customizing your email campaign

Since you are familiar with your audience and have been given access to their personal information, you will be able to personalize your e-mails. This marketing strategy will help your recipients feel as though they are not just a simple address on a list of many. 

How to evaluate the success of your email marketing campaign

7) Statistics: how many people will actually open and read your emails?

As with any project, it would be important to compile the results of your efforts and analyze them. In addition, other elements should be the subject of your vigilance including:

• The percentage of people who clicked on your hyperlinks;
• The conversion rate of your hypertext links;
• The total revenue generated by your campaign;
• The bounce rate (the percentage of people who clicked on a link and only visited one page of your site as a result of this action).

After obtaining this information, you’ll be able to understand the weak points of your email marketing campaign

8) A/B testing your email campaigns

As there is always room for improvement, conducting an A/B test will be very useful to learn about the elements of your e-mail that could be improved. In addition, several tools make it possible to perform this type of test and compile statistics on the performance of different versions of the same e-mail. In order to carry out your A/B test and obtain important information to improve your email marketing campaign, find out about the different steps to follow to get it right.