Email marketing gets a bad rep that it doesn’t quite deserve. Under the right circumstances, this is a highly effective form of lead generation and customer interaction. The problem is that most people don’t know how to send the right emails at the right times to maximize their conversion rates. Have no fear – the SEO experts at Detroit Internet Marketing are here to guide the way.
Here are some tips to maximize the results of your email marketing campaigns in Michigan.
The Right Times To Email Clients
Some emails come naturally, like a confirmation email after a client creates an account or places an order. Some are not quite as obvious. The best times to send messages in an email marketing campaign include:
- At the beginning of a promotion (“Save 50% on XXX from now til…”)
- Right before the end of a promotion (“Last days to save…!”)
- After adding a new service or product (“Check out our new selection of…”)
- After posting a high-quality blog post, like a case study or a detailed answer to a frequently asked question
- After making an important change to your policies or business practices
- After launching a new website or redesigning your existing website
- Abandoned cart reminders, if you have an online store
- Seasonal service reminders (“It’s that time of year! Get your XXX today…”)
- Appointment or invoice reminders
- Referral program reminders (“Get $XXX off your next bill when you refer a friend…”)
The Time Of Day Matters As Well
When we say “right time,” we don’t just mean the time of year. We’re also referring to the time of day. Ideally you should email your clients early in the morning or early in the evening, before and after standard 9-5 work days. There is a little more flexibility on the weekends, but you should still shoot for times when your clients are awake and online.
A lot of automated email marketing programs will send emails while most people are asleep, some time between 3:00 and 5:00 AM. The theory is that a person will wake up, check his or her email and see the message at the start of the day. What actually happens is the person’s inbox is flooded overnight and he or she deletes all the spam-sounding emails first thing in the morning. Your emails are liable to get washed away in the process, along with all your hard work and marketing investment. Opt to email clients when they are likely to see the new email in their inbox, and you will instantly see better results from email marketing campaigns.
Sometimes Less Is More
If you email your clients too often, they will start to get annoyed by your messages. They may even mark them as spam and block them from their inboxes entirely. You don’t want that. If you’re sending out emails more than once a week, you’re probably doing too much. Scale back your efforts until you find a volume of emails that yield high responses and equally high conversions.
Respond Quickly To Emails You Receive
Email marketing isn’t a one-way street. Clients are likely to email you in return if they have questions, concerns, or general feedback about a message they’ve received. Try to respond to these emails within 24-48 business hours. The quicker you can get back to your customers, the more likely they are to make a positive decision about working with you. This doesn’t mean you have to be a slave to your inbox, but it does mean that you should devote a little time each day to check your business emails. Set aside some time to complete quote requests and business inquiries.
Simple But Compelling Email Titles
The title of your email is the first impression people get. That determines whether they click into it or send it to the trash. Here at Detroit Internet Marketing, we have professional copywriters who carefully craft each email title for our clients. If you use cookie-cutter titles, you’ll get lackluster results. You need something that will grab your audience’s attention without overwhelming them with information from the start.
Promotional titles are pretty straightforward: “Bundle your lawncare services and save BIG!” It’s the other titles that you may struggle to make. Think about what your audience is most likely to respond to – how you can capture the information in the email without giving away everything in the title. It’s a delicate balance, but it is one you can achieve with proper practice.
Keep The Content Short And Scan-able
Most people won’t take the time to read every word in your email. They want to get right to the point. How can I save money? Where can I go to read this important blog post? What changes is this making? Those are the questions that run through your customers’ minds when they click into an email. Don’t spend too much time leading into an email or filling it with frivolous information. Get to the goods and provide a link to your website, blog post, products, services, etc. where appropriate.
Don’t Buy An Email List…EVER
We’ve talked about this before, but we have to say it again. Never buy an email list for internet marketing. This is a list of email addresses gathered by a third party. It seems like a good deal. You get a list of potential clients in exchange for a small fee. However, there is no way to guarantee that those emails will go to real people, and even if they do, chances are those people aren’t going to respond to what appears to be spam.
Instead of buying an email list, you should get an opt-in email list. This is something that you put together from clients who sign up for newsletters, promotional emails, business quotes, and the like. You may have different lists for different types of emails, depending on what your clients are looking for. With this, you will know for sure that your messages are going to people who actually want to read them.
For more information about email marketing in Michigan, contact Detroit Internet Marketing at (248) 234-4830.
