Lots of businesses use emails as a direct marketing tool. But it can be frustrating when emails are blocked, rejected, go into spam boxes or never reach the intended target. There are ways to improve the deliverability of your email marketing, so that you can reach more of your customers reliably and with results.
Why use email marketing?
We all get email marketing into our inboxes. Since the introduction of GDPR, it’s been easier to opt out of receiving marketing you don’t want, and to unsubscribe from marketing that’s no longer relevant to you. However, from the businesses that we do want to keep in touch with, emails allow us to see the next set of events, access special discounts or codes, think about gift ideas, take advantage of expertise and keep in touch with the businesses we buy from regularly. So affordable email marketing is a valuable tool for any small business. And if you’re going to do it well, you need to make sure that your emails reach the intended customer.
The technical issues
Quite often, the reason that your emails aren’t hitting your customer’s inbox are technical. This can be to do with the system you use to send out your emails, the number of emails you send, the security of your own systems and the IT infrastructure you have in place.
And as we know, sorting out technical issues in a small business can take hours, and don’t always result in an improvement. Instead, if you think that the reasons your emails aren’t getting through might be technical, it’s worth talking to someone who specialises in managing email marketing services for small businesses – they will know how to use email marketing systems that can meet all the necessary requirements, and can run your email marketing for you, removing the technical stress from your business life.
Manage your opt-in processes
The best way to operate a clean email list is to make sure that you only send email to the people who want it. In fact, this is now an essential element of email marketing campaign management. Best practice is for companies to give customers the opportunity to opt-in to marketing communications.
If your website, sales emails and auto-responders don’t have a clear opt-in message, now’s the time to sort that out. That way, you’ll know that the people who sign up really want to hear from you. You can choose to validate email addresses, use any of the devices that help to ensure that spammers are not signing up to your list, and add those people who sign up straight to your database.
Keep your content valuable
There are many schools of thought in terms of how to manage both the content and frequency of your marketing emails. The over-riding advice, however, is to make your emails relevant and useful to your audience. Small business email marketing is all about building a relationship with your customer, gaining their trust and loyalty and encouraging them to become return buyers and active referrers.
Try and make sure your email subject headers are compelling. Many marketing emails never get opened because the titles are boring. And some never make it to an inbox because they contain words or phrases that your customer’s email client considers to be spam. These include:
- Free – including ‘free gift’ ‘free consultation’ ‘free information’
- Cash – including ‘cash bonus’ ‘cash gift’ ‘cash prize’
- Money – including ‘money back’ ‘make money’ ‘double your money’
- No – including ‘no deposit’ ‘no obligation’ ‘no investment’ ‘no catch
Instead, use subject headings that connect with your customer – think about what you would say to them if they called you up or visited you in person. Make genuine offers or share valuable information that will help them to build a trusting relationship with you. And make sure you can deliver on your promises.
Whilst emails can bring in great repeat and referral business, it’s a marketing tool that needs to be well-managed both technically and strategically. That’s why many small businesses choose to use professional email marketing support. These services know how to use the technology to manage growing lists, have the knowledge to help grow those lists and the understanding of content that helps you build a strong relationship with your customers.
If you’re short on time and need help managing your email marketing campaigns, free to call us on 0800 994 9016 or use our contact form in the menu above.