Increase Your Email Engagement
In our 5-part series, Five Unexpected Ways to Make More Sales, our second article is titled: Increase Your Email Engagement. If you’ve been inconsistent…or non-existent, in your customer’s inbox, you could be missing a huge opportunity to make more sales. Email is one of the easiest ways to contact and connect with your customer base and build the know, like, and trust factor needed to capture sales, build brand awareness, and foster customer loyalty.
Email Isn’t Dead
New social media platforms are launched all the time and as their popularity grows, it makes other forms of engagement feel obsolete. Why send an email when you engage with someone via their social media platform? Because email isn’t dead! Email consistently has a larger reach than social media and studies show that calls for action via email get more engagement than links on social media. Most importantly, you are at risk of losing your contacts on social media whereas your email list is generally safe and sound.
Email is Highly Personal
Emails are a great way to reach specific customers with relevant information that matters most to them. You can segment your email list and target specific customers with topics, products, and offers that meet their unique needs.
Email Delivers Targeted Information
From raising brand awareness, offering education, or products and services, email is an excellent way to showcase information in a highly targeted way. Sending consistent emails with a variety of messages can increase engagement and customer loyalty.
Use These Effective Email Marketing Tips to Boost Your Engagement
- Tip: Be Consistent, but Don’t Over Do It – Send too few emails and your customers may ignore you. Send too many, too often, and they may unsubscribe. Find the sweet spot for your audience and your marketing strategies. While you won’t be able to meet everybody’s expectations, you can find a routine that boosts engagement without turning people off. Check your stats and review delivery, bounce, unsubscribe, click through, and open rates.
- Tip: Show Your Human Side – Customers respond better when an email feels personal and the writer appears approachable. Don’t be afraid to humanize your emails and include anecdotal information, encourage a laugh, or ask readers to ‘hit reply.’ When customers relate to your content, they feel comfortable and are more likely to buy.
- Tip: Remember What’s in it for Them – Cleverly written subject lines are key to higher open rates. Asking yourself what’s in it for your customer can help. A subject line that says: “I was thinking of you when I created this offer” is likely going to be interesting to them. Be sure your content delivers a great offer and other value.
- Tip: Answer Your Email – Be ready for engagement and resist automating replies. If someone contacts you, be sure to reply in a timely manner. Make certain that no links in your email are broken and any call to action takes them to the right location.
Be Sure to Avoid These Mistakes
- Mistake #1: Don’t Spam or Blast Your Subscribers – If someone has opted in to hear from you, it’s a sign they want to know more about your business and expect to receive email; however, you’ll lose them if you disrespect their inbox. Don’t send spam emails with little value and don’t blast their inbox with sales pitch after sales pitch. Be sure you are adding value as well as asking for a sale.
- Mistake #2: Don’t Lump Everyone into One Category – There are unique aspects to your list. Be sure your emails are appropriate for your customer. Use your email platform to segment your list and generate email campaigns tailor made for their needs.
- Mistake #3: Don’t Miss an Opportunity to Connect – Personalization is key. It may feel safe to create an evergreen or watered-down email, but you may miss an opportunity to connect. Consider the weather, season, important dates, etc. when sending an email. Recognizing someone’s birthday makes them feel special, and acknowledging a holiday or current event can increase your approachability and make your email feel current.
Your email is a way to make more sales. Simply upping the frequency and quality of your emails could boost engagement and your bottom line.
This article is part 2 of a 5-part series called, Five Unexpected Ways to Make More Sales, you may also like to read:
- Part 1: Focus on Benefits vs Features
- Part 2: Increase Your Email Engagement
- Part 3: Ask Your Customers for What they Want
- Part 4: Stop Hiding! People Buy from People they Like
- Part 5: Make Customer Engagement Your Top Priority
We’d love to hear which tip you will implement first. Share in the comments below.
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