6 Must Know Tips For Email Marketing

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When it comes to the topic of email list building and tips for email marketing, you’ve no doubt already heard your share of cliches. One of the main tips for email marketing that regularly comes my way is “The money is in the list!”.

Similarly to your website (when you build something that you truly own in your hosting environment), your email list is something that you own. It is not owned by a corporation such as Facebook or Google and can provide you with an excellent avenue to promote your ideas, products/services and new content to name just a few!

When put together and nurtured on an ongoing basis it can provide you with an audience of enthusiastic followers and customers.

A theme that I often revisit which runs through everything web related is that of attracting and holding your visitor’s attention. I discuss this in some of the tips for email marketing later and it’s important to keep in mind. Most people nowadays are inundated with daily email and it is so easy for them to simply hit that delete button and never read your emails. So it’s important to make the effort so each and every email counts.

Having seen what works and what doesn’t over the years I’ve got the following tips for email marketing to share with you.

1) Use An Email Service Provider

There are a number of reasons why it is important to use an email service provider and avoid any inclination to build an email list within your email software. You will need to consider the following issues/features which email service providers will take care of when dealing with bulk email sending:-

Compliance with email regulations relating to spam. There are significant penalties for not conforming with regulations relating to permission marketing. As a case in point, for those of you located in Australia, Woolworths were issued an infringment notice for in excess of AU$1 million by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in July, 2020.
OK, you are no doubt a somewhat smaller enterprise than Woolies but this gives you a feel for the penalties that can be incurred when you get it wrong!
Automated list subscribing/unsubscribing..
An email service provider will handle and automate all aspects of the adding and removal of subscribers to your email list.
Automation features including autoresponder sequencing, tagging and segmentation.
This functionality enables you to pre-write content which is automatically set at pre-set intervals etc.
Interfacing with Google Ads/Facebook Ads for retargeting ads etc.
Email service providers can be integrated with other platforms such as Facebook Ads for retargeting ads and custom audience management.

This is only a small part of what an email service provider can do for your list. Perhaps the most important reason to use an email service provider is that it is likely to significantly increase the likelihood of your emails being delivered.

Email service providers do what it takes to maximise their deliverability which is highly important at a time when so much doesn’t get delivered due to spam!

2) Make It Double-Opt-In

Most email service providers allow you to either set your list to single or double opt-in. A single opt-in list allows a visitor to enter any email address whilst a double opt-in list includes a check of the email address entered via a confirmation email.

So with a single opt-in you are going to see more timewasters who aren’t serious and wasting your time.

The advantage of using double opt-in include:-

A higher quality list with subscribers who are likely to be more engaged and serious about receiving your content. After all, they made the effort to confirm their details!
A higher rate of deliverability of your emails which improves your sender reputation. Those on your list were clearly able to receive and click the confirmation link so their email address was correct and they were receiving your emails at signup.
An email list which reflects the true number of list members. In your list's early stages this is not a big deal but as it grows, you will need to pay an email service provider. Their charges are based on the list size so a large number of false addresses could cost you unnecessary money!

Don’t Leave Your Email Deliverability to Chance!

The deliverability of email is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. After all, you want to get results so why take chances on whether your emails will ever reach their destination?

I highly recommend reading this article by Hubspot which will give you a deeper insight into the dynamics of email deliverability.

3) Don’t Just Promote a Newsletter

People are too busy nowadays and are not going to join an email list without something being offered which is highly relevant to them right now! So they won’t be interested in your weekly newsletter and the offering to “Join our list and receive our weekly newsletter”.

Instead why not capture their interest with a lead magnet that will hook them instantly. This is straightforward to set up via your email service provider and gets results.

So for example, for one of my clients who is an infant massage instructor I suggested putting together a cheatsheet which we titled “4 Simple Baby Colic Remedies”. One of her aims is to promote her online colic course and this is a great introductory resource which is highly relevant and gives her subscribers tips they can use straightaway.

4) Carefully Consider Your Subject Lines

When you think about it, crafting an email subject line that arouses interest is crucial. Otherwise your subscribers will never read your pearls of wisdom or whatever it is you’re offering to them. You’re competing with all the other emails sitting in their inbox, so always take the time to write a subject line that does any of the following :-

Encourages interaction
Shares how-to content
Is humorous
Offers an exclusive offer
Teaches your subscribers
Creates a sense of urgency or shares a deadline

5) Don’t Just Send Promotional Emails

One of my most important tips for email marketing is to avoid the tendency to flood your list with promotional emails. One of the aims of your email list is for your subscribers to grow to view you as their go to business to guide them. When done right, your subscribers will look forward to hearing from you as long as you don’t overdo the promotions.

I suggest sending 3-4 content/helpful emails for every one promotional email.

6) Build A Two-Way Street With Subscribers

One of the biggest challenges I have found with my email list has been in getting any interaction with my subscribers. There are various ways you can encourage this including:-

When sending emails, encourage them to "hit the reply button" now and respond with something or ask their opinion on something.
Make it highly personal including addressing them by name.
Relate your emails to your personal life stories and tell them what has been happening in your life. This helps people trust and like you.

Perhaps the toughest learning for me has been adding some personality to what I write. It’s easy when sitting at your computer in a room away from people to be overly logical and robotic. However, it’s important to remember that people buy from people!

You’re likely to find that your subscribers will also buy from you when you’ve built a deep relationship with them.

Also encouraging your subscribers to participate will help give you ideas on what they are wanting from you and their pain points, helping you plan your content.

I hope you found the tips for email marketing shared in this post helpful. Are you looking for further information on the topic of email marketing strategy? Please let me know in the comments.