How to Start Email Marketing and Grow Your Business

In this video, Emily from the WebFX Marketing team will go over how to start email marketing so you can see more website traffic, leads, and revenue for your business.

Transcript: With email marketing, you can earn $44 for every $1 you invest. And we have some beginner tips to help you get started with email marketing.  Hi! My name is Emily, and I’m on the WebFX Marketing team.

In this video, we’ll look at why email matters and some easy steps to start driving results with email. Just keep watching to learn more!

Why does email marketing matter?

First, why does email marketing matter in the first place?  Email lets you reach your most valuable audience right in their inboxes.  Research shows that email is 40x more effective than Facebook and Twitter for getting new customers. And it can earn you an ROI of 4400%!  If you want to harness the power of email for your business, here are five tips for getting started. 

5 steps for getting started with email marketing 

First, you’ll want to pick an email platform that’s best for your business. 

There are a number of different platforms and plans to fit your budget and goals.  When choosing an email platform, it’s helpful to consider things like: 

• The number of emails you send each month
• How many subscribers you have 
• Design and split testing capabilities 
• List maintenance and automation features 
• And if the platform includes real-time result monitoring 

For example, our EmailMarketingFX software lets clients create, send, and evaluate campaigns from one easy-to-use interface. And my favorite part? It includes real-time result monitoring, so you can easily evaluate and optimize your emails. 

After choosing your platform, you can focus on building your email list. 

You might be tempted to buy an email list, but we really advise against it.  Buying lists can lead to high bounce rates, low conversions, and frustrated subscribers who may not know why they’re receiving your emails in the first place.  You want an email list full of quality subscribers who are interested in your products and services.

That’s why we recommend building your email list. You can start earning subscribers by adding sign-up forms in key places like your website header.  A few other options for earning email subscribers include: 

• Creating a dedicated email marketing landing page where people can learn about your emails and opt-in to receive them. 
• Adding sign-up CTAs or pop-ups on your site
• And experimenting with “gated content” or bonus resources that visitors can unlock by subscribing 

One thing you’ll want to think about is the number of form fields you require for email sign-ups.  Requiring extra information like a phone number or website can help weed out unqualified subscribers. But keep in mind, too many fields can keep people from subscribing altogether.  So you’ll want to be strategic about the information you require to sign up.  To help with list quality, you can also enable confirmed or double opt-ins, which require subscribers to confirm their emails before being added to your lists. 

Now that you have your email platform and subscribers, it’s time to start creating your emails!

Your business and goals are going to impact the type and frequency of emails you send. Here are a few options. 

First, are promotional emails like newsletters that you send in bulk every week, month, or whatever frequency you choose.  Email newsletters keep subscribers in the know about product and service updates, industry news, promotions, and more.  Instead of sending generic newsletter blasts, we recommend segmenting and personalizing your emails based on subscriber interests.  You can segment your email list based on demographics, location, interests, and more.  For example, if you sell camping gear, you may segment subscribers based on converting page.

If someone signs up on a page about backpacking tents, you can follow up with related info and promos that move them further down the purchase funnel.  In addition to newsletters, you can also send automated and transactional emails that are triggered by subscriber actions.  For example, if you own an ecommerce store, you can set up automated emails to send when people purchase. These emails can contain other products the person may like, or even a coupon to encourage repeat purchases. 

No matter the type of emails you create, here are six quick tips for getting the best results. 

1. First. Segment and personalize.

   Segmenting and personalizing your emails is an easy way to boost opens and conversions. And your subscribers will want to keep coming back for content that’s custom-tailored to them.  

2. Second. Stick to web-safe fonts and make sure your emails are easy to read on desktops and mobile devices. Tools like EmailMarketingFX let you preview your emails on mobile to make sure they look great no matter the device someone uses to view them.
3. Third. Add images and videos to break up text and engage subscribers. Adding videos can boost your email clicks by 300%, and send valuable traffic to your site. 
4. Next. Include a clear call to action in every email campaign. Whether you want someone to watch a video, check out a new product launch, or make a purchase, you have to let them know with a clear and concise email CTA. 
5. Our next tip is to test subject lines and send times. A/B testing is a great way to get more value from your email campaigns. Just set the versions you want to test, the percentage of your list you want to test, and test duration.

   Then, you can send the winning version of a campaign to the rest of your audience and get more opens and clicks. You’ll also want to pay attention to send times for emails. We recommend segmenting your subscriber list based on time zone and location, so you can send when subscribers are most likely to open your emails.

   
6. And finally. Before hitting send, be sure to double and triple-check your spelling, personalization fields, and formatting to make sure your campaigns go off without a hitch.    

After hitting send, you might think your job is over. But don’t forget to evaluate your campaign data! 

With EmailMarketingFX, you can access real-time information about key metrics like: 

• Open rates
• Click rates
• Bounces 
• Engagement and forwards
• And more

Opens and click rates can vary depending on your industry, and you can check out our email marketing benchmarks blog post to learn more.  We also recommend syncing Google Analytics with your email platform to get even more insights into the actions subscribers take on your website.  Campaign data can unveil key information about: 

• The topics and info that interest your audience
• What subject lines get more opens
• When to send your emails
• And more 

And you can use the info you gain to boost email opens, clicks, and conversions. 

Hopefully, this video gave you some helpful tips for getting started with email marketing! 

If you’re ready to dive into your own campaigns, we’d love to help! Feel free to contact us online and be sure to subscribe to our Revenue Weekly newsletter and YouTube channel.  Thanks for watching!