Social Savvy: The latest tactics for success with email marketing – March 2024

By Irene Williams

Email marketing continues to hold steady as an effective sales tool with strong ROI, even in a constantly changing marketplace. If you aren’t actively using it to support your business goals, there’s no time like the present to begin. And if you are, it’s likely time for a strategic audit and upgrade of your strategy in line with new email sending requirements.

WHY YOU SHOULD USE EMAIL MARKETING?
Per recent studies, marketers stand to gain upwards of $36 for every $1 spent on email campaigns. Email marketing revenue is growing 13.3% annually and on track to hit a $17.9 billion valuation by 2027. It makes sense that these stats are so high when you learn that 99% of email users check their inboxes daily, and the average unsubscribe rate is only 0.1%. Though it’s common to hear complaints of email overload, the data proves that people still check and open messages and are unlikely to opt out of lists once they’ve subscribed.

An overarching reason email marketing remains effective is that it’s mutually beneficial. For marketers, email is cost-effective and easy to target, and it offers satisfyingly immediate measurement and response. Recipients show preference for emails that provide access to discounts and exclusive opportunities, especially when the offerings are personalized based on interests and previous engagement. For parties on both sides of the equation, thoughtfully crafted, action-oriented email messages are advantageous.

NEW SENDING REQUIREMENTS TO HEED
Even though email is a tried-and-true tool, there’s no rest for the weary marketer in today’s digital-social-mobile market. To keep (or start) using this proven mode of marketing for best results, it’s essential to stay ahead of requirements and tactics.

Google (Gmail) and Yahoo, two behemoths in the email service industry, have implemented new email authentication requirements for all email senders. The goal is to protect users from spam and fraudulent messages. By complying with the requirements, marketers will see improved deliverability of their messages.

To top-line the requirements, you’ll need to authenticate your sending domain, allow for one-click unsubscribes and stay under a spam-rate threshold. Here are a few key points to help you get in line with these essential standards.

• Rely on the resources of your third-party email marketing solution.
It’s Marketing 101 to know that you should be using an email marketing solution to manage your email lists and campaigns. In light of the Gmail and Yahoo requirements, your third-party provider can be a solid resource for technical advice on how to be sure your business is an authenticated sender. Use of a trusted service should already have you on track regarding easy options to unsubscribe and management of spam-rate thresholds.

• Be sure your domain records are updated.
Though your third-party email service solution is the hub of your email activity, you have direct responsibilities to ensure your email-sending domain settings are updated. Namely, you need to publish a DMARC policy record in your DNS settings. This will aid in the prevention of spoofing and phishing. Connect with your webmaster ASAP to make sure this technical task is completed.

• Do not use non-branded email addresses for marketing.
Decree a hard stop for anyone on your team who presently uses a general email address (@gmail.com, @yahoo.com, etc.) for marketing or sales messaging. Not only is this imperative in light of latest sending requirements, it’s best practice that any and all business messages be sent from the company’s official domain for overall brand trust and authority.

[Note: This article is not intended to be a comprehensive technical reference. Please seek details and full implementation guidance from your email service and webmaster providers.]

EMAIL TACTICS TO TRY AND APPLY
Presuming your business is up to date on the technical side, it’s time to take a fresh look at content and creative tactics. Here’s a range of ideas to help you get the best results out of what you send to your customers’ inboxes.

• Use all the “-tions.”
Segmentation, personalization and automation are the trifecta for email marketing results, per the research.

Segmentation is a core email marketing tactic. By parsing your recipients into groups based on interests (“joined email list at a trade show,” “met in showroom,” etc.), behaviors or demographics, you’re able to target messaging for relevance. That’s shown to boost campaign efficacy by 78%.

Likewise, personalizing messages to directly connect with recipients is shown to increase effectiveness anywhere from 72% to 89%. Your email service should offer tools to achieve message personalization. These include customization of fields such as placement of the recipient’s name in the subject line, message salutation and the body copy. Of course, it can be off-putting when there are errors in these fields-nobody likes to be greeted with “Dear <recipient>”-so test the functionality before launching a campaign. Also, be on the lookout for AI tools, which are being integrated into email service solutions, to aid in generating personalized subject lines, etc., that will inspire recipients to open and engage.

Automation offers message flow between you and your customers, with the potential to enhance email campaign results by 71%. By queuing responsive messages to send automatically based on recipients’ interests and actions, you have the opportunity to stay in conversation with, maintain engagement with and inspire desired responses by your customers. And all this happens on autopilot once you’ve set up the email series.

• Make messages mobile-friendly.
More than 60% of people check email on their mobile devices. And 42% of those people will immediately delete messages that aren’t properly formatted for phone viewing. That’s why it’s imperative to think mobile-first. Rely on guidance regarding fonts, text size, etc., from your email service provider to ensure your messages are readable and engaging by phone. If there’s ever a question, go with the simplest text and layouts to make sure your messages translate on any and all devices.

Also, be aware of the viewable character count of subject lines on mobile phones. For example, on the iPhone, typically only 30 characters are visible (based on native settings for the phone). Subject line length is relevant for viewing on laptops and other devices, as well, so it’s best practice all around to keep subject lines succinct.

• Get graphic.
Today’s consumers are visually driven, and the data proves it. The use of graphics can improve open rates and engagement. One study found that recipients are 56% more likely to open emails with an emoji in the subject line. That makes the tactic certainly worth a try. Emails that include image offers have been documented to increase engagement by 10%, and the use of visual buttons is known to increase click-throughs over text-only options.

• Timing may be everything.
When and how often you send emails can have a great impact on results. Per the current stats, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays are the best days for sending emails, with Thursday performing the most strongly according one study. Because 58% of email users check messages first thing in the morning, you may do well with the 8 a.m. send time noted for good performance in a recent study. Also, sending at least two messages per month may boost your open rates. Of course, specifics vary for every business and its email lists, so track your audience’s patterns for opening and engaging, and manage your campaigns accordingly.

• Cleanse and test.
Considering the powerful revenue potential of your email marketing, it’s worth the effort to keep your lists clean and test campaigns to create the best messaging. At least once yearly, purge your list of inactive subscribers, as your overall deliverability is affected poorly when you have an inordinate number of people who never open or take action on your emails. I suggest you send a message inviting recipients to click to confirm they want to stay on your list to avoid deletion; this can motivate people to get back in the loop.

Test of email campaigns is a measurably beneficial best practice. Not only do A/B campaign comparatives give you insights for better email marketing, but they provide insights about your audience’s interest that can support your marketing tactics beyond the inbox, as well.

Here’s hoping you ‘got the message’-email marketing is a great tool for your business, but only if you and your team continually improve skills for using it effectively. Best of luck, and happy sending!

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