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How Email Marketing Automation Can Help Your B2B Achieve Its Goals

Faced with a challenging marketing landscape and increasing ROI pressure, B2B email marketers need to meet a laundry list of sales objectives.

Since B2B businesses typically face longer buying cycles, your marketing strategy requires additional nurturing efforts to maintain communication between your brand and leads.

Many B2B marketers have now turned to email marketing automation platforms to manage complex buyer ecosystems. Imagine having to send out an individual email to every email contact every week; as a busy marketer, you know that’s not an attainable reality.

Email marketing automation allows you to develop integrated campaigns that are sent at exactly the right time and provide value to your leads. With the initial setup and strategy, automation also has the potential to save your brand valuable resources and capital.

Is investing in email marketing automation a smart decision for your brand? Let’s take a look at what email marketing automation is and how you can adopt this technology as a B2B business.

What is email marketing automation?

Email marketing automation is the software marketers use to send emails automatically to leads and customers. Based on rules and triggers, you develop email workflows that send specific emails depending on the subscriber’s action or time in the sales pipeline.

For example, if someone signs up for brand updates, they automatically enroll in your workflow that sends upcoming events and recaps. Likewise, if someone fills out a contact form on your website, your automation marketing software will send a confirmation email with a thank you message.

These leads will be automatically entered into your Customer Relationships Manager (CRM) or wherever you wish to store your contacts. Automation software will also recognize how each lead interacted with your website, which gives you more insight into what their interests are and possible demographics.

Email marketing benefits for B2B brands

On a broader scale, B2B marketers use this software to automate more tedious tasks that typically require extended resources. Marketing automation is the center point of any inbound marketing strategy and helps you do more with your existing resources.

Regardless of your business size or marketing capabilities, email marketing automation provides you the following benefits:

Improves marketing efficiency

Email automation saves time and resources. Your salespeople can increase their reply rate and set appointments, and your marketing team can focus on larger strategic projects instead of busywork.

Email automation helps you avoid time-consuming tasks like:

  • Developing valuable content
  • Creating audience segments based on their actions
  • Nurturing leads to shorten the sales cycle
  • Scheduling and execute campaigns ahead of time
  • Removing duplicate or inconsistent data and leads
  • Improving communication between internal and external teams

Instead of focusing your time on tedious work, you’re able to improve your overall productivity. Email marketing automation also allows you to coordinate everything from one platform, instead of using different software for each channel.

Attracts and converts qualified leads

As a B2B marketer, your main goal is to provide value to leads and current customers. You can do this by automating your processes: in fact, of the top-performing companies in the B2B space, 69% use marketing automation for customer acquisition, and 50% use it for customer retention.

Why? Instant, timely communications allow you to cultivate business relationships and convert leads without having to do everything manually.

Email automation software also combines behavioral data—links clicked, emails opened, purchases made—with lead scoring, so you have more insight into your sales pipeline.

For example, you can utilize lead magnets within your website to understand what your lead’s preferences are and continue to send relevant content based on those interests. Valuable content has the power to speed up the buying cycle, and turn leads to converting customers.

Increases ROI

B2B marketers who implement email automation have the opportunity to increase their sales pipeline. Why is marketing automation so successful at producing revenue?

You can pair lead cycle personalization with software to communicate with the right segment of subscribers at the right time. When you create a one-on-one conversation with your leads, you’re able to communicate your value better and persuade subscribers to make a purchase.

Also, email automation doesn’t bust the budget and overuse your internal resources. You can do less and deliver more impact for your brand.

Aligns sales and marketing goals

There’s a stigma about marketers and sales reps—that they clash—but email automation smooths communication and cooperation between these two departments.

Email automation provides more qualified leads for the sales team to work with and nurture. Instead of wasting their time vetting prospects, your emails provide insight into when leads are ready for the final sales pitch or need more time. After all, nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases.

By working together and setting parameters, your marketing and sales team join forces for a more streamlined strategy. You’re able to impact the entire sales journey—marketing builds the initial relationship with prospects and sales focuses their time on the final conversions. It’s a dream team for your brand that’ll pay dividends in the future.

How B2B brands can adopt email marketing automation

Now that you understand the benefits of email automation, it’s time to adopt a platform and strategy for your brand to meet your B2B marketing goals. It’s important not to jump into automation without weighing your options and developing a plan that educates your audience.

What are the pain points in your sales cycle? Where are your customers dropping off? Once you identify pipeline trends, you can develop an automation strategy that fills the gaps.

To help you get started, check out three essential automation strategies to nurture your leads into converting customers:

Use a signup funnel for every digital channel.

You need to funnel prospects to your signup form, so you capture their data. While a simple “join our list” message may have worked in the past, B2B consumers are now demanding brands that showcase their value in unique ways. It’s not enough to just ask for their email address; you need to prove you deserve it.

Push all your digital initiatives—blog posts, social media feeds, and search ads—to a signup form with a strong CTA and incentive. Incentives could be an in-depth white paper, eBook, or industry-exclusive interview that’ll demonstrate your thought leadership. With this strategy, you’re offering something in return for their information. Using multiple digital channels helps streamline your list-building methods, so your automation can deliver the right message to your leads.

Create email drip campaigns based on actions.

Automated drip campaigns, also known as email journeys, are a sequence of emails that are triggered on a predetermined schedule to target subscribers. Typically sent after an action like signing up on a form or requesting a quote, drip campaigns help nurture longer sales cycles. Attached to a queued email workflow, you develop your drip campaign with pre-written content and designs.

Potential B2B drip campaign emails include:

  • Welcome emails: introduce brand and set expectations for future communications.
  • Events/activities: promote email courses, webinars, product announcements, and more to encourage education.
  • Promotional emails: discuss your features and benefits with your leads to encourage click-throughs to your website.
  • Re-engagement: target leads that have been in your pipeline for too long

Drip campaigns are an essential part of communicating and educating your leads. Overall, drip campaigns help you set appointments, promote events, build a sales pitch, and increase conversions.

nDash Sends Welcome Email After Account Creation

Source: Really Good Emails

Use autoresponders for confirmations.

While drip campaigns help nurture your subscribers, autoresponder emails acknowledge your lead’s interest in your brand after filling out a form. Attach autoresponder emails to forms on your landing pages and let your contact know that you’ll be in touch with them soon. While it seems like a small gesture, this extra level of customer service shows not only that you care about their business, but also allows you to get additional products in front of your lead.

Consider using autoresponders when a lead:

  • Signs up for your email list
  • Creates a support ticket
  • Purchases an item
  • Changes a setting in their account
  • Requests a quote or appointment

With more complex email automation platforms, you can send out autoresponders on a lead’s birthday or for membership renewals and reminders, for example. For B2B marketers, autoresponder emails still deliver personalization to earn 152% higher click rates, while also cutting down the amount of work you need to do.

Postmates Sends Autoresponder Email After Account Updates

Source: Really Good Emails

Wrap up

If you’re serious about growing your lead pipeline and increasing conversion rates, email marketing automation can make a significant impact on your objectives. With modern automation platforms, you’re still able to deliver personalized campaigns that target your lead’s pain points and move them through the sales funnel faster.

Additional B2B marketing automation benefits include:

  • Saving time and resources by eliminating tedious tasks
  • Attracting and converting quality leads
  • Increasing your ROI and revenue potential
  • Aligning sales and marketing goals for a more collaborative strategy

If you’re ready to implement email marketing automation, give Campaign Monitor a try for free today.

The post How Email Marketing Automation Can Help Your B2B Achieve Its Goals appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

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How Email Can Improve Your Inbound Marketing Strategy

Do you love receiving cold calls or emails you never signed up for? What about TV commercials invading your time watching the newest streaming binge? If your answer was “no” to these, your audience probably doesn’t like a disruptive outbound strategy either.

Consumers also have the ability to opt out of remarketing display ads and add themselves to a “do not call” list. In fact, outbound strategies like display only amount to an average of 0.05% click-through rate.

If you’re looking to find engaged customers who are interested in your brand, you need to develop an inbound marketing strategy. Inbound marketing focuses on a natural and organic approach to earn new customers instead of a more aggressive, in-your-face sales tactics. You’re able to connect with customers on a more personal level and solve problems they already have.

How can you develop an inbound marketing strategy? Does email marketing fit into the equation? Let’s dive into the world of inbound marketing and learn how you can engage with your customers on a more authentic level.

What is an inbound marketing strategy?

Inbound marketing is a business methodology that attracts consumers by developing personalized experiences and content targeted to their needs. Through content development and segmentation, you build long-lasting relationships with consumers that’ll ultimately boost your bottom line and increase your conversion longevity.

There are three essential elements within a successful inbound marketing strategy:

  • Attract: Draw your target audience in with quality content that establishes your brand as a trusted thought leader.
  • Engage: Present solutions that align with your audience’s pain points, so they’re more likely to buy from you.
  • Delight: Provide support that empowers your customers to enjoy their purchase and continue engaging with your brand.

Think of an inbound marketing strategy as an ongoing user journey. When customers are pleased with your products or services, they’ll share that success with more people to create a self-sustaining lead generation loop. Above all, inbound marketing is useful for marketers because it gives you a clear view of your lead funnel and has the potential to boost your ROI with more engaged customers.

What inbound marketing tactics should you focus on?

Are you convinced that inbound marketing is a smart strategy for your brand? While there are a lot of different channels you can focus your efforts on, it’s essential to meet your audience on their preferred platforms and consider their needs. Are they savvy social media scrollers? Or are they more likely to convert from their email inboxes? Figure out where they spend the most time and develop content around those channels.

To help you get started, consider the following marketing tactics:

  • SEO: Optimize your website’s content and structure to appear for organic search engine result pages.
  • PPC: Utilize paid search to rank for keywords that are actively searched for and show audience intent.
  • Content marketing: Nurture your leads with quality content like blogs, videos, case studies, and other downloadable content.
  • Social media: Attract new and current readers by promoting your stellar content on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more.
  • Email marketing: Grow a loyal subscriber base and deliver personalized content to drive brand awareness and sales for your brand.

How to integrate email into your inbound marketing strategy

A successful inbound marketing strategy has a lot of moving parts. However, many marketers underestimate the power that email marketing has to contact opted-in leads, nurture their user experience, and drive final conversions.

While email can be used for both outbound and inbound marketing, it plays a crucial role in engaging users who’ve already shown interest in your company. Consider the following statistics behind the power of using email within your inbound marketing strategy:

  • Seventy-four percent of digital marketers agree that personalization increases email engagement.
  • Email is 40 times more effective at lead generation than Twitter or Facebook.
  • Email marketing drives more conversions than any other digital channel.
  • For every $1 spent, email generates $38 in ROI.
  • Ninety-two percent of adults use email, and 63% use it at least once a day.
  • Seventy-two percent of people prefer to receive promotional brand content through email.

Tattly Creates DIY Newsletters To Engage Subscribers

Source: Really Good Emails

Step-by-step guide to integrating email into your inbound strategy

To start building an inbound marketing approach for your email campaigns, it’s vital to follow email marketing best practices to ensure you maximize performance. If you want subscribers to find value in your emails, you need to develop relevant messaging, design, and an automation flow that keeps your audience engaged.

Here’s the best way to develop an email inbound marketing campaign.

1. Determine your target audience and goals.

Understanding your audience demographics and pain points is critical in creating successful email campaigns. What prospects are likely to purchase your services or products? Consider the following questions when narrowing down your audience:

  • How does your brand solve challenges?
  • What do they like and dislike?
  • What is their occupation and how does that drive decisions?
  • What is their age?

By answering these questions and taking the time to discover customer personas, you can create more targeted and relevant messaging that’ll drive sales from your subscriber list.

2. Grow a quality subscriber list organically.

To grow a robust inbound marketing strategy, you need to have a large list of email subscribers to message. However, quantity doesn’t always mean quality. Your email list needs to consist of subscribers who opted in to your list and have expressed interest in your brand.

If you’re starting from scratch, building an email list can take time, and you’ll need to strategize ways to entice potential subscribers. While a simple “join our list!” message in your website’s footer may have done the job in the past, modern consumers will consider your value proposition before willingly giving up their information.

Strong value propositions include:

  • Dedicated landing pages full of information about your brand and service
  • Gated content that educates your user beyond what’s available on your website
  • Incentives to persuade your user to make a purchase, like free shipping or coupons

While these are just a few suggestions to grow a quality list, you need to focus on fulfilling your user’s needs and offering value in return.

Marketo Provides Gated Report For Data

Source: Marketo

3. Segment subscribers into more relevant groupings.

Now that you have a subscriber list full of qualified leads, you need to segment like-minded persona types, so you can deliver more targeted messages. You can start by dividing your list by intent: prospects, past customers, leads close to a purchase, undecided, etc. Understanding the buying stages will help you communicate more effectively and target their needs.

For example, if you know your subscriber is close to making a purchase, you can send coupons to incentivize their actions. If they’re new to your brand, send an integrated welcome series that introduces them to your value and onboarding information.

Beyond categorizing by your lead funnel, you can also segment your audience by demographics, location, buying history, website activity, and more.

4. Determine the type of email you plan on sending.

There are several types of inbound marketing emails you can send your subscribers to engage and convert them. While this will depend on your audience segmentation, consider the following email types to get started:

  • Welcome emails help the subscriber get to know you better and set expectations for future email campaigns.
  • Transactional emails send an automatic notification email when a subscriber buys a product and the order is shipped, so they’re kept in the loop for important updates.
  • Newsletter emails update your subscribers on current events, product updates, or news to build your brand awareness.

Once you strategize your email type, you’ll need to start designing your emails to earn open and click rates. Pay special attention to your subject lines, design aesthetic, and messaging to keep your subscribers coming back for more.

Nike Sends Transactional Emails After Each Purchase

Source: Really Good Emails

5. Measure your performance

After each campaign, it’s crucial to monitor the final performance results. Email metrics not only help you measure the success of your campaign, but you’re also able to derive insights to improve future communications.

Here are a few metrics you should measure:

  • Open rate: the total number of emails that were opened
  • Click-through rate: the total number of clicks that happened once your email was opened
  • Bounce rate: the average number of subscribers you were unable to reach
  • Delivery rate: the percentage of emails delivered divided by the number of emails sent

If you’re looking to test performance, try A/B testing different elements within your email to understand what your subscribers react to. You can test subject lines, headlines, images, layout, and more. If you notice your segment responds strongly to one message over another, send the high-performing email to the rest of your subscribers.

Campaign Monitor Provides Email Campaign Metrics

Source: Campaign Monitor

Wrap up

Now that you know what an inbound marketing strategy is and how email marketing plays a critical role, it’s time to start developing your own. However, a successful strategy won’t happen over time. You need to put in the time, patience, and resources to start seeing the fruits of your labor.

To build a robust inbound marketing funnel with email, you’ll need to:

  • Target the right audience and set goals.
  • Build out a qualified subscriber list.
  • Segment your audience based on their needs.
  • Select the right types of emails for your subscribers.
  • Monitor performance metrics.

Ready to get started with email marketing? Try Campaign Monitor for free today.

The post How Email Can Improve Your Inbound Marketing Strategy appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

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Why Email Newsletters Are the Best Service Your Brand Has

While newsletters are one of the most common types of emails to produce, you need to do them right to earn high open rates and conversions. If you’re able to nail the delivery with an email newsletter service, they have the opportunity to drive ROI and become a well-oiled marketing machine for your digital strategy.

With 87% of marketers agreeing that email newsletters are a viable form of communication, you need to first home in on the goal of your newsletter and what KPIs you plan on measuring. Do you want more conversions or website visits? Product education or community events?

Read on to discover why newsletters are essential and the benefits you can expect from creating one.

What are newsletters?

Newsletters are emails that serve subscribers your most interesting announcements and content. Not only do they allow you to pass on valuable information, but newsletters also help you build brand awareness, strengthen customer relationships, and move subscribers through your lead funnel faster.

While you have different options when it comes to your messaging and CTA, you always want to focus on subscriber engagement. The higher open and click-through rates you earn with engaging content, the more likely your subscribers will become brand advocates and turn into long-term customers.

5 benefits of developing a newsletter

Before developing your email newsletter, it’s essential to examine what a successful newsletter entails and how it can drive business for your brand. Let’s take a look at a few newsletter benefits.

1. Newsletters increase brand awareness and subscriber relationships.

Newsletters have a higher engagement rate than any kind of digital marketing and are 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than social media. Newsletters act as an additional advertising vehicle for your brand to highlight products, successes, promotions, employees, events, and more.

With today’s email campaign software, you can deliver newsletters on a consistent schedule to become a podium for your brand and allow you to stay in the forefront of your subscriber’s minds. Your subscribers also have something to look forward to and feel more connected to your brand, while you’re able to provide reminders about your service along the way.

With the ability for your subscribers to opt in or use a preference center, newsletters also help narrow your list of qualified leads. By focusing only on leads who are invested in your brand, you can personalize your message and build deeper connections.

Nisolo Builds Brand Awareness with Engaging Content

Source: Really Good Emails

2. Newsletters boost ROI and sales.

As a digital marketer, staying on budget and meeting KPIs is crucial when you’re reporting the success of any marketing strategy. Fortunately, email newsletters can earn an average ROI of $42 for every $1 you spend. Newsletters are electronic and, once the strategy is in place, they don’t require extended resources to build out due to email newsletter services with marketing automation software. With a median ROI of 122%, email newsletters pay off more than social media, paid search, and direct mail, with little expense on your brand’s end

Newsletters are also powerful conversion tools. You can educate your readers while providing exclusive specials for those that opt in to drive sales with your most engaged subscribers. When a subscriber receives a VIP promotion, it could be the extra encouragement needed to convince them to buy something from your brand. If you want to see how well your newsletter is converting, consider adding a unique discount code for each series. You can then track the usage of the code on your website to understand how many subscribers converted. Use this data to inform future campaigns.

3. Newsletters drive website traffic from your target audience.

While newsletters are great tools to educate and inform your audience, you also want to drive traffic to your website for more conversions. Within your email, actively work towards building your website presence by incentivizing clicks, offering more valuable content, or showcasing featured products for purchase.

To drive more traffic to your target audience, utilize segmentation and strong CTAs to help engage your subscribers. For example, messaging for B2B executives and marketing managers should be more personalized to their role, so you’re able to connect with them more authentically. While you’re going to send one newsletter theme, you can consider changing out the subject line, CTA, imagery, and more to target each audience segment’s needs.

With each newsletter you send, play close attention to your audience’s buying preferences and clicks, so you can build future topics that interest your readers. The more valuable and personalized content you create, the more likely your audience will stay engaged.

Greatist Provides Multiple Links to Website in Newsletter

Source: Really Good Emails

4. Newsletters offer a preferred method of communication.

Email is a popular communication method for modern consumers. In fact, by the end of 2020, total email users in the United States will reach over 255 million and 3.7 billion worldwide. With 93% of consumers saying they’d rather receive brand communications through email than any other digital platform, you can deliver messaging on a platform where your audience is nearly guaranteed to spend time on. This means more opens, clicks, and conversions.

The trick is to deliver valuable content and offer your subscribers incentives within each newsletter. This allows you to nurture potential customers and connect with them on a one-on-one basis on their preferred platform. To continue to entertain your subscribers, make sure each newsletter:

  • Includes a custom design with your unique branded style
  • Contains brief content, but uses plenty of images to showcase your message
  • Stays relevant and sticks to your niche

5. Newsletters help you grow an online community.

Not only are emails great for growing a strong subscriber base, but you can also increase your social media presence. While email bridges the communication gap between brands and consumers, social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are essential to your brand awareness and overall growth.

Include social media sharing buttons and links on your email newsletters to encourage subscribers to engage with you on more platforms. To sweeten the deal, promote a social media contest within your newsletter that persuades your audience to follow your channel or check out your content.

On the flip side, use your social channels to promote your newsletter and join your mailing list. Through Facebook pages and Twitter cards, your followers can sign up for your newsletter without leaving the page.

OpenTable Provides Social Media Links in Email

Source: Really Good Emails

Bonus: email newsletter content ideas

Now that you understand the benefits of developing your newsletter, it’s time to start putting knowledge into practice to create your first one. You need to evaluate your end goals, the capabilities your email newsletter service offers, and the types of content you plan on sending. Do you want to educate your subscribers on new technology? Will you be pre-scheduling your content ahead of time or sending it on the fly?

Make sure you have your strategy on point before putting together your newsletter. However, if you’re stuck on content, consider the following ideas:

  • How-to guide: Provide step-by-step instructions or a video on your products. These guides can help solve your brand’s largest pain points while also demonstrating your value.
  • Blog posts: Share snippets of your long-form content to entice website clicks and showcase your thought-leadership authority.
  • Videos: With the opportunity to increase the open rate by 6%, videos are a creative way to entertain your subscribers. It’s important to note that not all email newsletter services are compatible with video.
  • Product announcements: Get buzz around new products by teasing out the release throughout your newsletter and making a celebration out of it.
  • Testimonials: Provide social proof for your brand by creating case studies and testimonials of customer success stories. Seventy percent of people will trust a recommendation from someone they don’t know.
  • Events: Gear up for an event by providing subscribers with what they can expect from attending the event, as well as a recap afterward for those who couldn’t make it. These can be either in-person, happy hours, or online webinar events, depending on your audience.
  • Behind the scenes: Connect with your subscribers by showcasing snapshots of your employees or a tour of your office. Your audience will appreciate the transparency, and you’re able to humanize your brand more.
  • Feedback surveys: Ask your newsletter subscribers for feedback on your service or brand to not only gain valuable insight, but also show that you value their opinion.

Figma Develops Monthly Newsletter

Source: Really Good Emails

Wrap up

While social media and SEO continue to rise in importance, email newsletters are still a widely preferred communication method between consumers and brands. Email newsletters not only help you engage your audience on a more personalized level, but also increase the likelihood of converting them into long-lasting customers.

If you’re looking for an email newsletter service, try Campaign Monitor for free today.

The post Why Email Newsletters Are the Best Service Your Brand Has appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

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How Publishers Can Create and Use Effective Email Signup Forms

As a media or publishing company, you’re constantly looking for new ways to reach your audience with digital marketing.

You’re the best in the business, and that comes with high expectations to consistently develop content that inspires action.

While publishers have the opportunity to use social media to drive conversions, email marketing remains an effective tool to engage your audience and boost the bottom line.

Why?

Modern consumers are tired of seeing the same sponsored ads over and over again. They can see past superficial promotions and, instead, want brands to develop more personal marketing that feels like a one-on-one conversation.

Email solves this problem for publishers by opening up more avenues to send relevant and personalized messages to each of their subscribers.

In fact, personalized emails receive a 25% higher open rate than non-personalized ones, and 52.7% of surveyed consumers check their accounts more than 10 times a day. To sweeten the deal, there are over 2.6 billion email users worldwide, meaning email has 3 times as many users as Twitter and Facebook combined.

Email is here to stay, and it offers your publishing company a huge opportunity. Where do you start? An email signup form for publishers to attract more potential subscribers.

If you’re wondering how to create an email signup form for your publication, we’ve got your back.

Why are email signup forms important for publishers?

Before diving into how to create an email signup form for publishers, you need to understand why it’s a staple for your publishing email strategy. An email signup form is a way to collect email addresses from leads, which are added to your contact list.

In fact, growing your email list with signup forms is one of the simplest ways to capture existing traffic.

While a signup form is a smart move for many reasons, the main one is growing a list of opted-in subscribers who want to hear from your company. Additionally, signup forms help balance out attrition rates, which average at about 2%.

When a subscriber gives you their email address, they’re actively open to receiving your content and on the way to becoming loyal brand advocates. When you have opted-in subscribers, your email engagement rates increase to establish long-term conversions.

How to create an email signup form for publishers

Email is a win-win for your publishing company and one of the best ways to diversify your reach. To get started, you need to create a signup form on your website.

Let’s review three ways you can create an email signup form with Campaign Monitor.

Hosted signup page

You can use a signup page hosted by Campaign Monitor for maximum ease of use. Signup pages are standalone landing pages with a unique URL that you can share and promote to attract new subscribers.

Here are the steps needed to build your signup form:

  1. Click “Lists & Subscribers” and choose a relevant list
  2. Click “Signup Forms” and select Link to a signup page
  3. Customize your signup form and click “Save” to generate the link

Customize Signup Form Page with Campaign Monitor

Source: Campaign Monitor

In a few simple steps, publishers can quickly set up email signup forms without needing to know any code. You can customize the form with text, background color, CTA button, permission settings, and more to grab your lead’s attention.

Embedded signup form

If you want more customization, embedding a form into your website is a great way to give your publishing company more flexibility, in terms of style and placement. For embedded forms, you can develop HTML and JavaScript within the Campaign Monitor app and use the form builder to style it with CSS. Note that you need to understand HTML and CSS to work with this technology.

To get started with embedded signup forms, follow these steps:

  1. Click “List & Subscribers” and select the list you want to collect signups for
  2. Click “Signup Form” on the right sidebar and paste the code in your site
  3. Choose whether you want to create your styling with HTML or CSS or use Campaign Monitor’s style option
  4. Customize your signup form to your brand standards, if applicable
  5. Click “Save” to generate the final code
  6. Copy the HTML code and paste it into your website

Create a Custom Signup Form with Campaign Monitor

Source: Campaign Monitor

Embedded forms give you more flexibility to choose custom form fields and design them to match your publisher’s branding. Additionally, you can embed the form anywhere in your website to offer more opportunities to increase your conversion rates. For example, if you see users are landing or dropping off on a certain landing page, consider embedding a signup form on those pages to capture their contact information.

Pop-up forms

If you want to reach website visitors quickly instead of nurturing their experience, you can add a pop-up form to encourage them to sign up as soon as they enter your website. Adding pop-up forms is relatively easy:

  1. Click “Lists & Subscribers”
  2. Choose the list you want the pop-up form to feed into
  3. Click “Signup Forms” and choose the type of pop-up form you want
  4. Customize your form
  5. Click “Save” and publish
  6. View the code and copy the script code
  7. Paste the code into your website’s HTML before the closing </head> tag
  8. Save and publish the updates to your website

As with the other Campaign Monitor form options, you can customize the form’s aesthetics, set privacy, and adjust your confirmation messaging.

Email signup form best practices

Before you start promoting your email form, it’s important to use best practices to get the most out of your strategy. When building your form, consider these highlights:

Use a valuable lead magnet with a strong CTA.

Your leads should know the value you’re offering them when they complete the form. In a world of data privacy concerns, consumers have grown wary of submitting contact information. Add a catchy headline and brief description that helps your lead learn more. For example, instead of saying “sign up for our weekly newsletter,” say “sign up for our weekly newsletter to learn exclusive insider information from experts,” for example.

With consumers receiving over 121 marketing messages a day, your call to action needs to stand out and persuade your lead to take action. Here are a few tips:

  • Use an actual button to draw your visitor’s eye
  • Design the button with contrasting colors and font from the rest of the form
  • Write a personalized copy with “my” instead of “you”
  • Use words like “get” and “learn” to imply the user gets something in return

Livingly Creates a Bold CTA Button

Source: Livingly

Use a double opt-in process.

More email signups are great, but, as a publisher, you want qualified signups that push your company forward. To promote quality form signups, create a double opt-in process that asks your subscriber to confirm their subscription twice.

The first time is when your users submit their information through your web form, and the second time is often an email confirmation. This method ensures your leads want to hear from you.

Keep it simple.

When a lead comes across your form, they should be able to quickly enter their information, hit “submit,” and move on. A successful publishing signup form needs to be concise and straightforward. If you ask for too much information right away, you may overwhelm your visitor and turn them off from your website.

If you want to develop a simple form that drives action, all you need is an email address to get started.

Morning Brew Keeps Form Simple By Asking for Email Address

Source: Morning Brew

Use a signup form to drive your marketing strategy.

Understanding how to create an email signup form for publishers is critical to your success. However, you also need to build a robust email marketing strategy that helps you build a long-lasting subscriber list that grows over time.

Developing a cross-promotional marketing strategy centered on your signup form is a step toward elevating your brand. While your signup form is the beginning point of your user’s journey, you need to center additional marketing channels around your goal. These include the following:

  • Social media: Engage with subscribers on social media to promote your brand and encourage their engagement. Many social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, allow you to create a separate signup form directly on the platform.
  • Content marketing: When you develop videos, blogs, or webinars, drive awareness around your email newsletter by using a CTA at the end.
  • Gated content: Offer an incentive, like an eBook or checklist, to offer added value.
  • Affiliate advertising: Work with an influencer relevant to your audience to promote your email list.

Once you’ve earned quality subscribers, you need to keep providing content that meets customer demand and stands out in a crowded inbox. From there, you can continue with additional digital tactics, such as targeted ads, webinars, or email journeys, that are personalized to the customer’s interest, actions, and more.

Wrap up

Publishing companies are always looking for ways to build new relationships and further brand awareness. Unlike social media sites, email marketing offers a unique opportunity to create a personal relationship with each subscriber.

To get started on your email marketing journey, you need to develop an email signup form. You can choose which form best fits your publishing needs to create a premier customer experience:

  • Signup page that’s hosted by Campaign Monitor
  • Embedded signup form that allows for ultimate customization
  • Pop-up forms that quickly connect with subscribers

With all forms, you need to keep branding, permissions, and data collection in mind.

Are you ready to take your publishing company to the next level? Try Campaign Monitor out for free.

The post How Publishers Can Create and Use Effective Email Signup Forms appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

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How to Host a Successful Nonprofit Webinar Using Email Marketing

The way leads and customers consume content in 2020 continues to evolve. With video, social media, and podcasts growing in popularity, many marketers may be ready to turn off older methods. While exploring new trends and technology isn’t a bad idea, sometimes sticking with tried-and-true strategies for lead generation is a more effective choice.

Have you considered a webinar for your nonprofit brand? If you think webinars are dead, take another look at how this gated content can elevate your brand while remaining cost-effective.

For nonprofits looking to increase leads and educate prospects about your cause, webinars are still a great way to promote your message. However, for your webinar to be effective, you can’t keep running the same playbook and email promotional strategy. You need to develop something valuable that’ll keep your audience intrigued and coming back for more.

Wondering how to host a successful nonprofit webinar? Let’s take a look at developing an impactful email strategy that drives results.

The importance of webinars in a digital society

A webinar is a live or pre-recorded event in which you share a presentation full of valuable information. As today’s workforce moves remote and contactless training grows in popularity, webinars are practical solutions for sharing information with prospects and customers. With a webinar, you can reach thousands of donors with the touch of a button.

Nonprofit webinars are useful for:

  • Promoting your mission or fundraiser
  • Diving deeper into a guide or whitepaper
  • Providing thought-leadership from an expert
  • Conducting internal employee training
  • Offering technical support

Beyond the content, webinars also drive sales and higher ROI. Seventy-three percent of sales and marketing leaders attest that webinars are one of the best ways to generate leads. Not only can you hold someone’s attention for 60 minutes, but webinars can also be customized for the entire customer journey.

What are the benefits of a webinar email strategy?

If you want people to attend your nonprofit webinar, you need to promote it. Though it’s always recommended to create a website landing page and spread the word on social media, email marketing remains an effective way of attracting attendees.

Here’s how an email marketing sequence can help promote your webinar event:

  • Earn a higher ROI: Marketers can spend as little as $100, depending on the promotional and technological costs. Paired with email marketing, which has a median ROI of 122%, the combination is as cost-effective as it gets.
  • Increase registrants and attendees: Most webinars earn a 40%-50% attendance rate and receive about 260 registrations. With email, you can expand your reach even more.
  • Produce qualified leads: Recent studies suggest 20%-40% of attendees turn into qualified leads, which means you have more prospective donors.

The focus of your nonprofit webinar promotional strategy is to generate registrants and get them excited about your content. With an effective email sequence focused on your online event, you’re more likely to boost your ROI and improve overall reach.

How to host a successful nonprofit webinar with email marketing

If you’re investing in webinar technology, you want to make sure you effectively promote the event to increase your conversions. However, this doesn’t mean you can send one email and call it quits. Instead, you need to establish an email sequence that functions for every part of the webinar funnel, so let’s take a look at the different emails you need to send for a successful webinar.

1. The announcement email

To generate hype around your webinar, sending a pre-launch email is the best way to earn attention from your subscribers. Within the email, discuss key highlights and features your audience can expect to learn and connect it to your webinar landing page.

Once your subscriber moves to the landing page, they can be prompted to fill out a form for more information to keep them engaged. You could also link to past webinars or additional information around the webinar’s topic.

The main point of this email is to build anticipation, so it’s recommended to send this email three weeks before the actual event.

Foleon Sends Monthly Webinar Announcement

Source: Really Good Emails

2. The registration email

Two weeks before the webinar, send out the official registration email. This is one of the most important emails you’ll send because you’re officially inviting your audience to the live event.

Let your audience know the who, what, when, and where details within your email copy and include a link to the landing page. You also need to set expectations and highlight the value your webinar will bring to your audience. Will they learn about a new fundraising event? Do you have an expert speaking on a particular topic? When you home in on why your audience should spend time tuning in, you’ll have better attendance ratings.

Teachable Sends Detailed Webinar Registration Guide

Source: Really Good Emails

3. The reminder email

Did you know 69% of people sign up for a webinar a week before the event? This is a great time to remind your audience to register. Since you’re only one week away, you could include images of the presenters and additional CTAs to maximize the email.

It’s important to note that the reminder email isn’t just for those who registered for the event. You should also segment and target subscribers who haven’t signed up yet to capture any last conversions.

4. The confirmation email

Most webinar platforms, like GoToWebinar or Zoom, include autoresponder or transactional emails to automatically send once the person has registered. These emails often include a confirmation message, date and time of the event, and a calendar reminder.

5. The 24-hour email

You made it to the big day. If you’ve grown your registered list with email at this point, you should be feeling fairly confident about the success of your live event. However, you’re not done yet.

It’s important to note that 33% of registrations occur on the day of the webinar. Within 24 hours, you can use either your webinar platform to send an automatic email or messages from your own ESP. If you use your webinar platform, review the automatic email before it’s sent out to make sure it includes the date, time, and any additional details you want to remind your registrants about.

When sending an email from your ESP, you can segment your lists again by those who’ve registered and those who haven’t to send more personalized and detailed messaging. This method will give you more of a chance to catch any customers who are interested in attending but forgot to sign up.

The Conference Sends Webinar Email 24 Hours Before

Source: Really Good Emails

6. The follow-up email

As a gut check, don’t forget to record your webinar while live. It’s a great way to not only review improvements for the future, but also to reach more prospective leads. After the event, upload the recording to a new landing page, so you can keep driving traffic to your webinar.

You can expect people to keep registering and engaging with your webinar days after the event, especially if you advertise it again through email and social media. Send a follow-up email the day after your live event and offer the recording for free with contact information to learn more.

7. The survey email

If you plan to host more webinars in the future, it’s important to understand how your audience felt about your content and message. It’s recommended to build a quick, five-question survey to send out a few days after your event to learn more about new ways to engage with your audience.

To sweeten the deal, consider offering an incentive and making the survey interactive. A simple thank-you gift goes a long way to motivate people to take action, especially when they don’t need to leave the email to do so.

Bonus: successful webinar tips

Armed with a dynamic email marketing strategy, your nonprofit webinar is ready to go live. However, before you push the “publish” button, it’s important to verify you’re following best practices to get the most out of your webinar event. When debating how to host a successful webinar, consider these additional tips:

  • Choose the right topic: What does your audience care about? What do you feel comfortable talking about? The right topic will answer questions your audience has and inspire them into action.
  • Select a webinar tool: Consider how many people you estimate attending, ease of use, and cost when choosing a webinar tool. You want to go with one that you can handle while still meeting your objectives.
  • Pick a content format: Whether you’re doing a PowerPoint or a panel Q&A, you’ll need to create visually appealing graphics and prepare talking points ahead of time.
  • Plan it on the right day: While webinars on Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. perform the best, you’ll need to readjust slightly to accommodate different time zones.

Wrap up

Whether you’re promoting a fundraiser or discussing a cause, webinars are powerful tools for nonprofit organizations. To be successful, develop an email marketing campaign around every stage of the funnel to encourage your audience’s attendance.

When planning your next nonprofit webinar, consider the following takeaways:

  • Email is a great way to increase your ROI and keep your costs down
  • Include key event highlights in every email to promote your email
  • Ask your attendees for feedback, so you can improve future events

Ready to start marketing your webinar with email? Campaign Monitor has the tools you need to develop an impactful nonprofit campaign.

The post How to Host a Successful Nonprofit Webinar Using Email Marketing appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

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7 Ways to Use Interactive Elements in Automated Emails

Have you heard the buzz about interactive content? It’s hit the email marketing landscape and has proven to be the hottest, must-have design element for brands looking to gain attention.

Why? Including interactive elements in automated emails not only delights subscribers, but it also increases click-through rates and drives conversions. With the average consumer receiving 121 emails per day, it’s more important than ever for brands to stand out in a crowded inbox to earn customer loyalty.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 81% of email marketers believe interactive content grabs your subscriber’s attention more than traditional email design.

What does that mean for you? Even more competition in the inbox. With the rise of interactive content, your brand must use it in unique ways to meet customer demand and continue to gain attention.

However, before jumping on the bandwagon and developing interactive content, it’s important to understand what elements subscribers prefer and how you can incorporate them into an attainable strategy. Let’s take a look at new ways you can include interactive elements in automated emails to help increase conversions and build a loyal subscriber base.

What are interactive elements in automated emails?

They refer to anything that requires the subscriber to engage with the content to fully experience it. Typically, interactive elements include tapping, swiping, or moving your cursor through the email.

From GIFs to custom CSS hover states, designers have endless possibilities to include interactive elements in email designs. However, it’s important to recognize that email service providers like Outlook and Gmail are still catching up with technological capabilities. Interactivity isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, so always include a web-safe fallback option if your design isn’t supported.

Are interactive elements effective?

Now that you’ve learned about interactive elements, you may be wondering how effective they are compared to traditional email design. If you’re on the fence about implementing this trend, consider that interactive elements increase the open rate by 73%.

Interactive emails have the potential to generate 2 times more conversions than traditional emails. This is because subscribers want to be entertained and inspired by brands. It’s no longer enough to just send an email with your recent sales promotion.

You need to engage your customers and entice them with your design. With an interactive mentality, you’ll be able to delight subscribers and convert them into long-term, loyal customers.

7 ways to use interactive elements in automated emails to delight subscribers

As more companies begin to adapt interactive elements into their automated emails, you need to stay ahead of the curve with unique features. Let’s dive into a few different ways you can use interactive content to make your emails pop.

1. Ask for feedback with survey forms.

Asking customers for feedback is an important part of both your marketing and customer service strategy. Surveys are a great way to learn more about your customer’s experience by asking their thoughts and opinions.

With surveys, you’re giving customers a chance for their voices to be heard about your brand. In turn, you keep the communication line open with your customers by implementing their feedback, while also learning more about their preferences and interests.

Survey emails are perfect to automatically send out after delivering a product or completing a service. For the survey to be interactive, it should be embedded into the email instead of linking it to a new landing page. With timely delivery and easy customer experience, you can feel confident about receiving a more authentic response.

Taylor Stitch Asks for Product Review in Email

Source: Really Good Emails

2. Display product features with image rollover effects.

Image rollovers are traditionally used on a website to showcase a close-up or back side of a product. However, you can also use rollover effects within emails to:

  • Tease a new product release: Add a layer of gamification by forcing your subscriber to hover over certain elements to learn clues about the new product. Don’t give everything away at once.
  • Showcase hidden product descriptions: Emails have limited space for text, so using a hover effect allows you to display more details about your product when the subscriber moves their cursor.
  • Use tooltips to display details: Commonly used on Instagram, subscribers can click on certain product features to read about the product and click through to a landing page.

When setting up automatic emails, rollover effects are a unique way to use your email space more effectively to show more details without overwhelming your subscriber with too much text. Consider using this feature for segmented messaging for additional personalization in your automated email series.

3. Experiment with embedding video into emails.

Including videos in your automated emails can boost open rates by at least 6%.
Video marketing continues to be a hot trend in 2020, and many email clients are beginning to support the technical requirements needed for them to play within the email. However, you need to conduct testing for all email clients to ensure your video appears the way you intend for all subscribers—if not, use a fallback image or GIF.

For automated emails, videos are great content to add in a welcome email series to introduce your brand and services. As a best practice, keep your videos around 30 seconds and below 200KB to retain your subscribers’ attention.

Utilizing the power of video within your automated emails is an entertaining way to connect with your subscribers and help them see a more transparent side of your brand. The interactive element playing within your email keeps them engaged with your message enough to click through to your website to learn more.

TrustedHousesitters Displays Owners in Email Video

Source: Really Good Emails

4. Have fun with gamification.

While gamified emails aren’t for the faint-of-heart developers, they can make a serious impact on your subscribers and motivate them into action. Gamified interactive elements are based on three core methods: engagement, award, and competition. You can use gamified features in your automated emails to educate subscribers on a product, build anticipation around a product launch, or simply entertain your audience.

To get the best results with gamification, you need to take on a data-driven approach to understand what your audience engages with more. Is it instant rewards? Implement a scratch card plug-in that offers a valuable prize based on purchase history. Is it a long-term series? Develop a quest that keeps your subscribers coming back for more. With gamification being a relatively new tool in email marketing, testing and analyzing your data is the best way to create the most effective automated email campaign.

Bose Surprises Subscribers with Scratch-Off Animation in Email

Source: Really Good Emails

5. Draw attention with animated buttons.

You’ve most likely included a CTA button in all your emails to increase the conversion rate. However, have you considered animating it? When your subscriber hovers their mouse over or clicks on the button, develop it to change colors to draw their attention and gamify your CTA.

Your CTA is one of the most important parts of the email, so adding interactive elements to it will help you drive results.

You can implement animated buttons with two techniques:

  1. Insert custom CSS code into your email code with your brand’s color standards.
  2. Use an image rollover effect by taking a screenshot of your two opposite buttons with the same size and text.

With any CTA button, make sure you hyperlink a landing page URL to drive more action with your subscribers.

Interactive email best practices

While adding interactive elements to automated emails will surprise your subscribers, you still need to follow best practices. To dodge sending run-of-the-mill designs and messaging, consider the following when developing your interactive emails:

  • Don’t forget about your subject line: Even if you create the best interactive email, it means nothing if it goes unopened. You need to create creative subject lines that pique your subscriber’s interest enough to earn a click. For an added layer, A/B test your copy to understand what resonates the most with your audience.
  • Personalization is still key: Learn about your subscriber’s preferences and interests through interactive content like quizzes and surveys. Once you understand your subscriber’s ideal experience, you can tailor messaging to their needs.
  • Be fun without pushing a sales goal: While it’s tempting to push a promotion in every email, you need to first build customer loyalty through brand awareness. Try sending entertaining holiday emails or interactive newsletters that include fun company updates.
  • Monitor your performance: With every email campaign, you need to monitor your click-through, open, and unsubscribe rates to understand which emails are working and what you need to tweak.

Wrap up

Considering the email marketing landscape is constantly evolving, you should expect some trial and error when developing an interactive email campaign. However, with the right design and strategy, you’ll continue to entertain your audience and drive more conversions.

When integrating interactive content into your automated emails, consider the following elements:

  • Feedback surveys to give your subscribers a voice
  • Image rollover effects to provide more details on products or services
  • Embedded video to engage your audience with different media formats
  • Gamification to inspire fun and activity within your email
  • Animated buttons to drive conversions

The right interactive email campaign starts with the right email marketing platform. Try Campaign Monitor for free today to learn more.

The post 7 Ways to Use Interactive Elements in Automated Emails appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

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Is Email Really Cost-Effective? The Email Marketing Audit

Email marketing is an important communication tool for consumers and brands in 2020.

Today, marketers understand the importance of not only an effective email strategy, but also staying on budget. With every marketing dollar needing to make an impact for small and large businesses alike, brands need their marketing channels to produce leads and impact return on investment (ROI).

With more than 319 billion emails sent daily by 2021, it’s important to revisit how budget-friendly email is and what you need to create a successful campaign.

Are you considering investing in email marketing or increasing your budget? Read on to discover our email marketing audit as we dig into your burning question: Is email really cost-effective?

Email marketing audit: Is email really cost-effective for your brand?

Email marketing continues to grow in popularity amongst brands and consumers, which means there’s more competition in the inbox for you to stand out. To keep your bottom line in check, you need to learn how to use email marketing correctly and understand email’s impact on your bottom line.

How expensive is email marketing?

With a smart strategy, software, and a little bit of grit, you can develop an email campaign that delivers ROI. However, there are initial costs to consider when getting started and building an email list.

Email marketing is as inexpensive as you need it to be. As your business grows, your email needs will too. Most email platforms will let you upgrade and expand your plan as needed. On average, a mid-sized business can expect to spend between $0-$1000, depending on the chosen platform and number of subscribers. Reports show that 82% of marketers spend anywhere between 0-20% of their total marketing budget on email marketing.

For example, Campaign Monitor offers three different pricing structures based on emails sent per month and technology capabilities. You can learn more on our pricing page.

What factors affect the cost of email marketing?

While the email platform you choose has a large impact on your monthly costs, there are many other factors you’ll need to consider when budgeting. These include the following:

  • Quality of your email list: We don’t recommend ever buying contact information, so it may take time to either build an active subscriber list or clean up existing inactive subscribers. This step is crucial to not overspend on cold leads.
  • Complexity of email design: If you plan on developing intricate designs or interactive elements, you can expect to pay more for a designer or additional plugins.
  • Outsourcing or internal team resources: Outsourcing email initiatives to an agency could cost you thousands of dollars, so it’ll save your budget if you have the resources in house. With the right platform, you won’t need coding experience.
  • Frequency of sent campaigns: Different platforms have additional costs for the number of emails you send. For example, a monthly newsletter will cost less than a weekly promotional email. However, using automation tools helps you streamline your workflow and increase subscriber engagement.

How does email lead to conversions and a higher ROI?

With the right strategy, you can rake in leads and earn more business profits. You score a conversion each time your email results in a purchase. When you start sending email campaigns, you’re encouraging your audience to visit your website and purchase a product or service. An email works as an invitation to learn about your business. With a frequent email strategy, you can increase your website traffic and expose your business to more people.

Why does this matter? Each conversion impacts your ROI. Use this basic formula to calculate your ROI: (Gain – spent)/spent = ROI(%)

Let’s say you pay $149 a month for your email platform and pay your in-house marketer for 2 hours, 5 days a week at a $20/hour rate. Your annual marketing spend will amount to $12,188 a year. If the cost of your lead is $120 and your email campaigns earn you 400 leads a year, your total revenue from email is $48,000. Using the formula above, your ROI is: ($48,000 – $12,188)/$12,188 = 293%.

What additional marketing skills are needed to get started?

Once you’ve chosen an email platform, it’s important to remember that it takes more than technology to earn conversions. As mentioned above, you need active subscribers who are interested in your brand or product offerings. That means developing content and resources—videos, infographics, eBooks, etc.—that attract the right audience to your website who’ll sign up to join your email list.

Considering 20% of marketers believe email design improves engagement, you’ll need powerful email copy and design that keep your subscribers wanting more. Most email platforms offer drag-and-drop templates to develop your emails, plus subject-line testers for you to better understand how a campaign will perform. While this may not happen overnight, email allows you to learn more about your audience and test what features work best.

Mintel Uses Report in Email to Drive Web Traffic

Source: Really Good Emails

Do people prefer emails over other communication methods?

With the increase of mobile usage and the rise of social media, it may seem like email marketing is outdated. However, it’s the complete opposite: 58% of people check their emails first thing in the morning and 72% of people prefer email over any other digital platform.

If you’re wondering whether people still read emails, you should consider that your audience opted in, giving consent to receive your emails. With 85% of subscribers receiving your email and most people reading them daily, you’re already halfway to earning a conversion. You just need to hook them in with catchy subject lines and dynamic designs.

What does this mean for your brand? Email marketing is here to stay and is a valuable investment for your company. As millions of people use email every day, your chances of connecting and converting your audience are much higher and more cost-effective than any other platform.

Top benefits of using email marketing

Now that you’ve explored the cost benefits of email marketing, you need to understand the other advantages the channel can offer your brand. Every company has a unique set of needs, and the budget isn’t always the number one priority. Beyond raising ROI, email marketing can help you grow a loyal customer base and build brand awareness.

Here are a few additional reasons email marketing is an effective strategy:

  • Authentically connect with your audience: Email is the best way to reach all your customers to launch products, send company updates, and more. With the right personalization, you can reach out and have a 1:1 conversation with your audience through videos, feedback surveys, and more to show that you really care.
  • Become a recognizable brand: If you’re looking to become an identifiable brand in your industry, communicating with your customers is the best way to establish a voice and image. Each email you send is a new opportunity to further establish yourself.
  • Establish thought-leadership and credibility: Whether you’re a local or national brand, becoming the go-to industry expert is an important part of driving traffic to your website. To start, consider sending out educational emails with informative blogs or videos.
  • Save time and resources: While email is cost-effective, you’re also able to save time, instead of spending your resources on expensive TV ads, direct mail pieces, or radio commercials.

To supplement your email marketing strategy, you can test other digital tactics that’ll boost your brand awareness and even drive subscribers to your email list. Consider using social media platforms, like Instagram and LinkedIn, to expand your audience with authentic posts. With social media, it’s more important to focus on quality content than lead generation, especially if you’re trying to keep costs down. You can even utilize user-generated content, with permission, to improve your email engagement.

MasterClass Offers Expert Training to Build Authority

Source: Really Good Emails

Wrap up

When considering which digital platforms are right for your business, email marketing is the best way to reach your audience at the right time and with the right message. For businesses looking to increase their bottom line, email is also the most cost-effective tactic with proven ROI results.

Email allows you to keep your costs low, depending on the platform and resources you utilize, while also driving traffic to your website for conversions.

Email marketing also helps you:

  • Design and write powerful messages that build your brand awareness
  • Contact your entire customer base with a touch of a button
  • Inform your audience on important news and updates
  • Increase your ROI
  • Invest in a marketing platform built to last

If you’re ready to invest in email marketing, you need to partner with the right platform. Try Campaign Monitor for free today to learn more about our comprehensive technology.

The post Is Email Really Cost-Effective? The Email Marketing Audit appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

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New to Small Business? Here’s Your Email Marketing Strategy

Modern technological advancements have changed the world of marketing, meaning today’s marketer has access to several digital platforms to reach prospects.

Search engine marketing and social media networks are useful tools, but email marketing continues to be the most effective digital marketing tool for large and small businesses alike.

Get the small business guide.

 

As of last year, there were 3.9 billion email users around the world. That’s a massive prospect pool, and they’re people who can be targeted and reached with ease.

With careful planning and research, email marketing can be highly successful in converting contacts to revenue-generating customers. Not sure how to develop a solid small business email marketing strategy? Campaign Monitor can help.

Benefits of email marketing

Email marketing is the distribution of promotional messages via email to a target audiences. Its purpose is to build customer loyalty, strengthen brand recognition, and boost sales. Regardless of how many digital marketing channels develop, email marketing continues to be one of the best ways to contact and engage your target audience.

Email is also one of the most widely used forms of communication. Most people use email several times a day, every day, and with the advent of smartphones, users can now access email from anywhere. In fact, last year, 293.6 billion emails were sent and received each day.

These emails aren’t just person-to-person contact. They’re also a way for people to connect with their favorite companies. More than 70% of consumers prefer email communication as their source for updates from the businesses they follow.

Email marketing is cost-effective, so it’s a terrific tool for small businesses on a budget. It’s possible to reach a large audience for very little investment.

You gain direct access to inboxes of quality prospects while avoiding the costs associated with traditional advertising. For these reasons and more, email marketing is a smart way to connect with your target base, identify new customers, and grow your small business.

Examples of email marketing strategies for small business

Email marketing has been the leading channel to deliver the highest ROI for marketers for over a decade: For every $1 spent, it brings about $38 in ROI. The best part is that this kind of success isn’t achieved only by large businesses.

Several small businesses are excelling with effective email marketing campaigns, and your business can succeed, too, by following these small business email marketing tips.

1. Gather contact information.

Your first step in creating an effective email marketing campaign is to build a quality email list. Create a form on your website to register viewers and capture their contact information.

The form should require only necessary details, like names and email addresses. This will help you earn their trust and build a stable relationship. Clearly explain what viewers can expect when they offer their information and assure them that they’ll receive immediate value from the material you’ll provide.

Use CTAs on your site to encourage people to register to learn more about your business. Offer something of value in exchange for an email address—content upgrades like eBooks, guides, and checklists—to entice people to opt in on your site. The objective is to obtain quality leads who are interested in the products and services you offer.

Example of a signup CTA to obtain more information

Source: Medium

2. Decide what to send.

There are several types of emails you can send to your contact list. Promotional emails are a great way to alert readers to your current sales and special offers. Loyalty programs for dedicated customers are an effective way to strengthen those relationships.

Email newsletters are a safe method of establishing a connection with your prospects. Not only are they expected, but they can also provide valuable information people find useful.

Transactional emails, like receipts or shipping notifications, are especially effective. These keep customers abreast of what’s happening with their purchase, and they have high open rates because they contain information people need and look forward to receiving. They’ve been proven to generate up to 6 times more revenue than other email formats.

Example of a transactional email

Source: Really Good Emails

3. Create valuable content.

It’s important to create content that’s relevant to your reader. Do a little research ahead of time and find out what your audience needs that you can provide.

Answer questions, alleviate concerns, and offer valuable information that people will want to read. From templates to writing tools, there are several resources available to help you draft an effective email.

Consider segmenting your audience into targeted categories. Use differentiators like demographics, engagement, and past purchase behavior. With this information, you can tailor content and increase open rates. Whatever message you create, be sure to include a clear CTA that relates to the topic of your email.

Example of content based on past purchase behavior

Source: Really Good Emails

4. Design for mobile applications.

Email access is no longer limited to stationary locations. Mobile platforms are becoming more prevalent and a way for people to remain connected while on the go, so an important aspect of email optimization includes ensuring your campaign is mobile friendly.

Emails need to be adaptable to several applications, so format content correctly to ensure that all information is accessible, regardless of where it’s being accessed. Don’t miss out on a lead conversion opportunity simply because your message wasn’t formatted for a variety of devices.

Example of an optimized mobile-friendly email

Source: Really Good Emails

5. Map out a schedule.

Maintain consistency with your readership by creating a schedule for your email campaign and be deliberate in your plan.

The leading reasons people unsubscribe from email campaigns have to do with send cadence. Make contact with your recipients more than once a month, but don’t bombard them more than a couple of times a week.

Observe consumer behavior and develop a plan that meets their needs. Our research has shown that the best day for email opens is Tuesday.

As for time, aim for natural breaks in the day when people are accessing email (morning break, lunch, and while lying in bed at night). Start with this information, then use your own data to adjust based on your customers’ needs.

Example of a scheduled weekly email

Source: Think With Google

6. Track your progress.

A major benefit of email marketing is the ability to learn from your readers. By tracking various metrics, you can analyze the success of your campaign and make quick changes to improve its success. Small businesses will want to track the following metrics for their email campaigns:

  • Open rates show how many emails were actually opened versus how many were sent and undelivered
  • Click-through rates determine how many times links were accessed
  • Conversion rates relate sales to emails sent
  • Referral traffic reveals how many site visits came from your email
  • Bounce rates identify email addresses that are rejecting the emails
  • Unsubscribe rates show how many people are opting out of your contact list
  • List growth rate shows how frequently you’re gaining new subscribers. It’s important to track this information and keep your contact list current and healthy.

All of this information helps you adjust your campaign to ensure your messages are effective and successful in building brand loyalty and increasing ROI.

Email marketing best practices for small businesses

It’s easy to see that emails are an effective marketing tool. Develop a successful email marketing campaign by following these best practices.

Be the guinea pig.

Before you send a message to your contact list, send a test copy to yourself. Check for errors, typos, and broken links. CTA buttons must take viewers to your website. Confirm content appears correctly on a computer, as well as mobile devices. Set your campaign up for success from the beginning.

Send only to people on your list.

Develop a quality email list and only contact people who intentionally sign up for your email communications. Don’t register people against their wishes and steer clear of purchased email lists. These emails result in high unsubscribe rates and, even worse, could damage your reputation.

Make it easy to subscribe and unsubscribe

The goal is to gain subscribers, so make it easy for people to sign up. Include several CTA options to capture contact information. Use autofill features with a checkbox, so all people have to do is click a button.

Likewise, realize not everyone will find your emails useful, and that’s okay. Give them an easy way out. Make unsubscribe links obvious and use friendly wording to keep things light. They may refer you to a friend. Or they could return someday when the time is right.

Wrap up

Email marketing remains a preferred channel for today’s marketers. It allows small businesses to reach a wide target audience affordably and easily. Create a successful campaign by following these small business email marketing strategies:

  • Gather contact information
  • Decide what to send
  • Create valuable content
  • Map out a schedule
  • Track your progress

Email marketing is an effective and beneficial way for small businesses to generate leads and improve ROI. To ensure success, follow best practices like testing your messages, sending only to people on your list, and providing ways for consumers to join and unsubscribe with ease.

We can help your small business develop a beneficial email marketing strategy. For more information, contact our sales team today.

The post New to Small Business? Here’s Your Email Marketing Strategy appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

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8 Email Optimization Strategies Used by Well-Known Businesses

With so many digital channels available to marketers today, businesses have a variety of platforms through which they can reach prospects. Search engine marketing and social media networks are valuable tools, but email marketing remains the most effective way to generate leads and revenue.

In fact, more than 70% of consumers prefer email communication as their source for updates from the businesses they follow.

It’s crucial to re-evaluate your marketing approach to increase the effectiveness of your email campaign, and optimization can improve engagement, solidify brand loyalty, and boost ROI. Looking to develop strategies to optimize your email campaigns but aren’t sure where to start? Campaign Monitor can help.

Email optimization and why it should be utilized

Email marketing is a highly effective and cost-efficient way to increase revenue. Last year, 293.6 billion emails were sent and received each day. And it offers a high ROI, currently bringing $38 in ROI for every $1 spent. Its purpose is to boost sales, strengthen brand recognition, and build customer loyalty. Email marketing only works, however, if measures are taken to ensure the messages are reaching the right people at the right time.

An email that isn’t reaching the appropriate audience or doesn’t yield viewer engagement isn’t going to convert to revenue, so it’s important to optimize. Email optimization refers to improvements a company makes to its email campaigns to ensure their messages are working. The goal of an email campaign is to build solid relationships with prospects while simultaneously increasing conversion rates. Optimization can increase the chances of higher click-through rates, which ultimately equates to profit.

8 email optimization strategies and companies who use them

The success of email marketing depends on a particular series of events taking place. Someone must see your email and be enticed to open it. Then they must click through its links, land on your website, and ultimately complete a call to action. You’ll have a higher chance of this happening if you employ these eight email optimization strategies used by businesses.

1. Create eye-catching subject lines.

Your subject line is the first thing people see before accessing your email’s content. It needs to catch readers’ attentions and compel them to open the email for more information. This first step is key to setting your campaign up for success.

Optimized subject lines are relevant to your prospects’ needs. Use a subject line that delivers relief from readers’ concerns. Tailor subject lines with your recipient’s company name and show that you have solutions for their specific issues. Incorporate actionable language to encourage readers to open the email.

Craft and fabric retailer Jo-Ann Stores uses subject lines effectively in their email marketing. They create a sense of urgency with “Today Only” and use enticing wording to make readers wonder what the “Big Savings” could be.

Example of an effective subject line

Source: Jo-Ann Stores

2. Evaluate the sender name.

Pay attention to the name from which your emails are being sent. Like a subject line, a “From” name can influence whether a reader opens your email. Emails that appear to be coming from an untrustworthy source won’t be read.

If the sender is an instantly recognizable person, then it makes sense for their name to be in an email’s “From” field. Otherwise, it might be more effective to create exclusive campaign names, like the Home Depot Garden Club. They’re using their company name, but specify a subculture within their brand. This gives recipients a feeling of exclusivity.

Whether you choose to send emails from an individual or a company, remain consistent. This helps to earn your readers’ trust, and it builds recognition for future emails.

Consistent use of effective sender name

Source: The Home Depot

3. Develop personalized messaging.

One of the benefits of email marketing is that it enables you to customize content. Emails that include a customer’s first name in the subject line have a higher click-through rate than those that don’t. The more emails are opened, the more information you can learn about your audience. This allows you to discover their needs and helps to develop strong relationships.

Emails can also be personalized with demographic and behavioral information about your audience. Include details like their corporate title or products they’ve viewed on your site. LinkedIn uses this strategy in their emails. Messages recap recent user activity and remind readers about services they may be interested in, all while building customer loyalty.

Email personalized with customer name and behavior

Source: Really Good Emails

4. Write compelling content.

Once you’ve convinced someone to open your email, the next critical piece of your campaign is content. Information should be concise, clear, and relevant. Explain what you have to offer and why your audience should be interested. Avoid overwhelming readers with exhaustive copy. Break up lengthy text with short paragraphs, bullet points, and appealing graphics. Seventy-five percent of content marketers experience higher ROI when visuals appear in their content.

Barnes & Noble does a great job of this with their campaigns. They present a large amount of valuable information in manageable, bite-sized pieces. Bullet points make content clear and easy to read. Color blocks help separate information topics and graphic icons add visual interest.

Example of clear content that’s easy to digest

Source: Really Good Emails

5. Provide clear CTAs.

The ultimate goal of your email marketing campaign is to direct readers to your website and shift them from a click to a conversion. The way to do this is through your CTA. First, determine what you want to achieve with your readers. Then, create a prominent and colorful CTA button, banner, or link. Make them eye catching to draw attention. Helzberg Diamonds reported a 26% increase in clicks by incorporating an arrow icon in their CTA buttons.

Post a CTA on the top half of your message, where it’s sure to be seen. Then, post more CTA options throughout your email that all lead to the same site. This gives readers more opportunities to find their way to your landing page. Consider using action words like “Click here” to direct your readers and create a sense of urgency. CTAs are the gateway to conversions. Consider them carefully.

Example of a clear CTA

Source: Helzberg Diamonds

6. Offer a variety of shareable links.

Email is one of the simplest communications to share with others. With the click of a button, your current customers can do your promoting for you. Encourage your audience to share your emails with their contacts. This way, you’re broadening your reach and increasing your opportunity to generate new leads.

Make it easy for readers to share your information through a range of channels. The obvious choice is an email forward link, since more than half the world’s population uses email to communicate. You can also think outside the box by providing links to social media networks in all of your messages. Nearly 3 billion people are using social media across the world. These are great ways to expand your readership, and, even better, someone else is doing the legwork for you.

GasBuddy sends emails that provide several ways for readers to share their information. They feature an email forward link to refer friends. Across the bottom, readers find a series of linked social media icons for more ways to spread the word.

An effective use of shareable links

Source: Really Good Emails

7. Design for mobile applications.

Email access is no longer limited to stationary locations. Mobile platforms are becoming more prevalent and a way for people to remain connected while on the go, so an important aspect of email optimization is ensuring your campaign is mobile friendly.

Domino’s Pizza excels at mobile optimization. They realize many people who purchase pizza are placing their orders while they’re out and about. Domino’s sends 31 emails each month, and they’re all mobile friendly.

Emails need to be adaptable to several applications. Be sure your content is formatted correctly and that all information is accessible, regardless of where it’s being accessed. Don’t miss out on a lead conversion opportunity simply because your message wasn’t formatted for an assortment of devices.

Example of a mobile-optimized email

Source: Really Good Emails

8. Provide an unsubscribe link.

Part of building credibility is not only providing valuable information to readers who are seeking it, but also offering your audience an opportunity to decline this information if it isn’t useful. The purpose of email marketing is to reach a targeted audience that values your messages. Continuing to communicate with people who aren’t interested in your information is only going to foster bad relationships and negative reviews.

Provide readers with an easy-to-find unsubscribe link. This can strengthen your quality lead email list and give you accurate open and click-through data. Write clever content for your unsubscribe page like BetaList: They use a lighthearted tone to keep things friendly and offer an opportunity for readers to change their minds.

Example of a clever unsubscribe page

Source: Really Good Emails

Wrap up

Email marketing remains a preferred channel for today’s marketers. It can be even more successful when the following email optimization strategies are utilized:

  • Create eye-catching subject lines
  • Evaluate sender name
  • Develop personalized messaging
  • Write compelling content
  • Provide clear CTAs
  • Offer a variety of shareable links
  • Design for mobile applications
  • Provide an unsubscribe link

Email optimization can improve engagement, solidify brand loyalty, and boost ROI. Generate leads and revenue with an email campaign that’s been created with an optimized strategy in mind.

We can help develop effective optimization strategies to benefit your email marketing campaign. For more information, contact our sales team today.

The post 8 Email Optimization Strategies Used by Well-Known Businesses appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

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7 Content Upgrades You Can Use to Grow Your Email List

Today’s marketers are faced with a variety of ways to communicate with their audience. The advent of digital marketing has allowed businesses to reach a broader target audience more cost-effectively.

Most consumers prefer email as their primary source of information from businesses they follow. Blog posts are also an effective way to increase ROI. In fact, 57% of marketers claim they’ve acquired customers through their blog posts alone.

Blogs serve several purposes. They allow you to post quality content on your website, which can increase SEO and boost your business in search engine rankings. They also enable you to expand your contacts. Provide more value and grow your email list with content upgrades. Not sure how to work this into your email marketing strategy? Campaign Monitor can help.

Why content marketing is a valuable asset

Blog posts fall under the category of content marketing. It’s digital material that builds interest in a product or service but doesn’t necessarily promote a brand. It necessitates a strategic approach focused on distributing relevant, useful content that resonates with a target audience. Its goal is to convert contacts to profit.

Content marketing can be anything from educational articles to instructional videos answering specific questions and providing information not found elsewhere. It’s a great way to help your product stand out from the competition, as well as portray your business as an authority on subjects that are important to prospective customers. This helps build customer loyalty and assists in strengthening your brand.

People are looking for information online. By answering their questions through content marketing, you’re providing valuable information that equates to improved search engine rankings. This leads to the right people finding your products and, ultimately, generates revenue. According to 74% of companies surveyed, content marketing has increased their number of quality leads. It’s clearly an invaluable tool for improving SEO and turning leads into profit.

How to use content to grow your email list

Your email list is crucial to the success of your digital marketing campaigns. These subscribers are individuals who’ve already alerted you, stating that they need your product. They consist of quality leads who are now easy to reach. The more quality emails you have on your list, the better.

Content marketing generates three times more leads than outbound marketing. The idea behind it is that people will share their contact information in exchange for valuable information. If viewers see a compelling resource on your website, there’s a chance you can get permission to contact them again. This enables you to gather quality email addresses that can be converted into customers.

Visitors are ultimately subscribing for free content, which enters them into your funnel. Determine your prospects’ needs and create content that fulfills those needs. The free content you offer should be useful and increase your credibility. By building trust, people will be more likely to leave their information with you for future communications. The more people whose needs you meet, the more quality email addresses you’ll acquire.

7 ways to upgrade content to grow your email list

Content upgrades are additional giveaways on your website that viewers can access in exchange for their email address. These materials meet a specific need that people are already exploring on your site. Here are seven ways to upgrade the content on your website to help grow your email list.

1. Gated content

Gated content is a way to gather qualified leads on your website. Its online material that’s locked behind a form readers must complete before gaining access. It could be guarding a video, the entirety of an online article, or a blog post. However, even though the information is locked, content continues to be available to search engines, so SEO isn’t impacted. Research shows 80% of B2B content marketing materials are gated.

Gated content gives material a higher perceived value and tempts visitors to complete a lead capture form, so they can see the information hidden beneath. Forms could require basic contact information. They could also offer more insight by asking in-depth questions like interests and behaviors. Once you’ve obtained this information, use it to strategize a marketing plan to grow your revenue.

Example of gated content

Source: The Times

2. How-to guides

When presenting complex information, sometimes it’s best to provide an abridged outline. People don’t necessarily want to invest a lot of time in learning new information. They often want to jump right in and get started. Provide a simplified guide that’ll save readers time while delivering valuable information.

For readers who are looking for more in-depth guidance, consider a comprehensive guide that walks readers through each step. Use images, infographics, and diagrams to offer visual interest and help to create digestible material for which people would be willing to trade their email address.

Content upgrade of a how-to guide

Source: Backlinko

3. Mini ebooks

Maybe you’ve written a series of articles that all discuss the same topic. Or perhaps you have several articles that could be categorized into themes. Either way, consider combining several previously written articles into mini ebooks that readers can download, once they’ve offered their email address.

Use analytics to choose popular posts on a related subject. Package them together as a PDF and offer these as bonus material. Promote them on each of the book’s original blog posts. The final product should be manageable, concise, and easy to digest. Overwhelming material won’t entice people to leave their contact information with you in return for eBook access.

Content upgrade with an eBook offer

Source: InstaPage

4. Checklists

Part of the appeal of content upgrades is that they make the execution of your article’s strategies easy for your readers. Checklists are great because they’re usually something people want to print and keep handy. This means you’re reaching your audience when they first download the material and every time they reference the printed copy.

Checklists are ideal for longer educational posts that cover several steps. Ideally, they could easily be divided into simplified, actionable points. Think step-by-step instructions, project materials, or bullet points taken from a more in-depth guide. The beauty of checklists is that readers love them, and they don’t take a lot of time for you to create.

Content upgrade offer of a checklist

Source: StartupDevKit

5. Printables

People are busy and often multi-tasking while online, so offering a downloadable PDF version of your articles will likely be more enticing to your website visitors. Repackage the posts with full-color graphics and easy-to-read formatting. Seventy-five percent of content marketers experience higher ROI when visuals appear in their content.

Printable files offer users a chance to display the information where they can reference it as needed. You might include an uplifting message or motivational quote, something to give even more value to the material.

Content upgrade offering a downloadable .PDF

Source: RazorSocial

6. Video or audio recording

Video is engaging, informative, and entertaining, and 64% of B2B companies cited podcasts as valuable content when beginning their buying journey. When writing a blog post, review past files to determine whether you’ve recorded a webinar, podcast, or another informational multimedia file relevant to your current post and offer the recording as bonus material.

If you don’t have something in the vault, consider creating a how-to video or an audio recording of yourself reading the post aloud. A multimedia summary is a great way to give visitors the freedom to absorb your educational information at their own leisure. It wouldn’t take you long to do, and it’d be an invaluable tool to encourage visitors to leave their contact information.

Content upgrade offering a webinar

Source: Kissmetrics

7. Reports or case studies

Conduct a survey, do some research, or learn more about a topic that’d interest your target audience. Share a case study about your own success and use your findings and experience to write a report that’ll further educate your readers about their interests. This process will also benefit you as you become known as an expert in your subject.

Content upgrade offering a downloadable report

Source: Lithium Technologies

Content upgrade best practices

Content upgrades can help grow your email list. Whatever content upgrade you choose to add to your website, you’ll achieve more success by answering these three questions.

Is it relevant?

Site-wide upgrades can certainly assist in capturing contact information. However, an upgrade that relates directly to the blog post a reader is exploring at that time will result in better conversions. Target your audience thoughtfully and create offers that’ll be the most useful.

Does it have value?

Remember, these offers are considered an upgrade. If someone is willing to provide their contact information, they expect worthwhile materials. Anything less will damage your credibility and lose their trust, so create materials that are high quality, useful, and provide a real solution to a problem or answer to a question.

Is it appealing?

Go the extra mile to make these giveaways something special. People value their contact information and don’t give it away to just anyone, so be sure what your visitors are getting in return is something attractive, professional-looking, and a true upgrade.

Wrap up

Content marketing is an effective way to drive traffic to your website and help gather contact information. Any email marketer can encourage email signups by incorporating these easy content upgrades into their website:

  • Gated content
  • Guides
  • Mini eBooks
  • Checklists
  • Printables
  • Video or audio recordings
  • Reports or case studies

By offering bonus materials that are relevant, valuable, and appealing, any business can grow their email list with quality content.

The post 7 Content Upgrades You Can Use to Grow Your Email List appeared first on Campaign Monitor.