Do you want to learn how to use email to grow your small business? If so, you’re in the right place!
The year 2023 is almost here, and it’s time to start thinking about how we will use the marketing tools at our disposal to improve engagement and conversions. Email is an excellent starting point for this conversation because email marketing is one of the most reliable and effective ways to connect with prospects and loyal customers alike.
There’s often a lot of confusion when deciding how to do email marketing. Here’s where we come in. We’ve tested thousands of campaigns across 30+ businesses during our time, and we’ve learned a lot.
Today, I will share some of the best ways to get more value from your email campaigns while boosting profits and engagement.
Let’s get started!
Learn about Your Customers
The first way you should use email to improve your business in 2023 is to learn about your customers. Many business leaders think they know their audience, but few try to understand their various audience segments and the needs of individual subscribers.
Segments are groups of customers who have similar interests and goals. For instance, a clothing store would have a segment for people who prefer casual clothing and another for people who habitually buy suits, ties, and dress slacks.
Failing to connect with your customer segments could result in you sending messages and offers that don’t really resonate with the subscriber. If you do this enough, they may decide to unsubscribe or, worse, mark your message as spam.
I recommend sending a survey to users once they join your list. I prefer to include a small questionnaire in my welcome email. After introducing our brand and setting expectations, I encourage users to share their thoughts. The survey consists of general questions, both open and close-ended, that we use to determine what kind of content and offers each subscriber wants to see in the future.
You should also encourage your readers to change their preferences in your messages. If the person who wanted casual clothes suddenly had an interest in dress clothes, you want to ensure the emails they receive match their interests.
Create Personalized Coupons and Offers
Once you better understand who subscribes to your email list, you can start personalizing coupons and offers. This tip is directly tied to your audience segments.
Because each segment has different interests and goals, you have to create multiple campaigns for subscribers so they see content that aligns with their needs and goals.
Research shows that taking this step can pay off. Over 80% of people say they prefer to engage with brands that send them personalized coupons and content! Similarly, people are less likely to engage with businesses that send generic offers and blog posts from their sites.
Here’s another jaw-dropping statistic: over 77% of email profits come directly from segmented campaigns. It’s impossible to ignore the importance of sending timely, relevant content and promotions to your subscribers.
You can make your personalized promos more appealing by inspiring fear of missing out (FOMO). Personal offers with a deadline appeal to users because they don’t want to miss out on an excellent deal. We found that 7 in 10 millennials experience FOMO, which only highlights the importance of this marketing strategy.
Send Event Invitations
Do you have a webinar, online course, or live video event planned for the future? If so, don’t forget to send your subscribers early event invitations so they can grab their seats early. You don’t need to do much for them to sign up since they’ve already given you their information when they joined your list.
I like to send a simple event registration form that explains the purpose of our event, the time and date, and how attendees will benefit from the experience. At the end of the email, users can confirm whether they’d like to attend.
I highly recommend hosting your events on social media. Not only will you be able to reach your subscribers, but you also have the potential to connect with nearly 5 billion people who have never heard of your brand.
We prefer to send out early invitations a week before everyone else joins so we can judge the popularity of our event. If most people decide to attend, this must be a popular topic with our core audience. This information helps us make smart decisions about future events and engagement methods.
Use Cart Abandonment Emails to Drive Sales
You may be shocked to learn that the average cart abandonment rate is between 67% (desktop) and 78% (mobile). This startling statistic means you can expect over half of the people who had an item in their cart to leave before paying for their order.
If the person isn’t connected with your brand through email, it can be hard to get back in touch and convince them to finalize their purchase.
The good news is you can save a vast majority of the people who leave items in their virtual shopping cart through email. We found 3 emails over a week after the abandonment is the sweet spot. By using this strategy, we were able to recover nearly 70% of our lost subscriber sales.
There are a few ways you can convince your email subscribers to return after they leave. One of the most popular strategies is to send users an exclusive coupon they can redeem on their order if they follow a link to your site. If someone was on the fence because they wanted a better price, a coupon could convince them that your brand is worth their time.
Ask for Feedback
Finally, you should periodically ask your readers for feedback throughout their time with your business. Our customers are how we can thrive, so we need to meet their needs and develop new products to help with emerging pain points and industry problems.
Our brand sends surveys to readers twice a year. We ask questions like:
- How would you rate our product?
- What do you like/dislike?
- How can we improve?
- What features/products/content would you like to see in the future?
These simple questions can give you a wealth of information about your audience.
Once the survey is complete, review the data and look for emerging trends. If, for example, over half of your customers ask for a specific feature, consider adding it to your next update.
Gathering feedback will help you build rapport with your audience and improve your small business over time. The information you obtain from a simple survey or two is well worth the few minutes it takes to set up and schedule the questionnaire.
Back to You
As your business grows, you’ll find plenty of clever ways to use email to expand your brand. The tips offered here today are perfect for brand leaders across all industries. If you want 2023 to be your big year, you must invest time and money into email marketing. I firmly believe the strategies I’ve outlined will help bring you one step closer to your goals.
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