Is eDM still worth taking seriously in 2019?
Email has been around for a while, exactly since 1971 when the first email system was developed. It is not only extremely widely used - over half of the world population, almost 4 billion people use email in 2019 - it also delivers better results in driving sales than PPC or display. According to a 2017 study, 53% of marketers say that email marketing is a good or excellent tool when it comes to the effectiveness of digital media channels. All in all, we say that if you do it right, eDM can still be an important factor in your online marketing efforts. How do you do it right, though? We’ll unravel the mystery in a few seconds
Let’s go backward and start with the recipients of your eDM. If you’ve been following us, you might have seen one of our previous articles (Email marketing: newsletter or EDM?) about the differences between a newsletter and an eDM, in which we also discussed how to build an email list. Going on the assumption that you have a sizable list with current and potential customers, it goes without saying that you don’t want to send the same content to everybody. Chances are you have subscribers in different stages of the purchase funnel: awareness, interest, consideration, intent, evaluation, and purchase. Somebody who just learned about your business might not be ready to make a purchase just yet, on the other hand, a loyal customer doesn’t need an entire eDM dedicated to the foundation story of the company. Segmentation and tailored content are largely important when it comes to email marketing: sending the right content to the right people makes a huge difference. Personalization is another biggie: the open rate increases by 17% when the subject line is personalized.
Another crucial aspect of your eDM is design. You might gather the best content to the most engaged subscribers; if your email looks terrible, is hard to read, lacks a clear CTA (call-to-action button), or is not mobile-friendly, it might as well land in the spam folder. Probably needless to say that it’s best to use a dedicated email platform and a responsive email template that resizes automatically, depending on where people are reading your email: on a phone, tablet, or desktop. Try to keep your layout clean and simple, so it looks professional and easy to navigate. Always make sure to include a clear CTA button, after all, why send a direct marketing email if you don't ask your subscribers to do something beyond looking? The last, but nonetheless critical aspect of your design is the subject line. Your subject line makes or breaks whether your subscribers open your email or jump right to the next one in line. Try to come up with an honest, compelling subject line that can pick your customers curiosity while telling the truth.
Since we’re going backward, last, but not least, what is the right content? Well, that depends on your goals. Are you about to launch a new product or to kick off a huge sale? Are you running a giveaway or poll? Make sure to include that but remember: the most compelling newsletters are those that mix messaging and updates. A sales offer along with a personal, behind-the-scenes kind of story, something of value to your readers, a GIF or a video are more likely to boost engagement than a simple sales pitch. (Btw, email click rates increase by up to 300 percent if a video is included.) When creating an eDM, try to put yourself in the subscribers’ shoes and ask yourself if your messaging is consistent with the expectations you’ve set. As a rule of thumb, use email marketing to further your relationship with your subscribers (a.k.a. potential customers), rather than to simply pitch and move them down in the purchase funnel. Another great way to improve your content is to analyze data and customer profiles. What do they like, which pages, blog posts, images do they spend time on, where do they go on your website? With Liferay Analytics Cloud, you can discover these insights into the modern customer journey that will help you identify your best-performing assets, enhance your digital marketing efforts and enable you to start conversations based on real interests. Liferay Analytics Cloud offers more and more detailed insights than any other similar software available on the market and is GDPR compliant. Besides page analytics, you can track and visualize asset engagement, traffic and path analytics, create customer profiles and much more. If you’re ready to truly transform your email marketing practices, request a demo today.
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