How to use email marketing to boost your sales

7 steps to craft your email marketing strategy

Before you bang out your 800-word update and hit send, take a step back and look at the big picture, says Sonnet: ideally, you should have a six- to 12-month strategy.

“It’s not just ‘let’s send an email today and forget about it for the next two months,’” she says. “Think about why you’re sending the email, who you’re talking to, what information they want from you, and what you want to tell them and when.”

1. Decide whether to segment your target audience

Adapting your message to suit specific groups can work because it lets you speak more directly to their interests. For example, you could divide customers by:

• type of business
• location
• age
• shopping habits
• product preferences.

But consider your capacity. If you’ve identified four different customer groups and plan to email them on separate schedules with unique content, you’re going to be very busy trying to come up with ideas and sending out your blasts.

2. Create an editorial calendar

Make a schedule that sets out when to send your emails and what topics they will cover. Try to outline what you want to cover in the next six months to a year. This will force you to give some strategic thought to what you want to convey and ensure you don’t repeat yourself.

3. Decide on frequency

Sonnet says most small businesses should aim to send emails out about once a month. More often is fine if the pace suits your industry and you have the capacity.

4. Set up a double opt-in strategy

The “double opt-in” ensures that, having agreed to join your mailing list, a customer must still confirm their interest by clicking a link in that initial email. This approach can reduce the odds that messages end up in spam folders, help you develop a quality mailing list and increase your chances of generating leads.

5. Test out a prototype

Known as an A/B or split test, this involves sending out slightly different emails to two sets of recipients and measuring their responses. You vary the elements you want to test—such as headlines, images, design, length or call-to-action buttons—and measure how the two groups respond, in order to see which approach works best.

6. Build your distribution list

You need to make a list of addresses for sending mass emails. You’ll want to enlist the help of email list management software for this. Some CRM applications now include email marketing capabilities. Dedicated tools, while typically pricier, can integrate your emails with your website, social media and other marketing tasks.

7. Track your performance

Most businesses use analytics to gauge the effectiveness of their website, social media posts and email marketing efforts. You’ll need to look at some key performance indicators (KPIs) to know whether your strategy is working. Elements to measure include:

• conversion and click-through rates
• list growth
• email sharing and forwarding rates
• unsubscribe rate
• overall return on investment