There never seems to be enough time in the day for a small business owner. Your marketing efforts tend to fall by the wayside when there’s bills to pay and teams to manage, but there is a solution that can help: Email Marketing.
Email marketing allows the small business owner to remain in constant contact with their customers, nurture leads, and release their promotional products and services in the most efficient and effective ways possible. Compared to traditional mail, email marketing is relatively inexpensive and it allows you to spread your information to a wide array of users.
The best part? You can track who is actually opening and engaging with your emails. You can’t do that by sending a letter. Whether you’re new to email marketing or already on the ball and just need some new ways to improve, here are 5 email marketing tips that any small business owner can implement today:
Email marketing experts at MailChimp conducted a study and found that the best time to send an email was between 2 P.M. and 5 P.M. Their study found that email users were most active during these afternoon hours and that the open rates were much higher in the afternoon as compared to morning or late night posts.
Emails tend to get pushed to the bottom of your inbox as the day progresses, so between 2 P.M. and 5 P.M. is the best time for you to show up in your customers inbox and make an impression.
The study also found that email open rates begin to ramp up Tuesday, they peak on Wednesday, and they level off Thursday as the weekend approaches (imagine a bell curve). Weekend emails are rarely opened, so avoid sending anything of importance until at least Monday or Tuesday.
Different industries have different open, click-through, and bounce rates. According to MailChimp, our industry (Marketing and Advertising) has an open rate of 18.81%, a click-through rate of 2.4%, and a bounce rate of 1.3%. You can view your industry rates here!
According to Chadwick Martin Bailey, 64% of people say they open an email because of the subject line. A subject line can be a deal breaker for you if it doesn’t catch your customer’s attention. Placing numbers in the subject line or capitalizing certain words are a few quick examples that can help your customers hear your message.
There’s an array of industries online and everyone’s customers are different. Know your audience, their sleep cycle, their sharing cycle, and track your results from your first few campaigns to see what’s working and what’s not.
Email marketing is an excellent tool if used correctly. Know your industry, understand your audience, and track your results. This will allow you to tailor your campaign in a way that best fits your business. Also, don’t be afraid to show some personality and be unique. Your customers subscribed to your email for a reason, give them something of value and entertain them while you have their attention. You know better than anyone that your email inbox is filled to the brim with useless content. Deliver something useful and meaningful and your ROI will be much higher.
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