Email Marketing – Can you drive your car without fuel?
Can you breathe without oxygen?
Can your business survive without customers?
A big NO!
A business without customers is like a lifeless body. Every marketer applies tons of strategies to attract customers. After all, it’s the customers that keep the business moving. Not to mention the revenue they generate.
We’re sure you must’ve done your part to attract customers and boost sales.
You built an eCommerce store on Shopify!
Integrated social media marketing…
Also, started email marketing!
But… did your sales reach sky-high?
Hmmm… not yet. That’s the reason you’re here, right?
You want to crack the code of email marketing to make more sales. The internet has thousands of articles that claim email marketing to be the BEST channel. And yes, it is!
Email is the most cost-effective and profitable platform. For every $1, a business can earn $44 as revenue.
Isn’t it mind-blowing? That’s like 4,400% ROI…
Can any other platform offer the same ROI? Nope!
Now, like a lot of marketers, we know what’s brewing in your mind.
“Why are my conversions next to nothing???”
The average daily email traffic is 270 billion emails. That’s a lot of competition!
People receive hundreds of emails daily. You’ve got to step up your email game to improve your conversions and open-through rates.
Keep reading this blog post as we discuss 10 effective email marketing tips. These also include various customer engagement strategies.
Without further ado, let’s start.
Table of Contents
10 Tips To Improve Your Customer Experience With Email Marketing
Personalize Your Emails
Personalizing your email communication is the first step to engage with your customers. Customers feel more welcomed and connected to a business if it uses their names in the emails.
Personalizing emails is so common that emails with “Dear Customer” look fishy. Not to mention, it looks way too formal.
Including your subscribers’ names in emails gives a personal touch to the email. Besides, it also helps to build trust with them.
But, that’s not the only reason to personalize your emails. Here’s more…
Personalizing your emails also increases open rates by whooping 26%. And they provide 6 times greater transaction rates.
The best part about personalizing emails is that it’s pretty easy. You don’t have to do it by yourself. Thanks to plenty of email marketing tools to do the job.
Ensure that you use personalization in all kinds of emails you send to your customers. For example, order confirmation emails, reminder emails, sales promotional emails, etc.
Categorize Your Email List
Are you making the rookie mistake of sending the same email to your entire list?
If yes, then….
STOP right now!
Communicating with your customers via email is a formal channel. But, businesses can give a personal touch to that. Also, it provides an excellent opportunity for tailoring messages for each subscriber group.
Thus, grab your email list and segment it before getting ahead. There are many ways to segment your emails:
- Location of your subscribers
- Genders
- Ages
- Buying patterns, etc.
Categorizing subscribers allows the marketer to deliver targeted messages. Effective messages can then trigger the desired action from the subscribers. Such as, they can buy from the website.
Let us take an example here…
Suppose you email about the sale of ladies’ garments to the entire list. What do you think will be the response of your male subscribers? Will they take any action? No, they won’t, as the email is irrelevant to them.
Ensure to segment your list and send the targeted and relevant message to each group. It also creates a good customer experience.
The next step is all about adding a personal touch to your emails…
Be Friendly, Yet Professional
Nowadays, it’s common for a business to use a light and friendly tone to communicate with customers.
But… remember, there is a fine line between being friendly and being disrespectful. Make sure you don’t cross that line.
Use a respectful tone in all kinds of emails that you send your customers. Especially for helping them.
All your emails should begin with polite greetings and end with a thank you. You can use light and friendly tone in your key messages. But, do not use offensive language. Your business’s reputation will suffer if you use foul language in your emails.
Be polite when your customers contact you for help or to complain about your business. We understand that sometimes customers lose their temper and bash business via emails.
But hey, a customer is always right.
Hence, stay calm, apologize, and help them.
Respectful and consistent communication helps win customer’s trust and loyalty.
Maintain A Consistent Style
Do not go from “Dear Customer…” to “Hey Ya Fella!”
Keep consistent in your tone and style whenever you interact with customers. If you use a light and fun tone on your social media, do not use a serious voice in your emails. As it’ll confuse the customer about your brand’s voice.
No matter what type of voice you use, keep it consistent on all the channels.
Keeping a consistent tone will make the subscriber feel more connected to you. Hence, train your team to use a consistent writing style. It’ll help you maintain the same brand voice across all the marketing channels.
The mobile comes first! That’s exactly what the next step is all about…
Design Mobile-Responsive Emails
Do you switch on your computer to read your emails?
Who does that these days?
Exactly!
Nobody switches on their computer to check their emails. Mobile phones have become a necessity for all people. Especially after the outbreak of the pandemic. People spend almost 3 hours on their mobiles daily, almost!
Plus, an average person checks his phone 58 times a day!
Your customers fall under the category of average people. They check their phones before retiring to bed. And grab their phones as soon as they wake up.
This means your subscribers will check your emails on their mobile devices. Thus, ensure that your emails show up on mobile devices. Or else the subscriber will toss them in the trash.
Use a flexible email interface. Also, keep your subject lines short, so that it shows up on the notification panel.
Also, don’t forget about keeping your CTAs wide and visible on mobile devices.
Improve Your CTAs
Call to action is an important part of any email. It directs the subscribers about their next move. Suppose you announce a sale through email. Your customer reads it, now what do you want him to do?
You’d want him to visit your website and buy things, right?
So, tell them what to do. Even if it’s a simple step of visiting the website, include it in your emails.
The absence of CTAs leaves the readers unsure about what to do next. If they don’t take the desired action, your conversions will stay grounded.
Hence, always attach a strong call-to-action (CTAs) to guide your customers. Either it’s wanting them to buy from your website or filling up a survey, be precise about it.
But what if the customer doesn’t finish reading the email?
Relax! An engaging message will make him read the email till the end…
Ask For Feedback And Suggestions
Customer-focused companies always succeed. Hence, you should always welcome feedback from your customers.
Understanding what is important to your customers will help you improve your business.
Email marketing can help you know your customers’ thoughts and opinions. All you have to do is an email asking for their reviews and suggestions. Customers like it when businesses ask for their feedback.
Insert the link to your survey form or questionnaire in the emails. Inform your customers of the time it’ll take to fill out the form. If it takes a few minutes, customers will not mind filling up the survey.
You can also offer incentives to your customer for reviewing your products. For example, you can offer them a discount coupon, entry in a lucky draw, free shipping, etc.
Use Engaging Content
People don’t like to read newspapers. So, don’t make your email look like one.
Jazz up your email if you want your customers to read your email and act on it. Use images, short videos, GIFs, and emojis to make your emails engaging. You can also attach polls and questionnaires to keep the reader hooked to your email.
Get creative with your emails. If you want the customer to view your collection, use a flip-through digital catalog. Or you can even include short videos for this purpose.
Besides that, keep your emails short and relevant. Do not write long sentences or big chunks of paragraphs. These are mood killers for customers, and they won’t read the email.
Invest In Right Tools
Successful people chant the mantra ‘Work smart, not hard.’
They’re 100% right!
To make your email marketing campaign a success, you need to invest in the right tools.
With proper tools, you can track customer’s behavior and send out emails at the right time.
These tools also provide reports and rich information about customers’ actions and activities.
Being a marketer and an entrepreneur, we’re sure you’d understand the importance of such data. It helps in creating targeted campaigns for the customers.
Also, automation tools help group email subscribers, create templates, and collect user input. So, lessen your burden and invest in the right tool for your business.
Follow Up With Your Customers’ Issues
If you want to win customer loyalty, you must go the extra mile to help them. If your customers have issues and they email you, be quick to respond.
Prompt response and offering a quick solution will earn you the trust of your customers. Show your customer that you aren’t only interested in their credit card numbers.
Apologize and offer help as soon as you receive their complaints. Likewise, if a customer shares his suggestion, don’t leave him hanging. Instead, thank him for providing his valuable feedback.
Taking care of your customers will take your business to new heights of success.
Conclusion
Email communication is an effective channel to connect with your customers. But, integrate top-notch customer engagement strategies with email marketing.
Good customer experience plays a key role in the success of a business. Hence, work on your customer engagement marketing to outshine your competitors.
Use the above tips to provide an exceptional customer experience with email marketing 🙂
Author Bio:
Ricky Hayes is the Co-Founder and Head of Marketing at Debutify – a free Shopify theme, helping dropshippers build high-converting stores in minutes. He is a passionate entrepreneur running multiple businesses, marketing agencies, and mentoring programs.