Increase Business Revenue With Email Marketing For Your Small Business

 

 

Email … we all have one. Many of us skim over email ads in our inboxes or are quickly building up dozens of urgent client emails in the amount of time it’s taken to read this first paragraph. But wait, don’t run off to check it just yet! We have some valuable tricks to make email marketing for your small business totally worth waiting on that inbox full of urgency. 

Email marketing is supposed to help grow our audience, increase business revenue, and position ourselves as top-of-mind to our customers. But with all the headache surrounding full inboxes and unsubscribing customers, we tend to ask ourselves, Is email marketing worth it? Heck yeah it is, and we’re going to tell you why! 

Just one of the effective content marketing ideas to use in your strategy is email marketing–and it actually happens to be one of the most valuable and most personable tools any small business can use. Email gets you directly in front of your customers and allows you to engage with them on a one-on-one basis. A successful marketing strategy that includes email will not only help your small business succeed but when you put strategy behind every email you send out, email marketing is totally worth it!

 

 

Email Marketing Rules To Make Every Email Successful

 

In order for us to successfully tackle email marketing for small business, we have to know how to create better emails. Let’s go over these 5 email marketing rules that every email in your email marketing plan should abide by.

Have a goal and set benchmarks. Every single email you send out should have a goal. It might be to get a certain amount of reviews or to sell X-number of items. Whatever it is, clearly distinguish what that set benchmark is each time and work towards that goal. 

Track your success. In order to actually reach your goals, you have to track your metrics. Use an email marketing software like Mailchimp or Hubspot to clearly define your success and then make adjustments accordingly. For example, maybe you’re looking to improve click rates but it just isn’t happening for you. Take a look at your metrics and strategize about where adjustments can be made.

Write engaging subject lines. A subject line is going to be the very first thing someone will see when they receive your email. If it’s boring and unengaging, there’s a higher likelihood that they won’t even take the time to open it. Spice up the fun with some lively subject line ideas.

Always include a design. If your emails are more like white papers than fun newsletters, you’re going to lose people’s attention. Get creative and show instead of tell. Use images or strategize some fun email design ideas with your team to keep your audience looking and loving what they see.

Mix up the type of emails you send. If you constantly send emails that sell, sell, sell, that might eventually drive your customers away. Switch it up! How? Well, would you look at that … we actually have 7 types of emails to send to customers that you can use to add variety to your marketing plan.

 

 

7 Types Of Emails To Send To Customers

 

1. Welcome!

 

Thanks for joining our email list! We’re thrilled you’re here. Email marketing for small businesses should start with something along these lines–a warm welcome email. 

When you get a new subscriber, send an email (or a few over a short time period) to familiarize them with who you are and what they can expect from being part of your email family. They’ll be able to get to know you and feel a connection with your brand before you start firing promotional messages into their inbox. Plus, welcome emails actually have higher open rates than any other marketing email.

Here are some examples of what you can talk about in your series of welcome emails.

• Introduce your brand and give them insight into your personality, the products or services you offer, and what you’re all about.
• Invite your new subscriber to check out your social media pages. Link your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and anything else you might have. Hopefully you’ll gain a loyal new follower.
• Ask for information so you can get to know your new email friend. See if they’ll let you know how they found your brand, so you can gain some insight on where you’re gaining subscribers from. Ask them for their birthday and send out a “Happy Birthday!” wish when the time comes or offer a birthday discount. Do you wonder the preference your new subscribers have too? Ask! See what products they’re interested in, then you can immediately know what they’re there to see right off the bat.

 

 

2. A Regularly Sent Newsletter

 

Newsletters are generally the foundation of most email marketing plans. They include updates, company news, events, blog posts, current promos, and anything else you want to put in your message. 

This type of email should be planned out and sent on a regular basis–monthly, biweekly, quarterly, whatever makes the most sense for your brand. And the design–that’s equally as important as consistency. Newsletters have to be interesting to look at. Include a nice, designed layout, intriguing images, and fun content to keep your readers engaged.

A successful newsletter marketing plan will allow you to:

Create brand awareness. When sent consistently, newsletters create anticipation and keep your brand top-of-mind on a regular basis.

Repurpose content. Newsletters oftentimes contain info that you’ve already put out there for people to see. This means a lot of times you don’t have to create anything new when you send them out. Repurpose your latest blog, add a quick summary about it, and link the post. Greater blog engagement is likely to occur, plus it drives more people to your website.

Diversify your content. Like we said, you can basically put anything that’s relevant to your brand into a newsletter. You have the freedom to add all kinds of content–repurpose a blog, send a new offer, share your latest video, invite people to your upcoming event, or ask for a survey. The newsletter possibilities are endless.

 

 

3. Offer A Discount

 

An offer, discount, or promotional email allows you to send promotions directly to consumers to drive a direct response (a purchase). 

These types of emails definitely don’t have to be lengthy in text, they’re pretty simple to develop, and should also be fun and intriguing to look at. Include graphics, fun language, and a clear message or image that displays your offer.

When sending out a promotional email, it should also be as simple as possible for the customer to navigate. Include a button within the email that clicks over to the specific product or page associated with your offer. The fewer steps someone has to take to execute what you want them to do, the better. Make it effortless (or as simple as you possibly can) and they’ll be more likely to buy.

 

 

4. Announce The Stuff That Needs Announcing

 

Have you recently restocked your most popular product? Or maybe you have a new product line launching at the beginning of next month? An announcement email is a perfect way to keep your audience engaged with the most up-to-date products or features you have to offer. 

A good rule for announcement emails is to send at least one announcement in advance (if it’s possible) and then another to remind them again when the restock or new product launches. This will keep your brand in your audience’s mind (and hopefully on their calendars), and then when it comes time to buy, it’ll remind them to get onto your site at that very moment to see the latest and greatest you have to offer.

 

 

5. Invite Them To Your Next Event

 

We all love a fun event invitation. And even though your next event is probably an in-person occasion, it’s still wise to plan on advertising the party in email marketing for your small business. Increase the awareness for your upcoming event with an event invitation email.

When inviting your email list to come to your upcoming occasion, send out more than one message–one prior to your event and one just before (the day before is best). This will remind your audience that they don’t want to miss out on the fun, and even if the event slipped their mind after the first email, they’ll be reminded to attend.

Make sure to include all event details in the emails so nothing is unclear or left out. Include the location, time, RSVP information, appropriate attire, the party’s occasion, and provide a link to purchase tickets online (if applicable).

 

 

6. You Abandoned Your Cart

 

We’re all guilty of putting something in our online shopping cart and then walking away. Whether it’s because we changed our mind, wanted to save it for later, or reconsidered because of the price, it’s happened to us all. And it will continue happening with eCommerce businesses time and time again.

Pull those abandoned cart people back in with an email. Remind them that they have something awesome waiting for them. You can even offer a discount code to come back and purchase. Or have some fun with the email to try and change their mind! Abandoned cart emails don’t have to be boring. Stand out with some fun language.

Glossier uses an abandoned cart email that says, “If you add things to an online shopping bag, but no one’s around to check out … does it make a sound? No. But it does trigger this email.” Pretty good, if we do say so ourselves. We’d go back and buy!

Just make sure to make it easy for those cart abandoners to get back to their cart to complete their purchase. Provide a link within the email that clicks right over to their cart so they’re more inclined to make the purchase.

 

 

7. Send a Post-Purchase Email

 

It’s always a great idea to follow up, whether it’s after a job interview, a purchase from a new customer, or a first date (unless the date was awful and you’re positive you don’t want a second one). Once a customer has made a purchase, send them a triggered email that reinforces the great decision they made to purchase from you.

This type of email might include something along the lines of sending them a fun email that says “Thanks!” and includes their receipt (if they purchased something in person) or asks for a review. Ask the consumer how they like their new product now that they have received it. If you provide a link to leave a review, it’s more likely that they’ll write one for you.

Post-purchase emails remind consumers that they love your brand (or should now that they see how awesome your product is) and that they made a good decision by purchasing from you. It can also increase the number of reviews you receive and can develop a greater sense of brand loyalty and will help business grow.

 

 

The Experts In Email Marketing

 

Do you have this whole email marketing this down now? Maybe you need a bit of expert email marketing help or just need to increase your email list in order to successfully get started? 

Whatever it is, the BK team can help you out. Interested in buying us a beer and chatting about how we can help grow your small business with email marketing? We like beer … and we’d love to help.