Unraveling the Mysteries of Email Marketing: Your Top FAQs Answered

Email marketing: it's one of the longest-standing digital marketing concepts. And while most digital marketing strategies have changed completely over the last few decades, email marketing is still highly impactful for reaching your audience. But how do you do it right? Keep reading to get the answers to your burning email marketing questions.

What Is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is a digital strategy focused on sending promotional emails to build relationships and drive sales. Done right, it nurtures customer loyalty by regularly connecting with your audience. The key is providing value through useful info and deals tailored to each recipient. With this approach, subscribers will keep engaging with the emails you send.

Email Marketing FAQs Answered

How Can I Grow My Email Subscribers List?

Should I Buy an Email List?

Your marketing efforts should aim to find the right prospects and customers. If you buy a list, you are taking that decision away from your prospects. Suddenly, they receive this message from you (or their spam folder, most likely) but have no idea what it's about, who you are, how you got their information, and now you're on their bad side.

Can I Send Marketing Emails to My Customers?

Absolutely! Your email marketing list should include past, current, and prospective customers. But remember, your efforts should focus on reaching an engaged audience that is interested in what your organization has to offer. If you’re pushing information out to people who aren’t interested, you are wasting your time and building a lousy email marketing reputation.

What Type of Content Works Best for Email Marketing?

Should I Use Plain-Text Emails or HTML Emails?

A recent HubSpot study uncovered that plain-text emails perform better than HTML emails. While most respondents say they prefer HTML emails, the open rate was higher for plain-text emails.

When in doubt, do both. Keep the visual appeal of HTML emails and include a plain-text version. Most email editors will allow you to do this easily.

What Are the Best Practices for Email Subject Lines?

Subject lines are the first impression of your email, so make them compelling and enticing. They should resonate with your target audience and give them a sneak peek of what to expect. Personalization is vital in email marketing, so segment your email list and tailor your subject lines accordingly by including tokens like first names, locations, or business names.

How Long Should a Marketing Email Be?

Keep your email content concise, scannable, and visually appealing. Use a mix of text, images, and call-to-action (CTA) buttons to guide your subscribers to take the desired actions. A good rule of thumb is to keep it around 50-125 words to avoid encouraging readers to bounce or move on quickly.

What’s the Best Time and Day To Send Emails?

Unfortunately, there isn’t an end-all, be-all answer to that question. It varies depending on your email list and recipient preferences. To figure out what works best for your readers, try different days and times and analyze the results.

What Metrics Should I Track for Email Marketing?

The best way to know if what you’re doing is working is to analyze the results. Email marketing statistics should drive your decisions when making adjustments. Here are the main email marketing stats you’ll want to track to make sure your marketing efforts are succeeding. And for reference, check out these industry benchmarks from MailChimp.

• Open Rate: The percentage of recipients who opened your email.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of recipients who clicked on a link or CTA button within your email.
• Conversion Rate: The percentage of recipients who completed the desired action, such as purchasing or filling out a form.
• Bounce Rate: The percentage of emails that were not delivered successfully.
• Unsubscribe Rate: The percentage of subscribers who opted out of your email list.

What Is A/B Testing?

A/B testing is a great technique for uncovering the best email marketing tactics and timing for your specific audience. It involves creating two versions of an email with slight variations in elements like subject lines, content, CTA buttons, and visuals. Send both versions to a small segment of your email list and measure the performance.

Here is a list of some ideas to get started:

• Subject line
• Layout of the message (one column or two)
• Personalization strategy
• Call-to-action
• Headline
• Images
• Times and days of the week

Keep in mind that you should only test one variable at a time so the data is clear on what worked and what didn’t. The best advice? Test continuously—there’s always room for improvement!

What Is Email Automation?

As your email list grows, managing and sending individual emails becomes time-consuming. With automation tools, you can set up email sequences, trigger campaigns based on user actions, and send personalized emails at scale.

Automated emails can include welcome messages for new subscribers, abandoned cart reminders, follow-up emails after a purchase, and more. By utilizing email automation, you can effectively maintain consistent communication with your audience and nurture leads through the sales funnel.

Email Marketing Help for Businesses

When it comes to email marketing, there is always something new to learn and try. Hopefully, these email marketing questions and answers give you a good start.

Remember to stay consistent with your efforts, monitor your email analytics, and continually optimize your campaigns through A/B testing and personalization. Email marketing is an ever-evolving field, so staying updated with industry trends and adopting new technologies will keep you ahead of the curve.

Need help creating an email marketing strategy? Leighton Engage is here to develop a plan for creating and sharing relevant email content with your audiences. Click the link below to get started.