by Marelise da Silva | Oct 7, 2019 | E-mail Marketing
Emails can be a very effective form of targeted marketing. They have acquired a terrible reputation, however, as many marketers have misused them. Here are 6 tips to avoid the most common pitfalls of email marketing.
1. Get Permission, Get Whitelisted
It’s tempting to try to cast your net wide and expand your mailing list with addresses harvested off the web or bought from brokers. In reality, though, this is a terrible idea. Sending mails to random addresses will only get you consigned to the spam folder and blacklisted. Get permission from all potential recipients. With your permission button, include a request for them to whitelist you, ensuring that you always make it into their Inbox.
2. Make Sure Your Content Is Relevant
Never send any content just for the sake of it. Rather, prioritise quality over quantity, send fewer emails and make sure they include quality content that your recipients will want to read. If you don’t, then they will flag you as a spammer without much hesitation.
3. Deliver on What You Promise
When people click your ‘Subscribe’ button, they do so because you are offering them something from which they expect to receive some kind of value. If they then don’t receive that or you end up giving them something different, they will label you as spam. Always give recipients what you have promised them.
4.Control the Number of Emails You Send
Throwing several emails a day at your mailing list is not a good marketing strategy. You will just annoy recipients to the point that they either unsubscribe, send you to spam or ignore you completely. These are wasted emails. Rather, limit the amount of mail you send, and rather, focus on creating strong content.
5. Keep a Good Text-to-Image Ratio
Try not to send image-heavy emails. Use images sparingly and make sure that each is accompanied by at least a couple of lines of text. Mailchimp’s guideline is to maintain a ratio of 20% image, 80% text.
6. Check Your Authentication Set-Up
ISPs will direct emails according to your authentication records. Make sure that your email server supports the necessary protocols (DKIM, SPF, Sender ID), and run a test to see if they’re all set up properly so that your email goes to the right places.
WSI offers effective email marketing services. Contact us to discuss your marketing strategy and methods.
by Marelise da Silva | Aug 17, 2019 | E-mail Marketing
Email funnels are essential to your digital marketing strategy. And, they can be among the most effective tools for converting your branding efforts into new sales and retaining clients.
- What Is an Email Funnel and How Do You Build One?
Put very simply, an email funnel is a chain of automated email messages designed to help you convert leads into clients, and clients into loyal supporters.
There are plenty of email marketing platforms available, such as MailChimp or ConvertKit, and each will guide you through the set-up process – so we won’t discuss the technical side here. Instead, let’s focus on the content and sequencing of your mailers. As a guideline, consider the following five levels in your email funnel, through which your audience filters from the first contact to the brand advocate.
The first stage is the initial communication with the client. You want to provide general brand awareness without pushing for a sale. Offer information about who you are, what you do and the value of your product. Keep it brief and general and, most importantly, do not push for a sale.
- Personalisation and Targeting
The readers that make it through to this level want to know more about what your product can do for them, but still, aren’t quite ready to make a purchase. Accordingly, your communications at this point should provide specific information tailored to their interests. However, you still should not push for the sale.
If the prospect has come this far, he or she is more than likely ready to buy. Now you can take their interest and convert it into a sale. Try to pre-empt any questions they may have and insert call-to-action buttons in the mail that will take them to your site and help them complete the purchase.
So now you’ve made the sale but you want your clients to come back and buy more. You need content that nurtures your relationship with them, reminds them of the value of your products and fosters a sense of loyalty.
You can turn your customers into secondary brand marketers by delivering consistent value, offering recommendations, specials, discounts and incentives, and inviting them to write reviews. This deepens your customers’ relationship with you and gives them the platform and the motivation to get the word out, starting the cycle anew.
Need help with your email marketing? Then contact WSI OMS today.
by Marelise da Silva | Jun 26, 2019 | E-mail Marketing
All of us have received a cold email in the past. Usually, it’s not hard to see why a cold email is bad.
When you get an email in your inbox, you will generally only see the email subject line and the first part of the first sentence. What you need to do is make sure that the subject line is at least neutral. Some neutral headlines that work well include “Hi, from Francois”, “Quick question” and “Question about…” The reason why generic subject lines work is that they don’t turn a person off. If you had pitched your product line in the heading, there is a good chance that the email will be deleted and that they will not read the body of the email.
The first line of the email needs to be very specific towards their business. Using a compliment works well. If you are emailing a restaurant, you could say “love the food photography!” and if you are targeting an individual, you could congratulate the person on having worked with a big brand name recently.
One of the best ways to get people to respond to an email is to tell them something that they already think is true. Speak it as an expert and then tell them the solution.
Email marketing is still one of the best ways to communicate with people. It is cost-effective, immediate and people feel comfortable using the platform. To make sure that your emails get read, focus on finely crafting your emails so that people feel compelled to respond.
Need help with your email marketing strategy? Then content WSI OMS today.
by Marelise da Silva | Apr 5, 2019 | E-mail Marketing
One of the most important aspects of content marketing is email marketing. This is especially true if you own an e-commerce store. Not only is it a great way in which to keep customers up to date with news and information about the business, but it is also an opportunity to generate interest and hype around new products, specials, competitions and discounts. Here is what you need to know about moulding your email marketing approach to help benefit a website focused on e-commerce:
- Spend Time On Your Subject Line
It’s that subject line which will determine whether or not a person opens your email or skips over it. Keep it short, snappy and avoid using sale-sy words. Also, don’t be misleading as this can land you in the spam folder very quickly indeed.
- Be Strategic When It Comes To Design
Your mailer should feature a balance between copy and images. Too much copy and it could be sent to the spam folder, too many images and it’ll be sent to ‘promotions’. Try to be as clear and concise as possible and avoid putting important information into your images alone. Most readers’ images will be disabled at first, so it is essential that your mailer still makes sense even if the reader never sees it in all of its glory.
- Invest In Email Marketing Software
While it is possible to conduct email marketing manually, it is going to suck up a lot of precious time and it will be much more difficult and less accurate to track your ROI and progress. Email marketing software, such as Klaviyo or Mail Chimp, will streamline and speed up your email marketing processes all for a very affordable fee.
Spruce up your approach to email and content marketing with a bit of assistance from the professionals. Here at WSI OMS, we specialise in content marketing, mobile marketing, social media marketing, website design and website development. Give us a call today for more information.
by Francois Muscat | Apr 3, 2019 | E-mail Marketing
What’s the point of spending hours crafting the perfect email only for your hard work to land up in your clients’ spam folder? Unfortunately, this is the case for a number of businesses. And, this is one of the reasons why many business owners believe that email marketing as a form of content marketing is a complete waste of time. The good news is that the problem can be easily rectified and the value of email marketing redeemed. Here’s how:
Emails are more likely to be labelled as spam if they do not include an ‘unsubscribe’ link or if they use misleading subject lines.
It saves time and is endlessly more convenient, but sending out bulk emails is a one-way ticket to the spam folder. Prevent this by sending out your emails in smaller batches every hour.
The majority of spam emails contain lots of exclamation marks, make use of the word ‘free’ a hundred times and tend to have longer subject lines that are often written out in upper case letters. All of these practices will signal to your clients’ mailbox that the email is of a spammy nature.
- Monitor Your Engagement Rate
The number of times clients actually open your emails and read them matters when it comes to deciding your ‘spam’ status. With this in mind, it is wise to clean out your email marketing list on a regular basis. Remove all email addresses that look fake as sending emails to these addresses, which obviously remain unopened, can have a detrimental effect on your overall engagement rate.
Need help mastering the art of email and content marketing? Look no further than the digital masterminds at WSI OMS. We specialise in content marketing, mobile marketing, social media marketing, website design and website development. Contact us today to learn more.
by Marelise da Silva | Mar 11, 2019 | E-mail Marketing
Before the social media and mobile marketing boom, email was the top way for digital marketers to reach new clients. While many people think email is dead, the opposite is true. It might no longer be seen as the trendiest way to generate new business, email marketing is still one of the best ways to reach your target audience. Here’s why:
- Everyone has email
You would be hard-pressed to find a person who can’t be contacted via email. Many people actively manage multiple inboxes per day, which means you have direct access to your potential buyers on this platform.
- It’s a preferred platform
Many people don’t want to be marketed to on social media websites or while they are browsing the internet. If you have a worthwhile offering that would appeal to someone, their preferred method of communication is most likely email. Forget about cold calling, in person meetings and pop-up ads and focus on crafting compelling emails.
- It is cost-effective
Paying for ads can become expensive, especially if you are trying to claim top real estate on a person’s cell phone screen or in their internet browser. Email marketing is still one of the most affordable ways to generate new leads.
- Analyse results
With email marketing, you can track who is opening your messages, who is clicking on links with the email, and who are forwarding them along to friends.
- Segment customers
You can group your audience into different segments based on their buying patterns, purchasing history, or other demographic information. Email allows you to create very targeted forms of communication.
Need help with your email marketing or content marketing campaigns? Then contact WSI OMS today.
