002 - Email Marketing Best Practice in 2016

Welcome to Episode 2 of Inbound Buzz: Email Marketing Best Practice in 2016

Recorded: Sunday 13 March 2016

Opening Buzz: Email marketing is still the best channel for ROI & McKinsey estimates email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter. Source: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/why-marketers-should-keep-sending-you-emails

Thanks to all attendees at our latest meetup where we covered "How to create a Digital Marketing Strategy" Download framework and presentation free: http://www.slideshare.net/MobySiddique/how-to-create-a-digital-marketing-strategy-in-2016-digital-diyers-meetup

1. Types of emails you need to be running:

The SONEET email checklist:

S - "Sell" emails in response to bottom funnel content such brochure, directory download. Send them a email with a copy of that download with 3-5 things they should know about you i.e. USPs

O - "Offer" emails, emails in response to  downloads such as eBook, tips, guide, white papers. Send them the offer again. This means you need to think about having utility content and don't just give it away for free. Give before you take. Share valuable info first to prove your value to your recipients

N - "Newsletter": Keep them simple and start with content you are already producing e.g. wraps ups. You could have 1 written article or 1 written, 1 shared and 1 tip for example.

Make the content valuable for the audience, specifically, your personas. Personalisation is great and should eventually come but you need to start with a general content stream first.

Set the expectation of frequency and what content will be featured at point of sign-up. Expectation can be on signup or email confirmation or both

Open rate is highest when companies send two emails per month

E - "Entrance", new client welcome emails.

E - "Enquiries", have automated emails that share something about what you do

T - "Transactional & Traditional" - Transactional refer to Shipping notifications, password resets, receipts etc, review these. Take traditional emails up a notch. Use sidekick to track email opens. Expand signatures with text lines to things you want to focus on e.g. sales, downloads, ebook, your blog

2. Email Tips: Personalisation

Including a name in the subject line boosted open rates by 29.3%. Transaction rates were 49% higher (0.09% compared to 0.06%) and revenue per email was 73% higher ($0.15 compared to $0.08) with personalisation, according to Experian. Source: https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/personal-subject-lines

You can only personalise if you ask for the data, start with name - https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/personal-subject-lines

3. Email: Mobile
About 53% of emails are opened on mobile devices. Source: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-new-rules/

The days of multi columns are gone. Make them responsive and keep them simple. Have (2) CTA's. Try making them diff e.g. one a button and one a hyperlink

Visit www.reallygoodemails.com by mailchimp for inspiration

Have plain text versions and check them!

4. Emails: Best time to send

11am Monday through to Saturday and Sunday night @ 9pm are the best times to send emails for optimal open rates - according to HubSpot

Test subject lines, CTA's, images, times