Email Marketing Best Practices for 2023

by ljknechtel | Dec 28, 2022 | Email Marketing, Marketing Trends

EMAIL MARKETING BEST PRACTICES

Put your best emails forward in 2023

Email marketing is an incredibly powerful tool and it can be a great way to build relationships with customers, generate leads, and increase sales. However, it’s important to implement best practices in order to maximize the potential of your campaigns and get the most out of your email marketing efforts. In this blog post, we will go over some key tips for creating successful and effective email marketing campaigns that are sure to get results.

Personalize your emails

Personalizing email campaigns is an essential part of effective digital marketing. It helps build trust in your brand, as customers feel that you are directly addressing them rather than sending out generic emails. It can also increase click-through rates and improve engagement, as customers are more likely to open emails with content they feel is relevant to them. Additionally, personalization can lead to better customer retention and loyalty, as emails that feel more personal will make customers feel valued. By utilizing personalized campaigns, marketers can create more intimate relationships with their customers and make sure their message stands out from the crowd.

Keep your email content clear and concise

Keeping email campaign content clear and concise is of utmost importance for effective digital marketing. Long, complicated sentences can be hard to understand and make readers lose interest quickly. By keeping emails concise and making sure your message is direct, you are more likely to capture the attention of recipients and maintain it throughout their reading experience. Short, direct phrases also allow for a better user experience as customers don’t have to strain to read through long blocks of text. Utilizing clear, concise language in email marketing will help ensure your message is delivered effectively.

Include a call-to-action in every email

Including a call to action in every email is an essential part of effective digital marketing. The CTA, or call to action, tells the reader what you want them to do next and encourages them to take action. This can help increase click-through rates and conversions, as customers are more likely to follow your direction when it is explicitly stated. Additionally, including a CTA helps create a clear path for the customer journey, leaving little room for confusion regarding what action needs to be taken. By including a call to action in all emails sent out, marketers can ensure their message is not only being heard but acted on as well.

Test different subject lines

Testing different subject lines is a great way for marketers to increase open rates and ultimately get more people to engage with their email campaigns. Different subject lines can have an impact on how readers perceive the message and its relevance to them. By testing multiple variations of subject lines, marketers can identify which versions are most likely to garner attention and thus improve open rates. Additionally, testing subject lines allows marketers to optimize their campaigns, as they can determine which subject lines result in higher click-through rates, conversion rates, and overall engagement. Testing different subject lines is a must for any email marketing campaign that’s looking for success.

Analyze your results

Reviewing analytics is key for email marketers looking to get the most out of their campaigns. Analyzing data such as open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates can provide invaluable insights into how successful a campaign is performing. With this information, marketers can gain insights that empower them to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t, continuously optimizing their emails to achieve better results. Additionally, reviewing analytics can help email marketers identify potential issues such as deliverability problems that may be causing low engagement or even getting messages flagged as spam. This can be immensely useful in ensuring that emails are reaching their intended recipients and achieving the desired outcomes.

Automate when possible

Automation is an extremely helpful tool for email marketers that can save time, money and energy. Automation allows marketers to set up campaigns in advance so they can be sent out according to their schedule without needing to manually send out each email. It also eliminates the need to manually segment lists, allowing marketers to target audiences more efficiently. Additionally, automation can provide useful data about how well campaigns are performing, allowing marketers to adjust their strategy accordingly. This makes automation a must-have for any marketer looking to maximize their efficiency and get the most out of their emails.

Make campaigns mobile-friendly

Mobile-friendliness is essential for email marketers wanting to maximize the success of their campaigns. As more people use their mobile devices to access emails, it is critical that marketers ensure their messages and designs are optimized for mobile devices. This includes ensuring the content fits within the confines of a smaller screen and using buttons and links that are easily tapped with a finger or thumb. Additionally, images should be compressed for quicker loading times on mobile networks. Ensuring campaigns are mobile-friendly will help increase engagement and make sure all recipients have a positive experience when viewing your emails.

Use list segmentation

Segmenting mailing lists offers numerous benefits to email marketers, helping them reach their desired audiences more effectively. Segmentation allows marketers to target their emails to specific groups of recipients based on different criteria such as age, gender or location. This means they can tailor content and campaigns based on the preferences of each group, increasing the chances of engagement with their target audience. Additionally, segmentation ensures that emails are sent to those who are more likely to be interested in the messages and helps prevent spam filters from blocking campaigns due to irrelevant content. Segmenting mailing lists is a great way for email marketers to ensure their messages reach the right people.

Make sure content is compliant with CASL and GDPR regulations

Staying compliant with CASL and GDPR is essential for email marketers wanting to ensure the success of their campaigns. CASL, also known as Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation, is designed to protect individuals from unwanted commercial electronic messages and help combat spam. GDPR, or the General Data Protection Regulation, is designed to give citizens control over their personal data. By ensuring campaigns are compliant with these laws, email marketers can protect the privacy of their recipients and limit the risk of complaints or penalties for breaking the law. Following CASL and GDPR guidelines allows marketers to continue using email marketing practices without any legal issues.

By following the tips outlined in this blog post, you should be able to create highly effective email marketing campaigns that drive results. Ultimately, success with email marketing comes down to having a clear strategy, using quality content and data, and keeping up with best practices to ensure compliance. Keeping up-to-date with industry trends will also help you stay ahead of your competition. With the right approach and tactics, your email marketing efforts will reach new heights of success.

A New Breed of Customer

by ljknechtel | May 16, 2022 | Marketing Trends

Are you optimally positioned to successfully market your products and services to the post-COVID consumer?

I’m not talking about a new market segment. This is the new breed of customer, and they predominate the marketplace right now. They’re the same people that were looking for and buying your stuff before 2020, but now they’re tired, anxious, and stressed-out.

The new consumer is tired of the news, sick of seeing the myriad ways the world has changed over the last couple years. And they’re fed up with stuff that’s hard – hard to use, hard to enjoy, hard to experience. These consumers want comfort, ease, and accessibility beyond anything else.

So the question is, are you delivering that? Regardless of what you’re selling, there are probably ways you can better position and deliver it to improve the appeal and the experience in the eyes of today’s customers.

Increasing the Appeal of Products and Services

Products that directly deliver on the comfort and pleasure of consumers are selling like hotcakes these days. Things like food and drink, plush bed linens, comfortable apparel, flowers and home decor, games, books, and music all deliver comfort right out of the box. This is probably the easiest to wrap your head around.

But what about the essential, but not-so-sexy stuff? A toilet plunger, for example? You’re probably not going sell more by tying pink ribbons around them. But you can make them easy to access by offering delivery or in-store pickup.

You can also re-position products by creating smart/cute/funny social media posts and email marketing campaigns that are highly shareable. While this approach might not result in higher toilet plunger sales (let’s face it, a home only needs so many toilet plungers), it will definitely increase the appeal of your brand and help drive more traffic to your website and/or your physical location.

Create the Path of Least Resistance

While people are getting out and about and travelling more, many have (re)discovered the pleasures of staying at home. Over the past couple years, home owners have been investing a disproportionately high amount of time and money in their homes with both indoor and outdoor renovations. So, now they want to stay there.

What this translates to is consumers who want to stay put. So make your products and services super-easy to access. Consider virtual meetings and consultations. And if you haven’t already created an online store, try adding online purchase options to your shopping experience.

Stand Out from The Crowd

Regardless of what you sell, think about ways to distinguish your brand experience from that offered by your competitors. Offer comfort, security, and (dare we say) fun where you can so people want to

purchase from you,
return for more, and
tell their friends about you.

Need help establishing your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? Schedule a call with us. <– See what we did there? Easy link to schedule a call with us!

Using QR Codes for Marketing

by ljknechtel | Jan 21, 2022 | Marketing Metrics, Content Marketing, Email Marketing, SEO, Website Design

USING QR CODES FOR MARKETING

Improve customer experience and your bottom line

Invented in 1994 for the automotive industry, the QR Code has been used for marketing for well over a decade. However its original surge in popularity for digital marketing was short-lived due to a number of factors including the need for third-party apps whose reliability was frustrating at best. And so, the marketing world let the QR code fade back into relative obscurity, until recently.

Today’s QR code is recognized by leadership of public and private enterprises for its superiority to the bar code. Mobile device manufacturers have added accurate, efficient readers directly to their operating systems, eliminating the need for third-party apps. And a QR code has a much higher data storage capacity than its bars-only counterpart.

Not only has it become central to the vaccination status verification process, but the Quick Response code has been widely adopted to help businesses maximize the hands-free experience of their customers.

Restaurants are displaying them at windows and on tables so customers can access menus directly on their devices. Retailers are adding them to print ads and in windows to link to their online shopping experiences. Service providers are including them in brochures and displaying in windows for online appointment booking.

How to Use QR Codes

So, with the re-emerging prevalence of the QR code, the question is how can you use the QR code to improve your business’s marketing and customer experience? Here are a few ideas:

Use it to provide access to you virtual business card or Linktree page.
Contactless menu(s) at restaurants
Easily share how-to or DIY videos about using your products
Link to a digital coupon for your products or services
Help clients easily access PayPal or other payment portal to make one-time or ongoing payments
Link to your phone number or email address to make contacting you easy
Direct people to your online portfolio for examples of your work
Provide directions to your location in Google Maps or Waze
Link to your events calendar to see what’s coming up
Help people link directly to the online review platforms where they can add a review
Link to a social media account or featured post to grow your followers

how to generate create a qr code customize

How to Create QR Codes

Simply use a free QR code generator like Create QR Code (which allows you to not only generate QR codes but customize their appearance as well) and then download generated code(s) for either print or digital use.

If you would prefer to focus on your core business and outsource your marketing management, contact us to get started.

Marketing Analytics – Why & How to Measure Your Marketing

by ljknechtel | Nov 16, 2020 | Marketing Metrics, Social Media

MARKETING ANALYTICS

Why & How to Measure Your Marketing

Feedback. You can find it in every walk of life, at every stage of life. Sometimes it’s unsolicited, but most times, it lets us know how we’re doing – in school, at work, with our new fitness regimen, or when trying a new recipe.

Marketing is certainly no exception. Feedback is critical for the implementation of a successful marketing strategy. Bottom line: if you’re not measuring, you’re not marketing.

The problem is that metrics and analytics are not terribly sexy concepts, and the prospect of having to look at numbers and graphs sounds daunting and downright boring. So, you might not care much about marketing analytics, but if you like results and continuous improvement, it’s time to start caring.

Many businesses like yours are busy doing what you’re in business to do. As such, your marketing efforts consist of throwing money at the odd newspaper or magazine ad, saying yes to digital ad salespeople who visit you once a year to renew your contract, sporadically posting to social media, attending a few networking or trade events, and paying for a website whose content rarely or never gets updated.

But to what end? No company, large or small, likes to throw money out the window, but that’s exactly what you’re doing if no one is reporting back to you on the results of your marketing investment.

Monitoring your results does not have to be complicated. If something’s working, do more of it. If something’s not working, change course. And the nice thing about digital marketing? Unlike traditional marketing channels like print media, billboard advertising, and posters, you can easily and precisely assess engagement with native (built-in) or add-on analytics dashboards. Here’s a general framework for measuring your marketing:

Website Marketing Analytics

While some platforms have built-in analytics, there’s nothing more powerful than Google Analytics. Here’s how to get started using Google Analytics. This is a robust dashboard, offering the ability to dig really deep into web traffic metrics. We’ll be writing more on this topic soon, specifically about the most important metrics to track on an ongoing basis.

Email Marketing Analytics

All email marketing platforms (we use Constant Contact) include native marketing analytics, which are generally sufficient for learning what’s working and what’s not. If you want more in-depth analytics, most email marketing platforms also integrate with Google Analytics. Refer to the knowledge base for the platform you use for how-to information.

Social Media Marketing Insights

Each social media platform offers its own marketing analytics. Here’s a list of where to find metrics on the more popular ones:

Facebook

First of all, analytics aren’t offered for personal profile pages, but given that you’re a business, you have a Business Page, right? To access your page analytics, simply select “Insights” from the secondary menu.

Twitter

Twitter was late to the game with Analytics, but they finally added them in August of 2014. To access your analytics, simply go to analytics.twitter.com and log in.

Page Admins can access Company Page analytics about visitors, updates, and followers by switching to the Admin View and selecting Analytics from the Page menu. To get to the Admin View, simply select “Manage Page” from your main Company Page.

Instagram

Instagram is becoming a popular marketing platform choice for businesses of all types including those in the construction and home services industry. However, Instagram currently only offers analytics to accounts with high levels of engagement. So how do you find out how your Instagram posts are performing other than looking at each individual post? By using a social media management platform like Hootsuite. Not only does Hootsuite allow you to schedule and manage posts for all of your social media accounts from one dashboard, but it also provides analytics for all platforms connected to your account, including Instagram.

YouTube

YouTube account owners can access analytics by going to studio.youtube.com and selecting the Analytics option from the left-hand menu.

Analytics are available to Pinterest Business Account owners and can be found in the top Page menu with options to view an overview, or specific metrics pertaining to profile views, people you reach, or your overall audience.

While you can dive really deep into marketing analytics, measuring your results is not an all-or-nothing proposition. Every step you take to learning about which marketing activities are effective and which are not, is a step in the right direction where marketing ROI is concerned. So start with measuring website traffic sources and behaviour and add other channel analytics as you get more comfortable.

If you would prefer to focus on your core business and outsource your marketing management (which includes monthly marketing reporting) contact us to get started.