How to get started with email marketing

Getting customers in the door is the age-old battle for every business. In fact, according to Womply’s national survey, attracting customers is the top worry for small business owners nationwide.

Attracting customers is hard because you have to deliver a great experience and make sure people know about it, which requires at least a little marketing. Without a reliable way to find new customers, small business owners set themselves up for failure alongside the roughly 80% of new businesses that tank in their first year.

Womply has made email marketing truly automatic for busy small business owners and operators. Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!

With a limited budget and so many options to choose from when it comes to investing your marketing dollars, how do you know which strategy is right for your business? Some statistics may help you decide:

  • McKinsey found that despite the popularity of social media, email is still a much more effective marketing tool — 91% of U.S. consumers check email daily.
  • Email marketing is nearly 40 times more effective than Twitter and Facebook combined when it comes to helping businesses acquire new customers.
  • 91% of Americans actually want to receive promotional emails from businesses that serve them, according to research from Marketing Sherpa.
  • People in higher income brackets — earning between $75K and $99,900K — are even more interested (96%) in receiving promotional email.

Read more: Why small business email marketing should be your top priority this year

If you’re convinced that email marketing can help you find new customers, then let’s get started! Here’s the foundation for launching your first email marketing campaign successfully.

Allow for opt-out and opt-in

Some people just don’t want promotional emails, and there are laws to protect consumers from unwanted contact. If you send customer emails by brute force, be sure to include a clear way for customers to opt out so you can stay compliant and avoid upsetting any touchy patrons. If you use an email service, opt-out will likely be handled for you.

If you want to go the extra mile, consider offering incentives or asking permission before adding someone to your email list. Allowing customers to opt in increases the chances of engagement, sales, and referrals. To grease the wheels, try offering something of value, like a loyalty program or a drawing, to encourage customers to offer their email address willingly.

Go deeper: How to choose the right email marketing solution for your business

Target by customer type and need

Once you’ve started building your business’s email list, it’s important to think about what type of content to send customers. More than half of those who unsubscribe from a business’s mailing list do so because they felt the content wasn’t relevant to them.

With this in mind, customer segmentation is an important strategy for your email list. When someone first joins, take the time to find out more about what they value. For example, you might do this by sending new subscribers a welcome email with the option to indicate the type of content they are interested in receiving. Your goal should be to figure out what’s relevant and valuable to your recipients.

Deliver quality email content

Your email messages should deliver value and project a professional image for your company brand. Consumers get a lot of promotional email, so it’s best to make sure yours are specific, relevant, and brief. Over half of consumers polled say they will unsubscribe to an email list if the content isn’t what they expected.

Here are some best practices to avoid turning off customers:

  • Use professional templates that are customized to match your brand’s image, particularly if you lack technical or design expertise. An email that looks unprofessional will do your business more harm than good.
  • Make your interface compelling with clear and easy directions on how to take action, and ensure functionality of multimedia across multiple devices.
  • Pay attention to the types of questions your customers ask and what they talk about online to get a clearer idea of what they value. Womply can help you collect and respond to candid customer feedback. You can incorporate these insights into your email marketing approach.

Go deeper: Top 10 best practices for small business email marketing

Small business email marketing doesn’t have to be hard or intimidating. Womply’s solution makes email marketing simple, easy, and automatic for busy small business owners. Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!

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