What was once a simple tool for conversation has morphed into a marketing guru. What would that be exactly? Email. Compared to other forms of communication, email engagement continues to remain high, with an average open rate of 21.73%. But that same study proved another point, that 33% of email marketers don’t even bother to optimize their emails, and that most don’t use email at all! You don’t want to miss out on an opportunity to drive more sales to your business, so use various types of email to your advantage.
Social Media Email
With a lot of the buyer’s journey focused on the overall user experience, social media has become an integral part of getting people to buy from you. Whether you are using Facebook and Twitter to keep people updated on the status of your company or projects, or if you are using Pinterest and Instagram to show-off products and generate sales, social media is going to work for you. Therefore, try sending emails that point to your social media accounts. Get connected. Make a profit.
How-To Email
Getting a how-to email is like a welcome email, except the role of this email type is to get people to return back to the website shortly after signing up. Giving them the chance to explore the website with some guidance, or offering some kind of media guide for them, is a wonderful way of keeping their focus on your services. For example, you can give details about how to set up an account, how to post/buy/sell, or even bring them to the Q&A or FAQ pages of your site.
Testimonial Email
Think of a testimonial email as direct proof your service or product is golden. Take an existing case study that shows your company has value, create some quotes, links to the entire document, videos, interviews, pictures, or any mix of the elements to create a stunning display. Add something actionable, then send it out to people who might be interested.
Free Offer Email
When people sign up for your subscription based email service or inquired about something on your website, you can now send a free offer. This doesn’t have to be anything extraordinary. You can offer a free seminar, consultation, service, or whatever you desire to coax visitors into converting over to buyers. You can even include share or referral buttons in the email so readers can send the message of the reward they earned to others, thereby spreading your name to others.
Curated Content Email
These are usually a weekly or biweekly installment of what has been happening around the website and mostly have to do with new blog or media posts. Perhaps, it can even contain selected content that caters to an individual’s tastes. Content curation is wonderful because it boosts visibility, engagement, SEO, trust, and aids in keeping your customers enticed by the content. It also shows that your website continues to be active in working towards your goal.
Re-Engagement Email
Sometimes people will lose interest in a website or they are in the middle of shopping, spot a new shiny thing, and never come back to your site to fulfill the purchase. It happens to the best of us. When there are times you want to reconnect with specific people on your subscription list, you can send them an email that says, “We noticed you haven’t been around…” and either offer a discount on their shopping cart or some other incentive to bring them back.
Final Thoughts
Email drives sales when you do them correctly. The key is knowing when to send email and for what reason. Depending on the audience you are hoping to convert into sales, you have some planning to do. Conversions, subscribers, social media engagement. All of these things can be increased with properly timed, targeted emails that provide the reader with some value. Do that, and you will see an increase in visitors for sure.
