Are you getting the most from your email service provider?

Survey results from the Relevancy Ring: ESP Buyers Guide 2015 report show that email marketing is still hugely important to marketers. In fact, DMNews, writing about the survey, reports that more than 37 percent of respondents to the Relevancy Group survey said that email is responsible for more than 20 percent of their revenue.

Are you missing an opportunity?

Twenty percent of revenue is a big number, particularly when you consider that it costs next to nothing to send an email, and many email service providers offer email marketing service and opportunities for free.

If you’re not using email marketing at all, or if you feel your program could use some lift, you’re not alone. Marketers are all over the board when it comes to their approach to email marketing. In the Relevancy survey, 18 percent of respondents say they don’t see the value of email marketing, and 20 percent say they lack the budget to fund initiatives.

Don’t miss out

You don’t need to fund a big budget, or buy into a huge program – yet. Build your email marketing campaign generically, at the lowest cost possible, to see how much a good email marketing campaign can impact your bottom line. Using your current email service provider, or a service that you can access for free, follow these basic steps to launch your email marketing program, and stick with it for six months. If you find you’re gaining more traction, start expanding your program.

The Fishbowl Method

If you want to have a successful email campaign, you need someone to send mail to. Start collecting customers’ business cards the old fashioned-way, in a fishbowl. Or ask customers for their email by inviting them to join your list from a tablet at your checkout counter, or have your sales associate ask if customers would share their email. You’ll be surprised how many opt in.

Set a schedule

You’re going to publish an email once a month for the first six months. Pick a day of the week that’s good for you – Thursdays are great for shopping as customers are starting to look toward the weekend. Make a basic editorial calendar that will help you decide what to write about in each issue of your email. Hubspot offers some great templates and advice on creating editorial calendars. If you sit down and look at the calendar, suddenly you’ll notice holidays or seasonal dates that coincide with your publishing date, as well as special events or sales you have coming up. This will help you develop a few stories and promotions to include in your newsletter.

Select a format and stick with it

Pick three or five main topics you’ll want to address in your newsletter. Topics like “what’s new”, “upcoming specials”, “deals for email subscribers” do well because they provide immediate value to the reader and make her feel like she’s part of an exclusive club by receiving the email in the first place. Creating topics that you repeat in each email will give readers a reason to open your email when it comes each month.

Also, select a simple email template. Your email service provider will have a lot of templates available. Trust us and pick one that’s very basic. The more you add by way of design, the more you increase your chances that the email won’t render very well in various browsers. Keeping it simple is the way to go.

Write compelling content

Write subject headers that announce the value in opening your email, “Exclusive Savings from Your Favorite Store”, or “Top 5 Deals for our Subscribers This Week” may increase your open rate. Write your copy in advance and get a few people to read and edit it – you want to create a good impression.

Take advantage of email analytics

Even the simplest free email service providers will have a program that shows you how well your marketing email did. By using their system, you can gain access to insights on how many people received your email, how many people opened it, and possibly some insights on links they may have clicked. You may also be able to see opt-in and opt-out information so that you’ll know who is subscribing, and who is saying, “Enough!”

Stick to the schedule

Keep at it. As you build your list, you’ll build a following. Doing the same thing each month for a few consecutive months will also help you see patterns so that you can begin to optimize your emails by adding to what works well, and subtracting sections that aren’t read.

If you find you’re really getting more customers in the door, then it’s definitely time to up your game. Find out what your customers want – announcements about flash sales, or savings specials? Email can deliver exactly what they’re asking for at a much, much lower cost than a print campaign or even a social media campaign. As your program grows, you can begin to purchase email lists so you can prospect for more customers, and you can zero in on customers who are most likely to shop at your establishment.

There is so much you can do to increase your revenue, all it costs is a bit of time and a good email service provider.