In this article you will learn what is email marketing and how to use it to boost your sales.
What do all businesses have to do if they want to be successful?…Sell!
It doesn’t matter what you do. If you design accessories, advise banking entities, develop applications, etc; the sales of your product or service will be what will keep the project afloat.
Some will think that there is also capital investment. But who invests capital in a project that has no way to verify its sales capacity? And furthermore, even after the investment; yes or yes you must sell to reach a break-even point and be profitable.
Think about how you would increase your sales… Can’t think of anything? Don’t worry.
For many years you have used the solution, surely not to sell; but yes to send information. Ironically, sending information is what you have to do to sell. This is known as Email Marketing.
What is Email Marketing.
Email marketing is the activity of sending emails, to a person or groups of people, with commercial messages. In short, it’s just that.
The power of email marketing is that electronic messaging is one of the most direct media you can find. It doesn’t matter how good the Facebook or Google campaigns are; if you have someone’s email, you make sure your message is received.
Who to send the emails to.
Before seeing how to do email marketing campaigns, it is important that you know some strategies to create an email database:
- Create a form on your website.
- Make a button on your facebook business page.
- Have a business card with your mail. If they write to you, you will know that they are people interested in your product or service.
- Give something in exchange for other people’s mail. For example, you can create an ebook to download for free. The only “cost” is that they leave you the email.
You will create your database little by little. Later you will know some software that will allow you to save the database, and automate the sending of emails.
Once you have someone to send the emails to, you should keep in mind that they never open the emails you send. That is why you must make sure that the people to whom you are going to write are interested in the information that you are going to offer them. And you must also make the “subject” arouse enough interest to open the email.
To achieve this, keep in mind the following tips:
How to write an eye-catching email subject.
1. Ask questions.
We are curious and when we hear a question, we want to know the answer.
Let’s assume you have an application through which users can easily find people to help them with chores. You know that getting trusted staff is not easy, so a matter that says: “Is it easy for you to get cleaning staff?… Now it is”. This question will arouse the reader’s curiosity and offer him a solution to something he needs.
2. Keep it short.
When we browse our mailbox, we usually do it quickly. So the subjects that are too long are not going to stand out among the others; and all the effort you invested in writing the email will be in vain because no one will open it.
3. List.
If you are an athlete and you receive an email that says: “The 3 best techniques to increase your performance according to science”. The reader will know that the information is organized and that it will be easier to understand.
It is important to note that you should not always send emails to sell. People will get bored and write you off. On the contrary, you should send them useful information, they gave you their email so you could help them and that’s what you should do. Eventually if your product or service works for them, they will buy from you.
It is a 2 way relationship, help them and they will help you.
Perfect, you already have an email with a very interesting “subject”. Whats Next?
How to do email marketing campaigns.
You didn’t create a great product to only sell 2 units, so you need to send it to as many people as you can. Remember, people who belong to a group that may be interested in your product or service.
An alternative is to do it manually; It’s free and you already know how to do it. The downside is that you would be losing many sales opportunities. Let me explain why…
According to the Statista portal, the opening rate of an email with personalized messages is 17.6%, compared to 11.4% for a message without personalization. This implies that if you manually send an email, you should do it one by one! (When you receive an email and see that it has many recipients, the chances of SPAM are very high)
Also, by doing it manually you don’t have the possibility to automate processes.
Imagine this…
Someone gives you their email. You automatically send them a thank you email for the trust they have given you. After 2 days you send him another one with information that will be useful to him. And a week later you send another one in which you offer your product.
If you had to do that manually for every email you receive, you would never finish. What is the solution?
Use autoresponder software.
Fortunately, tools like ConvertKit, Aweber, Mailchimp, and GetResponse, among others; allow you to do it automatically.
Creating these chains increases your chances of selling. So you can sell more without having to manually send emails 24/7.
Advantages of an auto-responder software.
Automation.
As I mentioned before, you can automate the sending of emails with the periodicity that you configure.
You can also create groups and segment who will receive certain mail.
You can also create tags. For example, a person only opens emails related to discounts. You can put a “discounts” tag in your email and you already know that you will only send emails that you are interested in opening.
Another feature of these tools, known as autoresponders, is the A/B test.
A/B testing.
I already told you about the importance of a striking “issue”. In the case of ModoEmprendedor, we are currently using ConvertKit and it allows us to test 2 different issues at the same time. How does it work?
Emails with subject A are sent to 15% of our entire database, just like those with subject B. After a while, the subject that had the most opens is sent to the remaining 70%. Increasing the probability that more emails are opened. (This feature is shared by several auto-responders)
Date of opening and behavior.
Now imagine that you sent an email to 100 different people. Would you like to know how many opened the mail? With auto-responder services you can do it.
You can also forward the email exclusively to people who didn’t open it; further increasing the chances that they will see your message.
(This is the option in ConvertKit)
For these reasons and many more (Yes, many more!), if you want to increase your sales it is important that you use an autoresponder.
At first it may seem like an expense, but when you realize that your sales increase; you will understand that it is an investment and that your sales will easily cover the costs of the service.
Do you wonder how much it costs? Here are the prices (monthly):
How much does an autoresponder service cost?
I will leave you the prices of 3 very popular and reliable services. However, there are many more.
ConvertKit
Aweber
getresponse
If you decide to take the service for a year, the month-to-month payment is cheaper.
Keep in mind that the more emails you have, the more you will pay for the service. But if you have more emails you have the possibility of making more sales (Remember to make sure that the emails you receive are from people potentially interested in your products).
If you have read this far it is because the subject interests you. And what you will see next you will like even more.
When is it better to send an email for email marketing campaigns.
You have an email with a striking “subject” and you have the tool that will allow you to boost your sales. Now what?
Various studies talk about when is it better to send emails.
Will an email sent on a Tuesday at 10am have the same open rate as one sent on a Sunday at 11pm?
This graph shows the results of the study conducted by Mailchimp.
According to the results, the day that guarantees a better open rate is Thursday. But when comparing it with other studies, they all give different days. Although they do not coincide in the day, they have in common that from Monday to Friday the differences are minimal, and also that Saturdays and Sundays are not the best days.
Now, how about the schedule?
From the same Mailchimp study, it seems that the best time is 10am. Unlike the best day, different studies.
Between 10am and 11am seems to be the best time. The suggestion here is that you start at that time but do tests. Not necessarily all audiences will be the same.
I can’t imagine a niche of Bartenders who work until 3am checking their emails at 10am.
Conclusion.
1. If you already have a group of prospects to offer your product or service, email is the best tool you have at your disposal, mainly for 2 factors:
First, it’s totally direct. And second, you don’t depend on platforms like Facebook or Google; so you will not be at the mercy of its algorithm changes that can be quite damaging.
2. The “subject” will determine whether or not they open your email. You don’t want the effort and time you put into creating a great email to go to waste.
3. Use an auto-responder service. You will be able to reach more people faster. You will also be able to automate processes, measure your performance and test new solutions to achieve better and better results.
We hope that this email marketing guide be of total help so that you can boost your sales.
And remember, if you are really interested in creating your own business, you can read our book “How to create a company while working: Discover how to manage your time, manage your money and motivate yourself while creating a company and working for another” , where you will find all the information you need to found your own company, without having to leave your job.
