Components of a Successful Email Marketing Campaign

Today, Internet marketing is more than just a trend; it is yet another way in which companies expand their business. Despite the high demand of Internet marketing, many will agree that the most important aspect of promotional campaigning for any business is email marketing. In recent years, many businesses are realizing the importance leveraging the email marketing channel.

According to a recent Datran Media survey, nearly 39.5-percent of Fortune 500 executives claim that email marketing is the strongest performer among all advertising channels. Many of these executives will also tell you that achieving a high e-mail open rate is often an accomplishment in and of itself.

If you are looking to build a successful email marketing campaign, it will take some preparation and analysis.

Below, you will find some of the most essential components you will need to consider when building one:

1. Audience

Regardless of what kind of industry you are in, the first component that you will want to consider when building an email marketing campaign is your audience. Questions you will want to ask yourself:

• Who are you trying to reach and with what product/service?
• What does your audience want/need?

Once you understand your audience base, you will have an easier time collecting e-mail addresses and targeting your emails’ subject lines, headlines and content in order to guarantee as many responses as possible.

2. Headline

Fundamentally, the subject line of your message is more than just a miniature headline; the subject line will be your only shot of getting that potential customer to open the message. A strong email marketing campaign will have both a powerful subject line and a potent headline. Your headline will need to be interesting enough to keep people reading.

For example, say if you were running a business that was offering a discount on iPhone accessories, one of the least creative headlines would say something like, “iPhone Accessories- Half Off!”. If you use this kind of to-the-point headline and the reader doesn’t have an iPhone, the reader’s attention will be lost almost immediately. Another option would be to use something like “Get the Most Advanced Gadgets for Your Mobile Phone Today”. The second option may provide better results as it will likely grab the attention of more readers, rather than just iPhone users.

Once you’ve got the headline, now you have the third component of a successful email marketing campaign: the offer.

3. Offer

Although some marketers will say that a sale can’t be made without an appealing offer, which is (to some extent) true. In fact, it is probably also true that sales have been made on less-than-desirable products simply due to the entire appeal of the offer. Think about how many infomercials you have seen in your lifetime. What have you noticed about the products and their offers?

The offer you plan to give to your readers will need to speak to them. When reflecting upon the first component, you should already know by this point what will speak to your readers. Think about it; would exercise equipment really appeal to an elderly audience? Or, would the target audience rather much prefer a discount on gardening equipment? Of course, this example is incredibly basic; however, it is crucial to consider your product or service and apply the same principle.

4. Call to Action

Today, many people want things to be as easy as possible, and you should consider this when developing a call-to-action at the end of your message. The call-to-action must be simple, providing the readers with an immediately recognizable directive.

Rather than keep your readers guessing as to what to do next, make it simple for them and tell them what to do. Ex: “Click here to place your order!”

In addition to giving them a direction, you will also need to convince your readers why they should act on your offer at that very moment. For example, you could express the fact that the offer is only valid for a certain amount of time, or there is a limited supply of your product.

5. Frequency

Now, you will often hear that timing is everything and, in this case, timing IS everything. Just because you can offer a discount, that doesn’t mean you must announce it as soon as possible. The timing of your email delivery is immensely important—this goes for both the time of the day when sending as well as the time between emails. Be sure to always research open rates for your particular industry and plan accordingly.

Think about when your target audience may check their email. Most individuals usually check their email inbox at the end of the day, when relaxing after work. Consider when you usually receive personal finance and entertainment emails– usually at the end of the day, right?

On the other hand, studies have shown that business-related product emails have a higher chance of being opened earlier in the day.

Before creating your next e-mail campaign, please keep these 5 tips in mind.