Email Marketing 101: How to Build Your List & Attract Potential Customers

Email marketing can be an effective tool to add to your marketing strategy. The goal is to establish relationships with your audience and convert them into paying customers, letting them know about your sales and promotions. Our team at WriteSea understands the importance of email marketing and why it’s beneficial to your business. Let’s dive into how you can create an effective email marketing strategy for your brand. “Email marketing gives businesses an opportunity to establish a personal connection with their audience, foster trust, and cultivate a dedicated customer base, which ultimately drives business growth,” says WriteSea Chief Marketing Officer Leander Howard II.

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is “part of a business’s digital marketing strategy; businesses send marketing messages to specific lists of customers and subscribers” (Business.com). The messages could range from promotional offers to newsletters and product updates to invitations to events. Email marketing is a cost-effective way to stay in touch with your target audience and keep them engaged with your brand on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

Benefits of Email Marketing

Top email marketing benefits include:

Increased customer retention

Keep your clients engaged with your brand by sending them daily or weekly emails. This can increase the chances of them making repeat purchases from your brand.

Increased brand awareness

Try distributing free downloads or newsletters and asking subscribers to sign up for your newsletters. This can increase your brand awareness and increase your sales.

Higher conversion rates

According to a study by Campaign Monitor, email marketing has a higher conversion rate than social media and search engine marketing.

Cost-effective

Email marketing is a very cost-effective marketing strategies, with an average return on investment (ROI) of 38:1.

Email Marketing Statistics

Here are some email marketing statistics that we have found through our research that highlight the importance of this marketing strategy:

• Emails with personalized subject lines generate 50% higher open rates. Personalizing your emails with your subscribers’ names or other information can significantly increase your open rates.

• Welcome emails have an average open rate of 50%. Sending a welcome email to new subscribers can help you make a good first impression and increase the likelihood of engagement.

• Emails with social sharing buttons have a 158% higher click-through rate. Including social sharing buttons in your emails can help increase engagement and reach a wider audience.

Building Your Email List

Before you can start sending emails, you need to build a list of subscribers to send your emails to. Here are some ways to build your email list:

Offer a lead magnet.

A lead magnet is a free downloadable resource that you offer to your website visitors in exchange for their email addresses. This could be anything from an ebook, whitepaper, or video tutorial.

Add a sign-up form to your website.

Having a sign-up form right on your website can increase your list. It makes it easier for users to find and sign-up for your newsletters.

Run a contest or giveaway.

Running a contest or giveaway is a great way to increase sign ups for your email list.

Types of Email Campaigns

There are a few types of email campaigns that we have found success with in the past:

Promotional emails

Promotional emails let your audience know of a specific product or service.

Newsletter emails

Newsletter emails are sent weekly or daily and provide subscribers with useful information about your business.

Abandoned cart emails

If a subscriber adds items to their cart but doesn’t complete the purchase, you can send them an abandoned cart email to remind them.

Crafting an Effective Email Marketing Strategy

Here are the steps to create an effective email marketing strategy:

Set your goals

Before you start sending emails, it’s important to define your goals. What do you want to achieve with your email marketing campaign?

Define your audience

Who is your target audience? What are their interests and pain points?

Choose your email software.

There are several email marketing software options available, such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and WriteSea.

Create a content plan.

Plan out your email content and make sure it aligns with your goals and audience.

Creating Engaging Email Content

“Effective email marketing can be a powerful tool for businesses, enabling them to reach their target audience, engage with customers, and increase brand awareness, ultimately leading to greater success in their industry,” says WriteSea Vice President of Sales Amit Nath. Now that you have your email marketing strategy in place, it’s time to create engaging email content. Here are some tips:

• Use your subscribers’ names or other information to personalize your emails.
• Write a compelling and relevant subject line. It’s the first thing your subscribers will see.
• Including images and videos in your emails can help increase engagement and make your content more visually appealing.

Best Practices for Email Marketing

Here are some best practices for email marketing:

• Segmenting your email list based on subscriber behavior and interests. This can help you send more targeted and relevant emails.
• Make sure your emails are responsive to all devices. A majority of people check their emails on their phones.
• Every email should have a clear call-to-action (CTA) that tells the subscriber what to do next.

Marketing Automation Tools for Email Campaigns

Marketing automation tools can help you streamline your email marketing efforts and make your campaigns more efficient. Here are some tools you can use:

• WriteSea: WriteSea allows business owners and marketers to create beautiful templates and automate their emailing sequences. Book a demo now to learn more about our email marketing offering. 
• HubSpot: HubSpot offers a suite of marketing tools, including email marketing automation.
• ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign offers email marketing automation features, as well as CRM and sales automation tools.

Conclusion

Email marketing is an effective way to reach your target audience and promote your business. By building your email list, crafting an effective email marketing strategy, and creating engaging email content, you can attract potential customers and increase your conversion rates. Remember to follow best practices for email marketing and leverage marketing automation tools to make your campaigns more efficient.