How to Generate More Business with Email Marketing

By Lynsey Sweales, CEO at SocialB on

July 27, 2020

Today, more than ever we all receive lots of emails to our inboxes. It’s a difficult time for businesses to be thinking about generating revenue and it can be tempting to just send ‘more’ emails, but more doesn’t always mean more business, you need to think strategy.

Here’s some hints and tips, and actionable take – aways on how you can use email marketing for better lead and revenue generation for your business. Email marketing is a huge platform, often under-utilised and often used and abused with 49% of emails considered spam. On the positive side, with 69% of web users influenced by company emails it’s a very influential tool.

With email marketing its important to think about the intent of users, why people buy

online. Using emails as a signpost back to your website to drive those users with intent and follow a call to action.

Many businesses base their email marketing around offers and discounts, but that’s not always necessary. In fact, it can even turn people away when they’re bombarded with price busting emails, rather than thinking about the customer journey. Instead, look at your

strategy and how to attract, engage and convert customers by understanding their intent

rather than just talking price.

If someone is interested enough to sign up to your email, look at what value you can add by educating, inspiring or entertaining them in line with your company objectives.

With 306 billion emails sent every day, it is essential to make sure that email subject lines grab user’s attention and are focused rather than being just another offer. Think about your target audience, the value you can add and how to make them aware of the services you offer.

email marketing on laptop

How to make email marketing useful

Does your newsletter sign up section on your website tell people what they can expect to

receive? Without any insight users may sign up but will quickly unsubscribe when they

don’t receive what they thought they’d get.

Another option is exit emails, once users have visited your website and are about to leave, you can offer a sign up for a free resource such as a ‘How to’ guide and tailor this to their needs.

Your email marketing strategy doesn’t need to rely on discounts, look at nurturing those

who sign up to your emails to warm them to your brand, inspire

and resonate by adding value. Ultimately, be more subtle about selling.

How to measure your email marketing

When measuring email marketing, it’s not just about the number of subscribers on your database. Email marketing should only be used when aligned with your organisation’s goals and objectives. If email marketing doesn’t add value, build credibility or generate revenue while linking to your overall objectives, why are you doing it?

Other things to measure are the open rate or the number of people who open your email. If people aren’t opening them, that’s the first indicator that your email marketing is not working.

Secondly, is the click through rate, what percentage of users are clicking through to your website. Third is your conversation rate, but it’s not always about what you sell, it could be who converts and signs up for a webinar for example.

Next look at the bounce rate, a hard bounce is an invalid email address which needs to be deleted. A soft bounce is where their inbox is full which should be monitored to avoid a high bounce rate and avoid getting blacklisted.

Your list–through rate is worth watching too and is basically how big your list is getting. Lists naturally decay at around 22.5% per year, but on top of this keep your list clean by looking at who opens your emails and consider if it’s time to delete them.

Finally, measure your overall ROI, email marketing is generally free but if it’s not generating a tangible benefit or return on investment, you need to ask why you are

doing it.

Segmenting and personalising emails

Here is where you can think about the end in mind and go back to the amount of intent your audience has. Segmenting and personalisation can really help improve your sign up rate, your open rate and ultimately your conversion rate.

A/B testing email marketing

If you don’t A/B test your email marketing, you don’t know what works and what doesn’t. It

also helps you to understand your audience and trial different email formats for better

results. Here’s a checklist for A/B testing:

 Pick one variable to test

 Identify your goal

 Create a control and a challenger

 Split your sample group equally and randomly

 Determine your sample size

 Decide how significant your results need to be

 Only test one thing at a time

Email marketing top tips

1. Ensure you have an email marketing strategy.

2. Use the right tactics to encourage customers/prospects to sign up to your emails.

3. Measure your email marketing against specific gaols and KPIs that you can track and

measure.

4. Map the journey for your customers email.

5. Always look to improve your open and CTR with A/B testing.

How to Generate More Business with Email Marketing

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