We often champion email marketing as one of the most powerful and cost-effective tools for reaching a target audience and developing your sales pipeline. And yet, for many small business owners, getting started with email marketing can seem a little intimidating.

From personalization and segmentation strategies to AI and automation technologies, there are certainly a number of factors that can make email marketing seem complex, even daunting. In this post, we’ll outline just a few starting points for small business owners looking to navigate the world of email marketing.

Email Marketing: Key Considerations for Small Business Owners

1) Put an emphasis on personalization.

One of the advantages of email is that it allows you to adopt a more personal stance, addressing each recipient as if in a one-on-one dialogue. This is an important way to earn trust and build rapport.

There are plenty of ways to make your marketing emails feel personal. Using the recipient’s first name is a tried-and-true approach, and certainly worth considering. But for something more advanced, consider targeting emails to remind users of products they’ve browsed on your business website, or even products left in a shopping cart.

This is one of the most effective ways to ensure your marketing emails have a clear, personal thrust.

2) Humanize your marketing emails.

Studies have shown that users are more likely to respond to marketing emails when they feel like they’re receiving correspondence from a real human being, not some automated platform.

Using personalized greetings can help humanize your emails, but there are other important ways to incorporate the human element. Consider:

• Make sure that there is a real reply address (as opposed to a “no-reply” address) and encourage your readers to respond with any questions or comments.
• Use an authentic email signature, making it clear that each marketing email is being sent from a specific person.

3) Keep an eye on email performance.

One of the most important aspects of email marketing is monitoring your performance metrics. Doing so allows you to confirm that your efforts are yielding results, while also providing you with a chance to revise or refine your strategy as needed.

There are plenty of email marketing metrics worth assessing, but some of the main ones include:

• Click-through rates, which tell you how many email recipients click through to a targeted landing page.
• Conversion rates, which let you know how many email recipients take a desired action (such as downloading an eBook).
• Open rates, which simply tell you how many people actually take the time to open the email messages you send.

4) Use automation tools.

For as much as we’ve emphasized personalization and human connection, it’s important to balance these objectives with automation technology. Simply put, automation is necessary for scaling your email marketing efforts and working with the utmost accuracy and efficiency.

A couple of simple examples: Email automation can ensure that anyone who subscribes receives an automatic “welcome” letter, without you having to send it manually. And automation can also help with things like scheduling emails to be sent at the most strategically advantageous times.

5) Test each strategy.

One particularly useful aspect of email automation is that it makes it easy to try different things, then to see what works and what doesn’t.

Marketers often refer to this as a/b testing, which simply means trying different strategies with different sections of your email marketing list, then evaluating the results.

There are a lot of variables that you can test as you endeavor to fine tune your email marketing strategy. For instance, compare and contrast different subject lines, different calls to action, even different send times.

6) Provide an opportunity for action.

When it comes to creating effective email marketing content, here’s a good rule of thumb: Each message you send should provide users with a chance to take a particular action. You should define that action before you compose your content and signal the desired action in your subject line.

Some examples of actions you might encourage include reading a blog post, downloading a white paper, visiting a new product page, scheduling an appointment, or even making an e-commerce purchase.

Another way to think of it: Ensure that every email you send has a clear value offer, along with metrics you can easily track and assess.

Get Going with Email Marketing

Email marketing is an essential tool for small businesses looking to generate leads and build brand awareness.

As you look for ways to ramp up your email marketing efforts, one essential step is to work with a digital agency. At enCOMPASS Agency, we’re big believers in the power of email marketing, and we have a proven track record helping our clients achieve great things. To discuss email marketing’s potential, reach out to us any time.