HOW TO BUILD BETTER RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS THROUGH EMAIL MARKETING

EPISODE 01 HIGHLIGHTS

For many small businesses, a high-quality email marketing campaign seems like a fantasy. Big companies can afford to pay five figures every month to keep an email marketing agency on retainer, but how are smaller online store owners supposed to compete with that? The answer is simple: Drip.

Drip is a guided marketing email service platform for eComm brands. They take the tools from the big fish in the eComm marketing space to the small ponds to empower an eCommerce rebellion. Blake Puryear, the Director of Product Management at Drip, recently joined an episode of the Press Play Podcast to give you the tips you need to take your email marketing to the next level.

Send Smarter

Everyone else’s email list looks exactly like yours. They are crowded and cluttered with numerous emails that likely won’t get significant attention. Instead of using your company’s entire email list to add to the pile, use the data you receive from your email platform to target just the portion of your audience that wants to engage with your content.

“Start sending to the people who are more open to clicking and interacting with your emails. Widdle down your lists. Find those segments that perform best, and then market to those segments the way that they need to be marketed to.” (4:50)

Similarly, make sure that the copy you use in your email list aligns with the ad campaign that initially brought the user to you. If your advertisement contained a specific product or service when they signed up for your list, have a sequence set up to target that user with the same product to build brand associations.

“I think one interesting thing that I’ve seen is following the source of acquisition and what marketing campaign they come in on, and then having flows tuned to that language that copy that imagery from the marketing campaign.” (6:26)

Integrating SMS Into Your Email Strategy

One trend that Blake is following at the moment is hybrid email and SMS automation campaigns. While a good email campaign will have a 20% open rate, almost all text messages are opened and read.

“Folks connect with their phones and their inbox on their phones more frequently than they do with their email inbox. And if you can get on their phone, you’re going to build a closer relationship with the customer.” (9:11)

SMS is superb for connecting closely with users, but you have to make sure not to overdo it. Texts are ideal for abandoned cart messages, not newsletters or even daily message campaigns.

“You don’t want to send your weekly newsletter out via text message. You want to treat that as your high value, abandoned cart – this person had an item in their cart, they started checkout, they almost go there. Follow up via text and close the deal that way.” (11:20)

Good Content Makes Good Emails

For many young companies, knowing what to send in an email can be a serious struggle. If there isn’t a new product or an eye-catching sale on the horizon, what kind of content should you be focusing on in your emails?

Content calendars are always a good place to start. Drip has a content calendar that alerts you of random holidays – National Ice Cream Day, National Bike to Work Day, National Piano Month – you get the picture. Highlighting a few of these that resonate with your brand offers an opportunity to engage your audience with some funnier, more lighthearted content.

It’s also crucial that you keep your copy short and to the point. Try writing out your email and then deleting every word that seems like it might be unnecessary. Ask yourself what the fewest number of words you can use to communicate your point is.

Other trends that get lots of engagement are lifestyle photos and gifs. Making a connection with your audience is critical, and still product shots aren’t getting it done these days.

Growing Your List

Now that you have engaging emails and a strategy to target your interested audience, it’s time to grow your mailing list! Providing value from the onset for your audience is a highly effective way to grow your list. If you provide blogs, videos, and infographics on your website, you can simply ask people if they would like that content emailed directly to them.

Also, you must be asking for email addresses. Yes, this is obvious, but many brands are not doing it!

“You would not believe how many brands are saying, ‘I want to grow my email list,’ but they’re not even asking for emails in the first place. This is one of the most core important things to have an engaging time or interaction-based pop-up that just asks them for their email in exchange for some form of value.” (20:08)

How will you integrate these tips into your email strategy?