Summary: Targeted email marketing is still an effective way to meaningfully engage with your audience at all stages of the buyer’s journey. Check out our top FAQs on email marketing for what you might be missing.
As the world’s largest and most experienced digital marketing agency network, WSI knows a thing or two about email marketing. In this blog post, we answer the most frequently asked questions by business owners about email marketing. Let’s get started!
Before charging head-first into the effective tactic of email marketing, make sure that you comply with the relevant anti-spam and protection of privacy regulations:
Create a privacy policy that explains how customer data is collected, used, protected, and disclosed. Include a checkbox where subscribers have to physically click to agree.
Opt-in is a positive action giving user consent.
Opt-out lets a user refuse or withdraw consent.
It is best practice and email protocol that people have to opt-in, you can’t automatically opt them in and ask them to opt-out.
Linking to an unsubscribe page that confirms whether the user really wants to opt out from your mailing list can also be used to convince the subscriber that they should be on your mailing list.
Opinions are divided on the necessity of this page. But, done correctly, an unsubscribe message offers insight into why readers are unsubscribing while encouraging them to re-engage.
There is an option of a “soft opt-in” within the law of some areas if:
To maintain the integrity of your list, include an opt-in box or unsubscribe link. If you’re unsure whether you can use soft opt-in, contact your WSI Consultant for more advice.
Email scraping uses harvesting bots to obtain lists of email addresses that are then used for bulk email or spam. While it may seem like a fast way to build your subscriber list, it’s not recommended.
Not only is it illegal in some countries, but it is a risky practice that could do tremendous harm to the reputation of your business.
Because the requirements on collecting opt-in vary by country and region, it is best to connect with your WSI Consultant to verify this with you.
Joining social media and email marketing results in a formidable marketing mix. Because they each serve different sections of your target audience, they build on each other and provide a personalized buyer’s journey for your customers:
Attracting a fan base is easy with social media. However, social media is a tricky environment, and should trends change or you are put in Facebook jail, you risk losing your followers. Rather, use social media to grow your email list:
Fact: the quality of your email list trumps its quantity. But just because a subscriber has disengaged doesn’t mean that they are a dead end. Instead, 63% of marketers said re-engagement emails were “very effective”:
If you’re using an EMS provider (like HubSpot, Sharpspring, VBOUT), then these platforms automatically track opt-outs and remove them from your list.
Connect with your WSI Digital Consultant if you’d like to discuss that further for your business.
To maintain your reputation, improve deliverability, and increase conversions, you want an email list that targets only people who want to receive your emails.
Email scrubbing should be done every six months:
Because attachments have been used to transfer viruses and malware, many spam filters block their delivery. The large file size can bounce and/or slow down mass email sends.
Videos are an engaging and entertaining method of communicating with your audience. Emails including a video can:
A/B testing compares different versions of a single email to measure the impact of small changes.
A marketing email viewed in the preview pane will skew your analytics – but not necessarily always in the same way. It depends on the EMS, preview settings, and email platform.
Overcome the issue by maximizing the impact of the content in the preview pane:
Email drip campaigns fall under marketing automation. By automatically sending emails that engage and nudge customers in response to their behavior or according to a schedule, the messages are personal and relevant.
To design a drip campaign, establish:
There are many marketing automation platforms from which to choose from. Your WSI Consultant can guide you according to the features and pricing structures that work for you.
We work with a few different EMS providers (HubSpot, Sharpspring, VBOUT) but your WSI Consultant can suggest a more tailored recommendation for your business.
If you own your own email domain, then you can link that to a service like HubSpot, Sharpspring, or VBOUT and send emails using your domain.
The CRM systems we leverage with our clients are SharpSpring and HubSpot.
You have a vision. We can help make it happen. Contact your knowledgeable WSI Consultant for the best advice about email marketing and other digital marketing strategies.
Rick spent 20 years in the insurance industry in finance, primarily developing reporting platforms for B & C stakeholders. His ability to speak to consumers of data (managers and analysts) and translate their needs to programmers led him to start his own digital marketing agency in 2004 to develop data driven solutions for business owners.
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