Tag: email marketing expert

email-marketing-specialist

What is an Email Marketing Specialist and What Do They Do?

Posted on | by Agency Partner
Expert Tips For What is an Email Marketing Specialist and What Do They Do?

The statistics don’t lie.

According to HubSpot, “email generates $42 for every $1 spent, which is an astounding 4,200% ROI, making it one of the most effective options available.”

But don’t think it’s as simple as typing up some copy and hitting send. Email marketing specialists know all the ins and outs of every element for achieving such strong results, from automations and design to audience segmentation and even accessibility!

Email marketing has consistently shown a strong return for the last ten years in a row. It’s become critical for a company’s success and is a highly in-demand field for expertise! Let’s dig a little deeper into what it is exactly, who runs it, and how to get into the game of becoming an email marketing specialist!

What is email marketing?

Put simply, email marketing is the use of electronic messaging to engage with audiences and build relationships. Inform your audience, drive sales, build relationships between your brand and your customers. Think newsletters, announcements, deals/specials, surveys—it’s all part of the larger picture. Email is highly personalized and can be used for both one-off or automated messages; it allows you to communicate directly with customers and prospects as well as gather important data on their habits and preferences.

It’s common for people to confuse marketing with advertising.  Marketing is about building relationships with customers and creating an experience for them that goes beyond simple transactions. It’s understanding human behavior, knowing what they want and need, and working to provide it. Marketing should be genuine and transparent; you’re not trying to inflate a product or service, but rather bring value to your customer base. Advertising falls under marketing, but generally means paid content (i.e., TV commercials, billboards) as opposed to organic messaging (blog posts and, you guessed it, email).

Think of it this way: marketing is about helping people find you while advertising is trying to get them to notice you, and email marketing brings that help directly to your audience’s inbox…with permission, of course!

What is an email marketing specialist? What do they do?

An email marketing specialist or “email marketer” is someone who knows how to create messages that engage an audience and provide value. They manage every aspect of a company’s emails: how they look, sound, and (most importantly) perform. Typically they work within a company, but many email marketers freelance as well. These professionals work closely with everyone from marketing managers to IT specialists to sales teams; depending on how advanced the campaigns are, an email marketer might handle everything!

Typical responsibilities include:

  • Craft both long-term and campaign strategies
  • Test and optimize emails for readability and accessibility on multiple devices
  • Design layouts
  • Monitor email campaign performance
  • Maintain multiple databases
  • Apply audience segmentation and targeting
  • Perform A/B tests
  • Track and analyze campaign results

And especially

  • Always be willing to keep learning and move with the technology

Agency Partner’s own email marketing lead expert stresses the utmost importance of utilizing automation – “Automations allow email marketers to work smarter not harder.” Who doesn’t love that?

How to Become an Email Marketing Expert

Digital marketing is still a new area for much of formal education, so the parameters for entering the field are pretty flexible! Since few institutions offer a specific digital marketing degree, common bachelor’s degrees preferred by employers are:

  • General marketing
  • Business admin
  • Graphic design
  • Communications

Those should tell you a lot about what to expect in the job! With educational platforms like SkillShare and Coursera, you can easily earn a certification in email marketing itself to help you start building your credibility from home and even for free! No matter what route you take, the job will definitely require you to develop a few skills for sure, such as:

  • Writing attention-grabbing subject lines
  • A sharp eye for design and formatting
  • Understanding analytics and how to interpret them
  • Audience insight
  • Campaign strategy

*****

To summarize, as Agency Partner’s email expert puts it, “Email marketers constantly need to balance aesthetics with function. It’s important to have a keen eye for design as well as the knowledge of how to apply that design for functionality…Email marketing is all about emailing the right person, at the right time, with the right message. Personalization, tagging, and audience segmentation are crucial.”

It’s a lot to manage for sure! Need some help with your company’s email marketing? Agency Partner’s team of specialists are one Contact Us page away to get started with crafting your strategy and developing campaigns to build your audience and drive your sales, one inbox at a time!

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Automated Email Campaigns for ECommerce Marketing

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Automated Email Campaigns for ECommerce Marketing

Of all the digital marketing channels you have available to you in 2020, email marketing for Ecommerce still delivers the best ROI. A study by VentureBeat reported that companies like yours can achieve up to a 300% ROI through email marketing, with the average company making $38 for every $1 invested into email marketing campaigns.

Automated emails are a great way to create branded messages to follow your leads and customers throughout your sales funnel. But how do you create automated emails that will increase customer engagement and drive more sales? 

As a digital marketing agency and email marketing experts, we’re here to tell you three of our favorite types of campaigns Ecommerce businesses like yours should be running to increase sales, nurture leads, and boost your brand.

  • Create an Automated Email Series for Shoppers Who Abandoned Their Carts

As an Ecommerce company, you know that most of your store’s shopping carts are abandoned. In fact, a recent study showed that 81.4% of online shopping carts are abandoned. But don’t worry, you can still capture this potential revenue through an automated email series that you send to shoppers who left their carts without buying.

In fact, it’s estimated that digital marketing efforts including email marketing for Ecommerce help online retailers regain 63% of initially lost sales.

We suggest that you send at least three automated emails to shoppers who abandoned their carts at 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours after their cart abandonment. Your email messages might look something like this:

  • Email 1: Remind shoppers about the product they didn’t purchase.
  • Email 2: Gently refute objections that shoppers may have had about your non purchased product, such as ensuring its quality, affordability, need for the product, luxuriousness, etc.
  • Email 3: Provide an incentive for purchasing, such as a discount or a free gift. We recommend you A/B test both types of offers to see which option best converts shoppers to purchasers.

You don’t have to necessarily stop at 3 reminder emails. Depending on your product and the assets you have to support and promote – such as images, videos, testimonials, etc. – you could send even more valuable automated emails to capture your abandoned cart revenue.

  • Create a Welcome Email Series to Your New Subscribers to Make Them Feel Like a Part of Your Tribe

When you successfully get customers or potential customers to opt-in to your email marketing list, you want to make sure they feel welcomed. To do this, we recommend Ecommerce companies create Welcome email series to thank subscribers for giving you their emails, introduce them to your brand, help them find more ways to connect to you and market your products to them.

Your Welcome email series might include a number of messages that:

  • Thank people for joining your email list and reinforce your brand and its presence to make them feel like they’re a part of something special. If you have lots of customers, this may mean you share that number in your email so that you reinforce your brand’s market penetration. If your Ecommerce company is just starting out, create branded messages that tell your subscribers they’re a part of something new and exciting.
  • Give email subscribers another way to connect with you and consume your content. Chances are if a person has chosen to give you their email address, they’re also willing to follow you on social media to receive more frequent brand messages too.
  • Introduce products to your subscribers and give them an incentive to purchase. Just make sure to A/B test your purchasing incentives so you can optimize your offers.

Whatever you decide to do, the most important tip we can give you regarding email marketing for Ecommerce is to accurately set expectations. In your brand’s voice, tell email readers you’ll be following up with them shortly about more relevant information they won’t want to leave sitting unopened in their inboxes.

  • Send Lead Nurturing Emails

Marketing 101 tells us to never leave a lead unattended. As an Ecommerce company, you need to nurture your leads to make their initial purchases and repeat purchases. And email marketing is a great way to do exactly that!

At our digital marketing agency, we help our clients create lead nurturing email series that:

  • Educate subscribers about our clients’ products and topics related to those products. And when you think about what type of content to write, remember, the sky’s the limit! If you sell backpacks, for example, don’t think all you can do is write about its product specifications. Write compelling content about why you need your backpack and what you can use it for, such as storing your laptop as you commute to work and back, going hiking, being the perfect personal item when traveling, etc.
  • Introduce subscribers to our clients’ brand and values. This may include sharing a branded video, introducing them to people at our clients’ company, or sharing information about corporate stewardship. For example, think about how the shoemaker, Tom’s, leverages their corporate stewardship of giving away one pair of shoes for every pair sold or allowing you to direct a portion of the proceeds from your purchase to your chosen cause, to build up its brand image.
  • Use storytelling to create memorable messages. Whether our emails follow a specific customer (real or fictional) or one of our client’s employees, we create messages that tell a brand and product story to connect with email subscribers.
  • Increase customer engagement based on website activity. Email automation allows us to better nurture leads by sending the most relevant content to them based on how they’ve interacted with our clients on their websites.

You Can Trust Us as Your Email Marketing Experts

As a digital marketing agency that helps several Ecommerce companies create compelling content for email subscribers, we’re a digital marketing company you can trust. Whether you want us to create the types of campaigns we listed above, or you need to engage new customers, make content for repeat customers, create email receipts that include an ask or a new way to connect with your brand, or reconnect with recently lost customers, we can help.

Simply call us today at (214) 295-5845.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Automated Email Campaigns for ECommerce Marketing” instead.

Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

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A Beginner’s Guide to Successful Email Marketing

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Email Marketing

Marketing strategies usually have the purpose of attracting qualified leads to do business with you. Email marketing is very different in this regard. In email marketing, you already have qualified leads in your email list and the purpose is to convert them.

Email marketing takes all of the hard work out of prospecting for potential customers. The more your email list grows, you will have the attention of hundreds and even thousands of people that could potentially purchase your products and services.

What you do with this attention will impact the performance of your email marketing campaign. If you want to bypass a bit of the learning curve of making rookie mistakes in your first campaign, continue reading to learn all you need to know about email marketing.

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is the process of converting prospective customers in an email list. An email list is a collection of people, known as subscribers. If you’ve ever visited a website, then you’ve likely seen a prompt urging you to sign up for a newsletter or email list.

Here’s an example of what this looks like:

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Successful companies have large email lists, which are ideal for eventually converting new customers and encouraging repeat transactions from existing ones. Email marketing is a valuable means of creating an engaged audience for your business.

Why is Email Marketing Important?

Email marketing delivers the highest return on investment (ROI) than any other marketing initiative. This speaks volumes of how email marketing can benefit your business.

Still not impressed?
If not, then check out these benefits of beginning an email marketing campaign for your company. 

  • Quality Collection of Leads – Email lists are full of qualified leads who can convert at any moment. 
  • Ease of Conversion – Unlike other marketing campaigns, subscribers are simple to convert. You don’t have to craft long-form content and engage in extensive keyword research. 
  • Increased Website Traffic – You can take advantage of your email list to achieve a continual flow of website traffic. Increased visibility will lead to more conversions sooner or later.
  • Feedback – More than any other marketing strategy, you can understand what your subscribers are feeling by sending out surveys and optimize your campaign for better results.

As you can see, you can’t afford to not have an email marketing campaign. Are you looking for insights on how to start and grow your campaign? The next section will discuss core email marketing techniques you need to employ immediately.

What are Essential Email Marketing Tips?

If you’re new to email marketing, understanding how to navigate your campaign can be challenging. The good news is that email marketing is pretty straightforward. Let’s go over the basics of beginning your successful campaign. 

Segmentation:

Segmentation involves putting subscribers in specific categories. Each category receives a different marketing message. For example, inactive subscribers will be placed in a category where they will be sent re-engagement emails
On the other hand, subscribers likely to convert will be sent custom messages to get them across the threshold. You can’t expect your email list to grow by sending the same emails to all of your subscribers.

This will cause them to tune out and eventually unsubscribe. Instead, send relevant email messages by segmenting your entire email list.

Personalization:

According to HubSpot, personalized emails deliver exceptionally high transaction rates. Personalization is the next step of segmentation. It involves creating a personal and relevant email message to each subscriber. 

Again, your email list won’t grow if you copy, paste, and send similar emails to every subscriber. It’s important to realize that people receive dozens of emails every day and will quickly become annoyed if they see that your correspondences don’t appeal to them.

Although it may take more time and effort, sending personalized emails is key to your overall success at email marketing. 

Subject Lines:

What is the first thing you notice before opening an email? It’s, of course, the subject line. Emails with a personalized subject line have an open rate of 7.4% and a click-through rate (CTR) of .4%.

It’s pivotal to create emails with captivating subject lines. This will increase the CTR of your emails and make sure you are generating positive ROI from your campaign. 

Welcome Emails:

Perhaps the most important aspect of any email marketing campaign is the welcome campaign. It serves the following functions:

  • Welcome emails set the tone for the entire campaign.
  • Welcome emails allow you to begin segmentation. 
  • Welcome emails increase engagement and allow you to introduce yourself.

If you need inspiration on how to create the perfect email campaign, then take a look at this welcome email from Asana. 

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Or, you can check out this one from Away. 

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These welcome emails do more than just say hello. They give subscribers something to look forward to. 

Remarketing:

There will be a time where your emails will not reach everyone on your email list. If you notice that your email list has a bunch of inactive subscribers, you should begin a re-engagement series. 

These series of emails will attempt to reach subscribers that haven’t interacted with your emails in a while.

Reengagement emails look like this:

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As you can see, re-engagement emails are a formality in email marketing. However, these emails are simply an attempt. If inactive subscribers don’t engage with your campaign in a while, it would be best to let them go. 

Email Copy:

If you want people to engage with your emails, you have to sound like a real person. Emails aren’t essays. Therefore, it’s not time to show off any extravagant words. A great, conversational email looks something like this. 

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Give Us a Call Today!

Email marketing is a simple concept, but carrying out a successful campaign takes a lot of work. Hiring an experienced digital marketing agency may be in your interest if you need assistance.

If you want to learn more about how you can hire Agency Partner Interactive, give us a call at (214) 295-5845 or click here to receive a free quote.   

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “A Beginner’s Guide to Successful Email Marketing” instead.

Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

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The Future of Email Marketing

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips on Email Marketing

Email marketing is still the top marketing initiative that generates the highest ROI. When it comes down to it, this actually makes sense. Other marketing initiatives like SEO and PPC are designed to generate qualified leads and lead them to purchase. On the other hand, once you have an email list, you already have a bunch of qualified leads that are ready to listen and are close to purchasing. 

Does this mean that email marketing is simple?

Of course not! 

People receive several emails every day, some even from your competitors. Making your emails stand out is a real challenge. To stay on top of the curve, educating yourself on the latest email marketing trends is a must.
This article will outline four major email marketing trends you should consider to reinforce your current campaign. 

1. Leverage User-Generated Content

User-generated content is defined as content chosen by the user. For example, when a person subscribes to receive precise property listings in their area from a real estate agency, they are activating user-generated content.

Oftentimes, brands can lose sight and send messages that they believe are relevant only to experience low engagement metrics and open-rates. The most obvious solution to combat this is giving your subscribers the type of content they want. 

To do this for an already established email list, you can send a survey allowing your subscriber to hand-pick the content they receive and the frequency in which they receive it. 

If you are starting to build your email list, you can create a subscriber opt-in box that makes the previous feature possible. Overall, you should strive to send emails that your subscribers will look forward to. 

Otherwise, they won’t open them and you’ll waste your vital marketing spend. 

2. Study Your Audience and What Works

Despite what you see from online articles and videos, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy. The best marketers and business leaders take risks and experiment often.

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Not every audience is the same, so would it really make sense to copy an email marketing strategy you saw from a marketing agency to your real estate subscribers? Clearly, both audiences crave something different.

For a real-estate audience, emails with a sliding carousel of potential listings would be helpful. That way, your subscribers won’t have to do a lot in visiting your website and refining their search.

For a marketing audience, simple text-based emails have like this long proved to be effective.

There are a lot of ways to understand what works in your particular industry, but to be sure it will work for your audience, you should study them. Look for key metrics that prove either your emails aren’t being read or that no one is visiting your website from your campaign.

Once this happens, it will be easier for you to craft the right messages your subscribers will listen to and respond to. 

3. Practice Segmentation

Experienced marketers know segmentation is a key component of effective email marketing. Ideally, you should segment your entire list, even if it means leaving just one contact in a category by themselves.

Why?  Deep personalization can lead to the best open rates. In one survey, it resulted in up to a 29.95% open rate and a click-through rate of 5.03%. It may be time-consuming and tedious to separate your email list into such granular categories, but you want to be able to reach every potential customer in a relatable fashion.

After all, when a person opts-in to your email list, they are giving you sensitive information like their email address.

Show them that you value their time by crafting an email just for them. 

4. Make Your Emails Compatible

Most people access their inboxes from a mobile device. This means that your emails should be optimized to be compatible with all mobile devices. You can do this by following these tips:

  • Reduce email content.
  • Don’t use text in images; instead, use text HTML. 
  • Develop a visual hierarchy in emails.
  • Avoid text alignment and be aware of excessive sections of center-justified text.
  • Use alt text for all images.
  • Use bigger line spacing and font sizes.
  • Make sure HTML tables can be read by screen readers.

Mobile-friendliness is extremely important nowadays, not just for your website. Take the above tips to ensure that your emails are compatible with any platform. 

Give Us a Call Today!

Do you want to put certified email marketing experts in your corner? If so, give us a call today at (214) 295-5845 or click here to receive a free quote. 

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “The Future of Email Marketing” instead.

Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!