Email marketing has proven to be a cornerstone of successful digital marketing strategies. However, if you want to send a campaign that drives results, you’re going to need to plan out a few things in advance. What are the steps for sending an email to your list for marketing purposes? Follow these ten essential steps to create email marketing campaigns that engage your audience and drive results.
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What are the steps for sending an email?
1. Know your goals
Whether it’s welcoming new subscribers, boosting engagement, nurturing existing leads, or re-engaging inactive subscribers, setting clear goals is the foundation of any successful email marketing campaign. For instance, if your aim is to boost engagement, your content and messaging should reflect this goal. You could include an interactive tool, survey, or quiz to increase engagement with your content.
2. Know your audience
We say it in almost every blog post, but it’s so important that we’ll say it again anyway: you can’t create personalized, relevant, and impactful content unless you know your audience. Go deeper than demographic information. Consider this example: King Charles III and Ozzy Osbourne were both born in 1948, live in castles, spend a lot of time in London, are wealthy, enjoy international travel, and have been married multiple times. Do you think they both respond to the same marketing message? Knowing your audience means understanding the problems they have that your products and/or services can solve, how they want to be served by your business, and what you can bring to the table that they value.
Take a deep dive into your subscribers’ motivations, pain points, and preferences. This knowledge allows you to tailor your messaging for maximum impact. If you don’t have a lot of subscriber data yet, a good place to start is your Google Analytics account. Which pages or blogs tend to get the most views and engagement? If your subscriber audience is similar to your website audience, they probably have many of the same preferences.
3. Plan your campaign’s numbers and cadence
An email campaign typically isn’t a one-and-done activity. Instead, a well-planned email sequence can significantly improve campaign effectiveness. Consider using automation to schedule follow-up emails based on time intervals or recipient behavior. This ensures a strategic and consistent flow of content and helps take your audience naturally down the buyer’s journey. A marketing automation platform can track behavior on your website and trigger follow-up emails based on recipients’ actions.
4. Ensure your campaign will be compliant
Before diving into content creation, always remember to abide by email marketing regulations and obtain proper consent from subscribers. This step is often overlooked but is crucial to maintaining trust and avoiding legal issues. Your email marketing platform should provide guidance on region-specific compliance.
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5. Craft your email content
Now, it’s time for the fun part—bringing your campaign to life with compelling content.
- Begin with a captivating hook to draw readers in
- Keep your copy concise, focusing on delivering value to your subscribers
- Use personalization
- Provide valuable resources, information, and offers
6. Agonize over your subject line and preview text
The subject line is your email’s first impression. Make it count! Aim for a concise, attention-grabbing line that piques curiosity. Keep in mind that the ideal length ranges between 41 to 50 characters or three to seven words. Likewise, don’t leave the preview text to chance. Give subscribers a compelling reason to open your email.
Top tips:
- Clearly communicate the email’s content or purpose
- Personalize subject lines with the recipient’s name or other relevant information
- Steer clear of excessive capitalization, exclamation marks, or spam trigger words
- Use intriguing language to spark curiosity without being misleading
- A/B test different subject lines to see what resonates best with your audience
- Analyze open rates to understand what works and refine your approach
- Clearly communicate what the recipient will gain from opening the email
- Use emojis sparingly and only when they enhance the message
7. Focus on email marketing design
A well-designed email enhances readability and engagement:
- Most importantly, you must prioritize mobile responsiveness to cater to a diverse audience
- While images can enhance visual appeal, ensure your content is still accessible without them
- Maintain a consistent look and feel across emails to reinforce brand recognition
MUST READ: Top 10 Tips for Email Template Design
8. Check the rendering of your campaign
Before hitting send, preview your emails in various email clients and on different devices. This step ensures that your content is displayed correctly and maintains its impact across platforms and devices. Also be sure to check for any typos or grammar gremlins, and test all links.
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9. Go on and hit send
With all the elements in place, it’s time to launch your campaign. Ensure that you’ve scheduled your emails based on your predetermined cadence and double-check that your list segments are accurate to reach the right audience. When you’re ready to go, enjoy the culmination of all your hard work as you hit the ‘send’ or ‘schedule’ button.
10. Test and Track
But don’t run off on vacation just yet, as the email campaign journey doesn’t end with sending. Email marketing provides a wealth of actionable data, so it’s essential to regularly test different elements of your emails, from design to messaging, to optimize future campaigns. Monitor key metrics like click-through rates, and conversions to measure your campaign’s success and inform your future email campaign strategies.
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Ready to implement your 10-step email campaign?
By following these email-sending steps, you’re well on your way to executing effective email marketing campaigns that your audience can’t resist. As you gather data and insights, you can refine your strategies for an even greater impact in future campaigns.
If you’re a busy small business owner who’d rather leave it to the pros to go through these email marketing campaign steps, no judgment here. You need to focus your efforts on what you do best, so let us know if you’d like us to handle the rest.