Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
Good email marketing is similar to relationships or new friendships. It starts with a memorable first impression, develops over a series of positive interactions, and culminates in a long-term bond that benefits both parties.
As with any relationship, it takes a lot of learning and effort to make sure you know what the other person needs and how to give it to them.
As we transition from a third-party to a first-party data ecosystem, it is critical to know exactly how to approach this engagement process with your brand's audience.
Yes, email is probably the dominant marketing channel for your business, but that's probably also true for competitors who are also vying for your customers. So how do you make sure your emails stand out in the crowd from all the other applicants? And how can those emails build a lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with your customers?
Our team at Salesforce has seen the evolution of email marketing first hand, and we now have a clear understanding of what factors help nurture those relationships through email marketing. That's why we've partnered with Litmus to bring you 5 ways to do just that.
Here are five proven tactics to turn your email marketing into a fine-tuned relationship-building machine.
1. Follow your audience’s rules
There are few human drives stronger than the desire to be understood and respected.
“Personalization” has become a buzzword and it is easy to view it as a mere function or tactic rather than what it actually stands for: understanding and respecting the target audience.
The point of personalization, philosophically speaking, isn't simply to sell things to your customers more efficiently. It's about showing them that you know who they are and what they want, and using that knowledge to give them the best experience possible.
Email is a great way to do just that. It's a relatively intimate medium compared to something public like social media or traditional advertising. You're sitting right there in their inbox, next to all of their family, friends and colleagues, and as with any guest, it's just good etiquette to respect the house rules.
In this case, those rules are dictated by the data they share with you. If you treat that data with respect and use it to give them experiences no one else can, you're much more likely to be invited back.
Samantha Winerip, senior experience architect at Salesforce, agrees that email confidentiality presents a unique opportunity.
“Email is a familiar channel where consumers expect a certain level of personalization, so they are willing to provide data to create a tailored experience,” she says.
“Consumers are willing to share information if they believe it makes sense. They can capture their preferences in advance through the preference center or run periodic campaigns with interactive forms or surveys to collect additional data.”
There are other ways to show them you respect their preferences than just sending personal messages. Although the metaphor is overused, nobody likes uninvited guests. Artificial intelligence (AI) can help you make sure your messages are sent at the right time and you stay on the guest list.
2. One infusion a day keeps ambivalences at bay
Consistency is key, but continuity is even better. A series of unrelated individual messages will get pretty different results and run the risk of becoming repetitive if you don't get the segmentation right. But a steady, cohesive drip campaign allows your messages to build on each other.
The emails in a good drip campaign function almost like the chapters of a novel: each one introduces new events and exciting things and builds on previously established themes and ideas.
Messages that reward their audience for previous engagement and avoid repetition make them curious about what's coming next. Combine this narrative momentum with personalized content and you're essentially creating a customized “choose your own adventure” experience for your readers.
“Email marketing is a perfect vehicle for personalization because of the direct communication with the consumer,” says Winerip. “Email can take in rich data and then use it for hyper-personalized and automated output. The personalization opportunities within email are extensive, scalable, and growing through AI, dynamic content, segmentation, and more.”
Consistency of information makes your audience feel remembered, personalization makes it clear they are being listened to, and the combination of both makes them feel like a participant rather than just a receiver. And that brings us to…
3. Like all relationships, email marketing is about listening and learning
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that email is the channel you use to message your customers, but what you get from them is just as important. As first- and zero-party data becomes the primary data source, email is one of the best resources to collect that data.
While click-through rates are useful in certain situations, they're just the beginning. Savvy marketers are already finding other ways to use email as a conversation starter with their audience. Email offers a unique opportunity for active engagement, whether through forms, live surveys, or special, limited offers.
“Email marketing allows marketers to learn a lot about customer preferences based on what, how and when customers engage,” Winerip explains.
“Email also offers the ability and flexibility to support many other campaign types, driving engagement that influences the consumer's future experience. One example of this is progressive profiling – collecting information over time through targeted campaigns.”
This data, which is information that the customer expressly and knowingly provides voluntarily, is “zero-party data” and there is no better way to obtain it than via email.
Of course, it's important to respect your audience's time and boundaries when asking for them, so we recommend choosing your places carefully and making sure you don't ask for anything for free. Surveys that come with a coupon, for example, make customers feel good about giving up their data voluntarily.
The more opportunities you give your customers to tell you who they are, the better you can meet their needs and expectations.
4. Your emails should provide added value to every recipient
Not every email needs to be a sales pitch. In fact, most shouldn't be. Going back to our relationship metaphor from earlier, no one builds a relationship in one opportunity.
A well-written piece of copy, a funny story, or a collaborative project can do just as much to build a relationship as a night out on the town. Marketing is no different.
Follow-up emails after purchases or support calls show that you care and are genuine, while informational emails updating your customers on privacy policies show that you take their data seriously. Emails with useful tips and compelling stories offer your audience something for free and make it easier for them to perceive your brand in friendly rather than purely commercial terms.
Even cart abandonment or confirmation emails are still opportunities to grow your relationship if you approach them smartly. Every interaction is a chance to strengthen your brand voice, and in many cases, they're also an opportunity to increase your personalization efforts.
5. Every failure brings you closer to success
No matter how well you personalize the message, the simple truth is that not every message gets opened, not every message that gets opened gets read, and not every message that gets read gets you the results you hoped for.
It is tempting to view these results as failures, but if the appropriate data infrastructure is in place, they can actually be quite big successes.
With a large enough sample size, you can figure out why emails aren't being opened or read and then make optimizations. In the data world, no response is still a response.
You can speed up this process with targeted testing methods, the most popular of which is A/B testing, which involves sending two groups of customers similar versions of the same email with one key difference to find out which version of the email is the “right” one for that audience.
This method allows you to test everything from the subject line, send time, and email address to the actual content of the email, including elements like text, graphics, or special offers.
Conclusion: Create emails that keep the conversation going
Every relationship has its ups and downs, but if you make sure you always learn from the downs, you will make progress.
Email helps you build relationships not only through direct marketing, but also through learning over time, personalization, and customization. Of course, it's a way to engage your customers, but it also helps you entertain, inform, and – most importantly – understand them. And that's what building good relationships is all about.
Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
