Launch Your Small Business Email Marketing Strategy in 4 Steps

It’s really easy to build a successful email strategy. Here are four things:

1. Email list building
2. Plan which emails you will send
3. Email design and content creation
4. Sending the campaign and analysing the results

1. Your email list should be built

Building a contact list is a crucial first step in email marketing campaigns. Without a contact list, what good is an email campaign?

Signing up for your list is the best way to grow it. You can do this by posting a signup form on your blog, website, or social media. We recommend creating a double opt in signup form for the best results.

Double opt-in sign up forms send confirmation emails to new subscribers after they have submitted their email address. Although this adds an additional step to the sign up process, it is well worth it. Double opt-in helps:

• Avoid delivery issues caused by typos in email addresses
• You can ask your subscribers what type of content they want to receive.
• Your GDPR-compliant email marketing strategy will be ensured.

Your sign-up forms should be placed or linked in high-traffic areas such as your homepage, blog and social media bios. This article explains how to create an email signup form.

2. Decide which email types you want to send

Now that you have a strategy for growing your email list, it is time to decide what types of emails to send.

The type of small business that you run will determine the types of emails you send. It is always safe to begin with a monthly newsletter. Other examples include:

• Emails with promotional offers and sales
• Seasonal messages for holidays and special events
• For your most loyal customers, get personalized discounts and coupons
• Transactional email (ecommerce receipts and appointment notifications, etc.

For a step-by–step guide, see our article on creating a newsletter.

3. Your email design and content are created

Email design and content creation are the next steps in creating an effective email marketing campaign for small businesses.

Email design

Not a design pro? Don’t worry. Many email marketing tools offer easy-to-use drag and drop editors that allow anyone to create stunning email marketing campaigns.

Remember that small business email marketing doesn’t have to be complicated. Email is supposed to be time-saving, so don’t waste your time creating complicated emails. Be true to your brand image. Your subscribers will find you more relatable and familiar.

The call to action (CTA) is another important aspect of email design. You should make sure that the CTA button matches the content of your email and tells the readers what you want them do. Here are some examples of CTAs:

• Read an article on your blog
• Browse new products on your website
• Use a coupon code to save on your purchase
• Download an ebook, register for a webinar or access other exclusive content

It is best to avoid having more than one CTA. Competing calls-to-action send a mixed message and can reduce your click through rate. To let your contacts know which goal is most important, you can create a hierarchy if you have multiple goals for your email campaign. This is possible by using the inverted pyramid design.

Check out our email marketing list for more tips.

Write the email content for your campaigns

At this stage, the customer is the most important thing. Ask your subscribers what they want and how you can provide value to them in your emails. 

This type of targeted content can be written best by first segmenting your email contacts into smaller groups with similar interests.

It’s almost impossible to send a message that is relevant and timely to all your contacts by mass email. Instead, group contacts with similar interests or needs to send targeted and better quality content.

Segment your contacts by:

• Demographics, e.g. gender, age and location
• Purchase history, such as preferred product categories, number purchased, and whether or not purchases were made during sales or promotions.
• Brand loyalty, e.g. new leads, long-term customers, VIPs
• Email engagement, e.g. customers who click on all your emails vs. customers who have not opened an email.

It is easier to craft a message that resonates and drives engagement when you break down your contacts.

The subject line is another important aspect of email content creation. It’s easy to forget about it. These are the first words your audience will see from your campaign. Your email subject should be eye-catching, but not too promotional.

Pro tip: A/B Testing is a great method to optimize your subject lines.

4. Send your campaign to analyze its performance

You might think you’re done when you hit “send” but that’s not the case.

You should analyze the performance of all your marketing campaigns to make the most of them. Email is unique in this regard. Email offers a wealth data and statistics that can be used to improve your future campaigns, which is a significant advantage over other digital marketing channels.

You should keep track of the open rate, click-through rate, and conversion rates. This article on email marketing benchmarks & KPIs provides more information on how to track campaigns’ performance.