Cold calling used to be the de facto way to market to someone, but with the digital age, that’s no longer the case. According to Hubspot, only 1 percent of cold calls result in a meeting, and only 90 percent of decision-makers won’t even take a cold call. In comes email marketing to the rescue. Although it’s not a panacea, it can generate new leads and business if done correctly. Read further to learn what you need to know about email marketing.
Key Metrics in Email Marketing
The key metrics of email marketing focus on three things:
- Open Rate – Percentages of prospects who open an email.
- Response Rate – People who respond to the email.
- Conversion Rate – Percent of responding prospects who eventually buy
The easiest metric to raise is the open rate, hence why most email marketing experts focus on it. Conversion rate is, no surprise, the most difficult to increase, but the most important since it’s how you make money.
To ensure your prospects turn into customers, let’s focus on achieving the highest conversion rate. First, it’s important to note that a prospect turns into a customer when there are no surprises, and one doesn’t feel spammed. When choosing a subject line, ensure it matches the content in your email. Don’t risk getting your email address blocked because you tricked the reader.
Here are the five top things to consider for winning new customers through email marketing.
1. Don’t make it hard.
From the start to the end, your goal is to ensure a smooth transition from prospect to customer. So, the most important thing is to make it easy for them to buy. Whether you want them to purchase a particular service or the latest gadget, don’t make them jump through hoops to buy your product.
It seems like common sense, but you’d be surprised how many companies don’t have an “add to cart” button. If a potential customer wants to buy your product, ensure there’s a link in your email that goes to a shopping cart.
2. Communicate from the customer’s viewpoint.
Just as people typically don’t appreciate high sales pitches, they also don’t care how great you are or your corporate brand. They care that you can relate to them, or in other words, appreciate their viewpoint. Once they want what you have to offer, then they’ll care. It takes time to size up a company and then decide to pick them. Prospects will open an email, read, and respond to it–primarily if you have what they want.
Customers will usually only buy something if it benefits them, so email marketing needs to focus on benefits, not features. For instance:
Wrong: “Our frames have different types of materials.” (feature)
Right: “Our frames reduce glare by 40%” (benefit)
3. Avoid sales language.
Salespeople are the bane of society, according to many people. People neither like or trust them, but that stems from past experiences of pushy salespeople who used aggressive sales tactics. Throw in robocalls, and it’s no wonder people are tired of being spammed. So, your challenge is to not sound like a salesperson. Words like, “I guarantee,” we care about our customers,” or “If I told you…”, “friendly support staff,” and “best quality on the market.”
If it sounds salesman-like to you, then it will to your prospects. Also, if you can’t back up a promise, don’t put it in your email.
4. Use the “Rule of One”
According to Geoffrey James, Contributing Editor of Inc.com, here is how your email should read: one benefit, one differentiator, and one call-to-action. You only have so long to keep someone’s interest. Keep it simple. The one benefit should explain what buying your product or service would mean to the prospect. Be specific and, again, communicate from their perspective.
5. Put the benefit in the subject line.
Prospects are more likely to open and respond to an email if you list the one benefit in the subject line. To conclude:
-
- Ensure the subject line is clear and to the point, such as “Annual Frame Sales: Reduce Glare by 40%.”
- Keep it relevant to the prospector
- Consider using a teaser that repeats the subject line
Email marketing doesn’t need to be daunting and can change a prospector into a valued customer.
Using these essential tools in your email messages will help in your marketing efforts to gain more customers, thus increasing your bottom line.
