by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success
Are they looking at your stuff? When you have a great offer, are they wanting to see it?
In other words, are they clicking on the links in your emails and going to your site to buy your products? Or at least taking a look at your products?
This is called a click-through rate, and it needs to be monitored. Your click-through rate describes the percentage of subscribers who see the links and click the links within your email after they have opened them. This rate allows you to determine how effective your email content is.
Many email providers determine this rate for you, but it’s good to know what it means. And how to figure it for yourself.
To determine your click-through rate, you need to take the number of links clicked and divide it by the number of emails delivered. Then times it by one hundred to get the correct percentage. For example, say you sent four hundred emails and noticed around twenty of them have opened and clicked the link inside.
The formula would break down as follows:
(Link Clicks / Number of Emails Sent) x 100 = Click-Through Rate
(20/400) x 100 =
0.05 x 100 = 5%
The higher the click-through rate, the higher your effectiveness
Let’s talk about five proven ways to increase your email click-through rate:
Keep Email’s Organized, Clear, and Direct
Your emails should be short and direct but with enough information to get your point across and provide value to your subscribers. For example, instead of providing your full blog in the email, provide a link for them to read the rest.
Emails should be used as a summary or overview. The longer they are, the more likely your readers will get disinterested and click off the email. Make sure each email you send has one main objective. This way, your readers don’t get distracted or confused on what direction they need to take next.
Use List Segmentation
We’ve talked about this earlier.
Personalized and targeted content is key to increasing your open and click-through rates. This is because list segmentation helps you organize and divide your customers in a way that makes it easier to communicate with them.
Segmentation involves dividing your list according to characteristics or interests. Demographics, worldviews, and professions are some areas you might want to consider when you are dividing your list.
The idea is to make sure only those truly interested will receive the content, improving your conversions and not wasting their time.
Make it Smart Phone Friendly
Nearly eighty-four percent of those who use a smartphone have reported it as being their primary tool for checking email. This means if your email is not mobile-friendly, you are likely missing out on many opportunities for your subscribers to opt-in and click-through.
If the process is frustrating, they won’t want to participate.
Add Social Sharing
You can increase your click-through rate by as much as thirty percent, according to an Econsultancy report, by adding three or more social sharing options.
Every email you send may not be useful to your readers, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know a friend, loved one, or coworker who could use the information instead.
Enhance your Call-To-Action
Use one obvious call-to-action through your email sequence. Some people make it the first and last thing they see so customers find it easy to click through.
All of us have received emails which were all over the place with info and ideas. Sometimes they have been very informative, but there would be no clear direction about what we would find if we clicked a link. So we haven’t clicked the link.
So be clear and direct. That’s when you’ll find greater participation in your projects.
There you have it. Five ways to improve your click-through rates.
Remember: Monitoring this aspect of your email projects will definitely improve your effectiveness. And improve your bottom line.
We can do this!!
by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success
Are your subscribers opening your emails?
Take a look at your open rates. If your emails aren’t being opened, they aren’t being read, of course. So you can see why that piece of your email puzzle is a corner piece. And needs to be in place.
As we approach this subject, think about your own habits. Why do you open some emails and ignore others? As you take a look at the following ideas. See if these apply to you. Why or why not?
There are two major things to look at when you have low open rates. Your subject lines and the time your emails are being sent.
And following you will find a few more as well. Whatever it may be, it is important to figure it out and improve so that your email campaigns will be successful.
Here are six easy ways to help improve your email open-rates:
*Let Your Subject Line Be A Question
Intrigue your audience with an interesting question. Spike the curiosity, but be sure it is relevant to your overall goal and message as a business. Then have your email follow up with answers or suggestions which address the question.
This is one way of making your readers feel involved.
*Use Short, but Detailed, Subject Lines
Your subject line, like a title, is the first thing your subscribers get to see. So, make it count. Spend time crafting one that makes them want to click on it and discover what’s next.
When crafting your subject lines, there are certain words and phrases which provoke interest more than others. These are often called Power Words or Words that Sell. They arouse interest and make people want to take action.
Interestingly enough, some of these words are negative. Like the word “mistakes.” (People often want to avoid mistakes). You can find a list of useful words at Sumo.com
The art of using thought provoking words is an art you’ll want to pursue. You can learn from others and apply new ideas for your subject lines.
Discover Optimum Delivery and Frequency Time
Even if you have great emails and great subject lines, sending them at the wrong time can be a problem. Sending poorly timed emails can destroy your open rates. In addition, email boxes can get crowded, and people fail to see their emails.
Remember, people don’t usually hang out at their email box like they do on social media. Often your subscribers will check their email once, twice, or a few times a day.
It’s not likely for them to scroll through for hours, especially if they just receive hundreds of emails.
So for better effectiveness, find the time your audience is active by testing different times throughout the day for the email campaign you create. Be sure to set a short deadline to track your results to compare which time is best to get your emails synced to their schedule.
Be Conversational and Personable
Write all your content, including emails, as if you are talking to a friend. Yet use a branded tone and style that your audience understands and knows is you. A message that is coming from another human or friend is more likely to get attention and results.
Provide Value Every time
Even if you are doing a sales pitch, always find an opportunity to provide value.
You can always start your emails with something of interest. Some instruction or even some humor. One of the most successful email marketers I know always starts by something interesting that is happening in her life – or around her community. You begin to feel like you know her. Then when she asks for the sale, you trust her.
It’s a terrific way of establishing rapport with your subscribers.
Remember: if you are the only one who gets any value from the email, your success will be short-lived.
Review and Refresh Your List
Be sure the email lists you have are new and updated. Old email lists are likely to have poor open rates.
Maybe people change email accounts or interests over time.Thus, no matter how hard you try, some of your lists will go stale, and it will be up to you to get them off your list. (This is called list hygiene)
List hygiene ensures that you get a better understanding of your real open rate.
Now I know at least one marketer who never takes anyone off her list. She is sure that sometimes people will lose interest for awhile – and then suddenly regain their interest. Over time, these people have been some of her best customers.
So you can see that there are different ways of looking at this hygiene issue. You can decide for yourself. Just know that your open rates will be lower if you always keep everyone – even when they are inactive.
There you have it. Six tips for improving your email open rates. As you approach each idea and put these into practice, you will see better metrics.
More people will read your emails – and more people will buy your products.
by Suellen | Email Marketing
Think about your favorite marketers. How do you keep up with what they are doing? Do you go to their website everyday to see what’s up?
Probably not.
You might be like me – and keep up with them as they send you emails.
That’s why email marketing is the most cost effective marketing available. You send email to “your people.” And your people are more likely to read the emails and to trust you enough to click through – and purchase.
Today we are going to look at ROI. Return on Investment. How much are you making for every dollar you spend on email marketing?
According to Manny Yu, Product Consultant at Maropost, you can see an average return of around $42 for every $1 you put into your email marketing campaign. Email marketing is powerful because it is more direct, personal, and cost-effective than other marketing avenues.
Your return on investment is a simple math equation that requires knowing your current revenue gained and the costs of receiving those gains. To determine your current ROI, take your revenues gained and subtract your costs. Then take that value and divide it by your costs again to determine your return on investment.
The equation looks like this: (Revenue – Costs) ÷ Costs = ROI
Understanding this basic equation allows you to determine better the areas you need to improve or adjust to see a more positive return. To see a proper return on investment, your costs should be low while your revenues should be high.
Here are some tips and tricks to improve your email marketing ROI:
Mobilize Your Content
It is more likely that your subscribers are reading from their smartphone than a personal computer or laptop in this day and age. Meaning you should optimize your opt-ins, lead magnets, email calls-to-action, landing pages, and website for mobile use.
If the call-to-action is too hard to understand on a small device or they simply can’t read the email, you won’t get the results you desire – no matter how hard you work.
Add Video and Graphics
Your brain is wired to receive and digest visual content. It can process and understand it way faster than written words. (You remember: a picture is worth 1000 words).
Therefore, make graphics and videos useful tools to communicate, educate and engage with your subscribers properly.
Don’t think every video has to be professionally done. Your subscribers are hungry to see real people. Like you!!
So be bold about showing them who you are – and interacting with them. They’ll love you!
Develop Valuable and Engaging Content
Develop email sequences that involve a variety of different types of content. Meaning you shouldn’t just spam your subscribers’ inboxes with promotional emails. Include educational material and even encourage them to reply to get them to participate throughout the whole process.
Evaluate your Spending
Finally, evaluate the spending or costs required to complete the email campaign. You are more likely to have higher costs if you don’t produce the content yourself or use many tools and software. These are great options, because they provide great ideas and save you time, but keep tabs on the ones which are bringing good results.
Overall, improving your return requires keeping your spending low and maximizing your revenue.
Send valuable, engaging, and quality content. The more value you strive to bring to your subscriber, the more likely they will return the favor by increasing your return on investment.
The bottom line: bring quality material to your subscribers, and they will invest in you. They will provide that great return on investment.
Remember: keep moving forward. Keep learning what to do, and then doing it. The day will come when your efforts will be rewarded with a significant ROI.
by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success
Compare your emails – one with another – and you’ll find what works best and improve your bottom line. That’s what testing is all about. And it’s easier than it sounds.
A/B testing, often called split testing, compares the results of two or more similar email campaigns or other materials sent to different audiences.
For instance, you can send one group (Group A) the subject line: Best Tips for Marketing. Then send the other group (Group B) the subject line: Professional Marketing Made Easy. To test, you would need to leave everything else the same. Send the same email at the same time with that that one difference. Then check your open rates and click rates. Which one did the best?
That’s A/B or Split testing in a nutshell. And you can – and should test for titles, time of day you send them, subject matter, and anything else you might think of.
After testing, you can use this information to determine which material converts the best. Thus, allowing you to perfect your email marketing campaigns and funnels more efficiently.
There are several reasons that A/B testing is essential to your email marketing process.
Split testing helps you increase your Open and Click-Through Rates
Improving your overall conversions is the main idea behind split testing. When you test and track these conversions, you can easily see how successful your emails are by how high or low the open and click-through rates are – and which ones are better performers.
Split testing helps you better understand your audience.
A/B testing allows you to watch the behavior of your audience, and see them interact with your content. If certain titles or graphics work better, then you can update your material to this effect. Thus, allowing you to communicate better and increase your overall email marketing conversions.
Split testing increases engagement and content quality
Through split testing, you discover the right ways to communicate with your target audience to improve the quality of your content. An email funnel without quality content suitable for your audience won’t be successful.
Split testing helps you perfect and send the right content to your subscribers. This will help you maintain and increase your effectiveness with your clients.
And now for a few testing tips:
Test One Thing at A Time
Find one area of the email funnel process to test at a time. Only change your titles, then update the email copy after you are done establishing your title. Changing too much information at once can easily cloud the results and make it difficult to understand which change really increased the conversions.
Keep Timing and Schedule Consistent When Checking Content
Be sure email is sent during the same times and day of the week, even though the content is slightly different. This way, you can be sure the metrics you analyze later directly result from the content quality rather than other factors.
Be Sure You Test Against Your Normal Content. (This is called the Control)
This means you always test your normal content versus the new idea to get accurate results. The only way to know if your test content is better is to compare it to your normal content.
Though it sounds like a lot of work, it is worth it. And testing is easier to do when you find a good routine to implement it.
A/B testing gives you the data you need to make better content and email copy for your subscribers. It allows you to perfect your titles, calls-to-action, and more. Thus improving your communication and getting your readers involved and engaged.
You can do this!
And, by the way, most really good email providers have good split testing tools. Check those out with your provider.
by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success
Did you know, nearly four billion people worldwide utilize email almost daily?
What is even more interesting is that every second, three million emails are being sent. So that means that by the time you finish this sentence, likely eighteen million emails, give or take, will end up in people’s inboxes. That’s why it’s no surprise that sixty-four percent of successful small business owners have reported that using email marketing has been vital to their success.
It’s also the reason that they continually strive to grow their email lists.
The most common and powerful way to grow your email lists is through what is called “lead magnets.” Free or low-cost material which attracts your potential customer into your buyers’ journey or email marketing campaign.
Lead magnets will vary depending on your niche and are quite low cost if you can craft and complete the material yourself.
Let me say that this is a great place to use PLR (private label rights). You can purchase these packages fairly inexpensively and edit them from top to bottom in order to give them your voice. It’s one reason that I often recommend some of these packs to you. They save time and give you a boost in your business.
Here are five lead magnet tips for growing your email list:
Use How-To Guides or eBooks
I bet that you have opted in to email lists in order to get a free or low cost ebook or guide. I know that I have.
Short guides or how-to eBooks are attractive options to many readers. Most people use the internet to ask questions, to solve a common problem and to gain more knowledge about their favorite things. Thus, eBooks and how-to guides are very attractive.
Understanding your audience and their struggles are key to creating an effective eBook or guide that piques their interest. Nearly thirty percent of marketers prefer this option.
Email Courses and Workbooks
Similar to eBooks, yet a little more involved are email courses and workbooks. These are materials that work together to help your subscriber actively solve or work through a problem.
Instead of downloading all the material at once, your readers will receive their course through weekly and timed emails. Again, keeping an audience engaged for a longer period of time is the goal.
Develop Tips, Templates, and Checklists
Many successful marketers suggest using very simple items like tipsheets, templates and checklists. Their thinking is that people are generally busy and overwhelmed. Something easy is more appealing.
These lead magnets are simple downloadable and printable materials which aid your subscribers in their favorite hobbies or solve their problems. They are affordable and easy to produce.
In addition, these products can often be added to paid product offers as bonuses or extra incentives.
Free Webinar and Trials
One popular idea is to invite your audience to join in on a live webinar where you offer a free trial of your products and services. This can be a great way to ask for email addresses in order to send your link to the webinar.
In addition, the hands-on and live material is often more attractive and easier to digest.
In the internet world, everything can seem impersonal. When you do a webinar, they hear your voice and perhaps see your face. That’s a plus automatically. You are a real live person, and people feel like they know you.
Now, I know that video is scary to lots of people. I get that. However, when you stretch yourself and do things which aren’t that comfortable, you’ll find more success. And more comfort in those areas.
Two things I have learned as I’ve developed my online business:
- All of those people online who act like they know everything and have it all together, are really just like you and me. They are still learning.
- People are hungry to meet real people – just like us. Not perfect. Real.
That’s why you allow the people to see you just as you are. On webinars.
Giveaways
Host contests, offer giveaways and send coupons such as free shipping or birthday discounts to incentivize your subscribers.
It’s hard to pass up a good deal, especially one that provides so much value and excites your interest.
Lead magnets are usually free. Thus, they don’t immediately bring in profit for you, they bring you an interested customer who can continue to bring profit over time.
In fact, a wpforms report stated that marketers saw a 50% increase in signups after using and developing valuable lead magnets.
So think about what your customers want and need. What are some problems you can help them solve? Then plan what you can do to solve the problem.
When you see offers for PLR content, take a good look. You can tweak the material to fit your brand and your purpose. Then offer that in exchange for an email address.
See for yourself. You’ll get lots more customers – and lots more business.
by Suellen | Email Marketing, Online Success
How many of your customers aren’t receiving your emails?
You go to the trouble of writing and sending great emails. Yet some of your customers aren’t receiving them. Why?
It’s called “deliverability,” and it’s an important part of your email plan. If you are sending 100 emails and only 60 are receiving them, there’s a problem.
Email deliverability is about the percentage of your readers who are receiving your emails. Keeping up with this includes monitoring your bounce rate. It also includes increasing the safety and authentication of your emails to ensure your emails aren’t getting rejected by your subscriber’s in box.
In 2003 the US Legislature passed the “Can-Spam Act.” This is a law to prevent unsolicited porn and spam from bombarding your inbox. There are some hefty penalties for people who persist sending such material.
As a result, your email marketing provider is on high alert for marketers who are sending this unwelcome material. They can be fined or even closed down if their clients are sending such material.
One flag for the providers is “low deliverability.” That metric shows how much of the mail is probably going to spam. The spam folder means that the receiving email service rejected the email.
So in order to be more effective and to keep a good reputation with your email provider, here are some ways to improve your email deliverability
Have a Double Opt-in Process
Use double opt-in forms to ensure the information subscribers provide is correct. For example, an incorrect email address or typo can easily lead to your email being rejected. However, double opt-in forms require your readers to confirm their information, thus avoiding this altogether.
You know, that’s the “check your email and click on the confirmation link” response we see often when we sign up. Just be sure to make this requirement clear when signing up; otherwise, it can lead to further confusion.
The double opt-in confirmation means it’s not a robot and that the email address is real.
Establish a Proper Send Schedule
In other words, don’t spam your readers.
If you send too many emails, they won’t see you as trustworthy nor know the content as personalized and valuable. If your content gets marked as spam, eventually, their email service provider will reject you altogether.
And yours might also.
So how many would be too many? Many respected marketers send daily or two or three times a day. If the material is good, that’s fine.
Five times or more a day could seem excessive. It depends on what you are sending. Certainly don’t send that many with just sales pitches in them.
Enable Tools to Authenticate Your Emails
We know that hackers have become more of a problem to all of us. Some have been known to hack email sending addresses and spam clients with porn or predatory content. Obviously, this gives the sender a bad name. (Kind of like identity theft).
The techies have come to the rescue. There are tools available to authenticate and secure your sending ip address – thus stopping such predatory behavior.
A terrific site for such help is SparkPost.com. They have free tools available to help you secure your emails.
Add Easy Unsubscribe Options
This is imperative.
I remember when I had my first unsubscriber. It really hurt my feelings, but that was just being naive.
Since then, I have learned differently. While not something you want to see, it helps improve your deliverability. It keeps those truly interested in seeing your content on the list and screens out those who aren’t interested in your message.
You can “be yourself,” without having to placate those who aren’t really your people.
Implementing guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission, most email service providers require that you add an obvious way for subscribers to opt-out if they want to. This also further authenticates your emails.
To recap: the goal of proper email deliverability is to make sure your content ends up in the subscriber’s inbox in order to be seen and clicked open to be read. If your emails never make it or consistently end up in their spam folder, you won’t see any conversions. In the most extreme cases, you will have to start over – from scratch.
So take a deep breath and go check your email account. It requires mindfulness and a little work, but it’s so worth the effort!!
