Email Marketing An Introduction September 7, 2017

Nice To Meet You • Jeff Mackey — SIX15 solutions / Refine Your Site
 Website design, management, and email marketing • 20+ years experience in IT • IT Advisory Chair for Oxford High School • In Oxford since 2003; wife & 2 kids

What Do You Do? • Do you use social media for marketing? • Do you track the ROI of your efforts? • Do you have a list of your customers’ email? • Do you know or care about email?

What Is Email Marketing? Sending email to prospects and customers automatically based on a schedule and triggers that you define

What Email Marketing Is Not • Email marketing is not what you receive when you buy online ("thank you for your order!")
 
 That is called transactional email • Their primary goal is to notify, not engage

Should You Care About Email Marketing?

You Should Care Because… • Email is STILL the Internet’s killer app • Time spent with email is up 17% year over year • The average click-through rate of email is ~3%
 
 Social media post click-through rate is ~0.5%

You Should Care Because…

What About Social Media? • Facebook has nearly 2 billion active users per month, and Twitter has roughly 319 million • Number of email accounts is 4.9 billion & projected to be 5.6 billion by 2019 • Social media posts get refreshed and are easily missed, but you have to open emails to read • You own your email list! You don’t own followers

Email Gets Results • Email converts better than social media:
 
 Social media drives traffic, but email drives sales • For every $1 spent on email marketing, companies made $38+ in return

An Example • Say your website gets 4,500 visitors / month… • Say of that, 315 people opt-in to your email list… • And of those 315, 22 people buy something… • If your product or service is $160, that’s an extra $3,520 / month for very little effort
 
 (retail industry average conversion rate of 7%)

Some Definitions…

Trigger Emails Emails that are sent based on your subscribers’ behavior (or lack of it) • "Welcome / Thanks for signing up" • "Happy Birthday!" • Abandoned cart reminders

Campaign Emails • Scheduled messages based on a timeframe • Educate and expand on lead-magnet freebie • Get them to take the next step in your funnel

Marketing Funnel Awareness
 
 
 Evaluation
 
 
 Conversion Email marketing fits in here

Segmentation Sending the right message
 to the right person
 at the right time • Location, Industry type, Past purchases, Demographics, are some examples of segments • Personalization increase chances of engagement (i.e. higher click-through rate)

Getting Started With Email Marketing

Prerequisites • Know who your customers are (target market) • Know what you can do for them (problem you solve for target market) • Have a website • Be comfortable giving before receiving

The Process 1. Create something worthwhile (lead magnet) 2. Set up email service; integrate with website 3. Create email signup forms on your website 4. Write thank you email, link to lead magnet 5. Write series of emails for automated campaign

1. Lead Magnet • What or who is a lead? A potential sales contact • You want to attract them — a magnet • It can be anything relevant to your target market:
 
 - exclusive, educational content from your blog
 - eBook PDF
 - case study
 - guide or tool kit

2. Set Up Email Software • Mailchimp / Drip / Campaign Monitor / ConvertKit / Infusionsoft / Constant Contact • Each tool has pros and cons • I recommend Drip for it’s automation features

3. Sign Up Form • Make it compelling • Images help with trust
 
 Pictures of lead magnet help people visualize it • Ask only for information you need:
 
 email address, perhaps first name

4. The 'Thank You' Email • A short email sent when someone signs up • Link to lead magnet • Thank them, remind them what you offer • Tell them there’s more to come, but use unsubscribe links to build trust

5. The Campaign • Do not attempt to sell anything at this point • Schedule emails to expand on lead magnet • Educate, build trust, over 5-email "sends" • Only pitch your product / service at the end, based on their engagement

Measure Engagement • Email delivery rate • View rate • Open rate • Click-through rate • Conversion rate

In Summary 1. Get their email address 2. Help them first 3. Build their trust 4. Ask for the sale 5. Measure and track engagement

Questions? Let’s keep in touch! Free download:
 
 “Metrics That Matter In Your Email Marketing”
 
 refineyoursite.com/emailworks