Siddharth Rajsekar aka Sidz is the founder of the Internet Lifestyle Hub, one of the world’s largest communities for coaches, trainers, teachers, and experts with over 11,000 members. He is the author of the international best-seller, “You Can Coach”. As an acclaimed lifestyle entrepreneur and international speaker, Siddharth has trained over 200,000 people in the last 10 years. Recognized as one of India’s leading and sought-after “info-marketing” specialists, Siddharth has worked closely with renowned International experts like Robert Kiyosaki, T Harv Eker, Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy & Jack Canfield. Siddharth has developed and perfected the Freedom Business Model that helps people take their expertise online and building a super-profitable digital coaching business.
For marketers keen to engage with their audience, email communication getting filtered out to the ‘promotions’ folder can be a big challenge. In addition to being a high-converting channel to generate revenues, email is truly a valuable asset and investment for any knowledge business. Many say that email is dead, but the reality is far from it. Email is required for something as basic as opening a social media or bank account, and is here to stay for a long time — making it crucial for marketers to up the ante for their email marketing strategy.
I believe that for one to make email marketing work, the approach from 2021 onwards needs to be radically different. As mailboxes continue to get cluttered, and differentiation in terms of ‘promotions’ or ‘junk’ exists, certain key parameters like email open rates, clickthrough rates and overall email effectiveness have taken a severe blow. Moreover, it helps to not rely entirely on social media platforms for audience engagement, and build an email list from early on. As one nurtures their email list, upping their trust quotient, it is possible to generate sales by just emailing customers about a new product — much like an on-demand genie in a bottle.
Here are 10 tactics that ensure your emails are impactful, in terms of reach and revenue.
Segment your Mailing List
Open rates on emails vary as per the segment one mails to. There are no relationships with the cold list, and open rates are under 1%. Buying email lists and bulk mailing not only fetches poor results, it is also spam. For an ‘opt-in list’, a good open rate is 10-20 percent. The highest open rates are going to be with the customer list — someone you have done business with. They can go to 20 per cent and beyond, depending on basic and advanced level customers.
Multiple Lead Magnets
For better email conversions, have multiple lead magnets. Do not just get people into your lists through one channel. When you have different lead magnets pointing back to the same entry point into your world, that is going to help one improve overall email effectiveness.
Differentiate Communication
When one is able to segment their email list, communication becomes effective. Go deeper into segmentation, and send out different sequences of communication. In case of a webinar, different emails go out based on engagement — for instance, if they attended, if they registered but didn’t attend or if they couldn’t complete the webinar. It’s all about communication to the right segment in the right way to make your email market more potent.
Promotional vs Conversational Messaging
The way you message your audience has to be conversational; it cannot always be promotional. Create a customer avatar of your ideal customer, visualize that person and write a marketing message as you would converse with them. Promotional messaging is immediately shown the Delete folder by readers. When you’re able to converse, even if you’re doing a promotion, embed conversation and emotions in the copy. Make it conversational, educational and informative. If you want to, include a call to action or link to purchase in the end.
Emails in Plain Text vs Rich Media Format
Speaking from experience, emails with plain text without any flashy elements get much better traction than those with newsletter designs and images. The latter is a flyer, and flyers don’t work anymore. People are numb to advertisements because of promotional bombardment. So, go with plain text emails and cut all the flash. As a general rule, write it like you’d write to a friend.
Getting to the Main Mailbox
If your customers have opted-in to your mailing list for a value driver, say a free ebook, a registration or an evaluation, make sure to deliver on the promise. Give them what they signed up for. Then, educate your list about dragging the mail to the primary inbox from the first mail itself, so it does not reach their promotions folder. This one initial step can save future emails from drowning in the ‘other’ folder.
Ask for a Reply
When sending an email, ask people in your list to reply back to the email. A back-and-forth will help the email service provider to register it as a conversation, and it will likely get into the priority list. A conversation thread will ensure higher visibility in the main inbox.
Optimise your Subject Line
The way the subject line and body copy are structured can affect where the email lands and if it gets read. Whether one prefers crisper subject lines or longer ones, make sure you understand the subject’s hook and also your target market. Steer clear from words like ‘free’ or ‘make money’, and symbols such as the dollar sign, which usually get filtered out. Avoid junk words.
The Warm-up Technique
To ensure you reach the main mailbox of your leads, send an email to your customer list first. Since this list is more responsive, the email will likely have a high open rate. Now, send the same email copy to your opt-in market. There will be a higher open rate because for Gmail, engagement has already happened on that content. Now, there’s a higher chance of hitting the main mailbox. I call it the warm up technique.
Create Value, then Pitch
The VVVP method stands for value-value-value-pitch. It’s crucial to nurture your lists and let them see value in your work, products or services. In the first three emails to a set of audience, create value for them by linking them to resources, or delivering on a promised service, such as a free PDF. In the fourth email, pitch a new product, and explain why they need to engage with it.
Build Multi-Channel Communication
Do not depend just on email. Invite your audience to connect on other channels, such as a Facebook group, a YouTube channel, or your Instagram handle. One must build their email list as a primary resource, but as one goes deeper, they can be looped into other channels so as to build multiple touch points of communication. Use email to feed other channels, and build a richer relationship with your list.
Many say the money is in the list, but the money is actually in your relationship with the list. Email is one of the most powerful channels for brand-building and influence, and must be utilised well.