Tag Archives: tips on email marketing

Black Friday Email Strategies

Black Friday Email Strategies Black Friday has presented small business owners with an opportunity to ramp up sales. Last year, for example, 165 million Americans shopped over the Thanksgiving weekend which runs from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. On Black Friday specifically, over $6.5 million worth of items were sold, a 23.6% increase from 2017. Let’s look at Black Friday email strategies.

The value of the average Black Friday order has also been increasing. Last year, the average order was valued at $147, up 8.5% from 2017.

The following email marketing tips should give you a head start in the scramble for this year’s sales, which are expected to surpass $7 billion.

Black Friday Email Strategies

Start early, way before Black Friday

A 2016 report by Adobe Marketing Cloud shows that businesses that gain the most from Black Friday kick off their campaigns long before the Thanksgiving weekend. Most of the successful marketers begin sending relevant marketing messages as early as November 1st.

This is when you should start your campaign. At worst, begin sending Black Friday-themed emails three weeks out. If you delay even for a few days, it could be too late. By the time you send your first message, competing brands will have already turned your customers’ heads.

Send a SALE announcement email

A sale announcement is a well-executed email stating publicly that you’ll have a sale on Black Friday. These emails help build anticipation and excitement among consumers.

There are a few points to observe, however. First, make sure that the email is direct and to the point. You want to have a standout subject line, such as “Black Friday Sale – 30% Off” and a single, overarching CTA. Secondly, use a high-quality product image in the announcement. For maximum impact, the product and images must be chosen wisely. Experts recommend using images of your best-selling or most interesting products.

Consider the FOMO strategy

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a strategy widely used by marketers to create urgency among consumers. As Black Friday approaches, you can turn to the time-tested tactic to boost your store traffic.

Feel free to use either the limited stock or limited time approach. Or, you could use both. Nicelaundry.com does an exciting “released only once a year” limited stock email campaign for their 3D socks every Black Friday. Essentially, there are a specific number of items such that the offer can run out anytime. Limited-time offers, meanwhile, run out after a given period. Remember to send reminder emails.

Send last-minute extended sale emails

Strategic “extended” deals also work like a charm. You put an irresistible offer on the table. But, the product or discount is only available for a limited time. When that window is about to shut, you extend the offer period by, say an hour, to give more people time to claim the deal.

Don’t forget to send email reminders about these extensions. Again, start with a catchy subject line such as “Extended Sale. Our 35% Off Deals Now End at 1.00 am.” Such subject lines stick out in the email inbox. Be sure to include a high-quality image of the product.

Supplement email with other channels

Finally, depending exclusively on email to run a Black Friday campaign would be wasteful. Not all customers will be checking their inboxes on Black Friday. And, even those who do might not check their inboxes 24/7. Using email alongside other channels such as text messaging, messaging apps (e.g. Messenger), and live chat will help you reach more people and convert even more sales.

Now You’re Ready to Get Started

Don’t forget to balance persistence with courtesy. In email marketing, too much is just as costly as too little. If you follow the above tips, you will be on your way to having a successful Black Friday weekend for your business.

Why People Unsubscribe from Your Email List

Why People Unsubscribe from Your Email List
It’s challenging enough to get people to subscribe to your mailing list, so when they start unsubscribing at a noticeable rate, it’s hard not to worry. Are you doing anything wrong? The likely answer is yes. But don’t fret! The usual reasons people unsubscribe can be addressed in the following ways:

Reason: You send too many emails

Whenever people access their inbox, they have several messages from you.  If this happens too often, they start feeling overwhelmed. Tired of deleting emails, the only other way out is to unsubscribe.

Solution: Give delivery options.

Let people choose how often they hear from you. Some prefer weekly; others want monthly. Some want to be updated right away, while others just want a summary of highlights. Different strokes for different folks, so provide several options they can choose from. And stop sending messages several times a day!

Reason: You send too few emails.

Not sending enough emails is just as bad as sending too many. When people hardly hear from you, they don’t remember they subscribed, so they unsubscribe or even worse, report you as spam. As expected, balance is important.

Solution: Stick to a consistent schedule.

Life can get in the way of email-writing, but try to follow a publication schedule. Even if you send emails twice a month, it establishes a pattern people can recognize, and they know when to expect to hear from you.

But what if it isn’t you, it’s them? There’s still something you can do:

Reason: They signed up by mistake.

It’s easy to click on the wrong buttons on smartphones and tablets. The result is people subscribing to newsletters they never intended to join in the first place. They only realize what happened when they get messages from you.

Solution: Use a double opt-in form.

These people aren’t major losses because they won’t become conversions, but they skew your marketing data. To prevent accidental signups, use a double opt-in form that confirms their subscription.  This ensures that all members of your mailing list are either potential or existing customers.

Reason: They canceled by mistake.

Again, we can blame the small screens of mobile devices for the increasing number of accidental cancellation.  People who don’t plan to unsubscribe still leave your email list because they didn’t realize what they’ve done. They’ll just wonder why they haven’t heard from you and assume you’re too busy.

Solution: Use a double opt-out form

If you ask people to confirm their subscription, then it makes sense to confirm their cancellation. Otherwise, you’d lose a good lead, and that’s a shame. Only those who intend to leave your mailing list will go through the whole process of opting out.

Reason: Your content is too sales-y.

People who knowingly joined your mailing list did so because they want to get relevant content from you. So if you bombard them with ad after ad and not much else, they’ll unsubscribe.

Solution: Deliver content your subscribers find useful.

Soft sell is the way to go when communicating with your subscribers. They’re more likely to respond positively if you give them what they want first, which is information they’ve been looking for.

Building your mailing list is not just about getting new subscribers. It’s also about retaining the ones you already have. Work on both, and you’ll see considerable growth in your subscriptions.

Triggers to Help People Subscribe to your Newsletter

Triggers to Help People Subscribe to your Newsletter

A quality, qualified, opt-in only list of people who want to read your emails and look forward to your newsletters is the single most important thing you can do for your digital marketing ROI and your bottom line. The only trick is, getting people to opt in.

To get people to subscribe, you’ll need to give them a compelling reason to do just that. Here are a few you may not have thought of:

1. Social Proof: a Numbers Game

Here’s a secret: no one will ever want to be the first to sign up for your list. They probably won’t want to be 10th either. But if you’ve got hundreds of people subscribed, they’ll want to know what’s great about your newsletter. If you have a big list already, use that social proof to boost your numbers!  Share the number such as, “Join over 5,000 others…”

2. Keep Them Guessing

The best newsletters, emails, and headlines tell just enough to get you interested but leave some mystery. To get more subscriptions, you need to learn the art of keeping your target audience guessing, just enough.

3. Use the Power of Exclusivity

There’s a reason people will spend months on the waiting list for a Gucci purse, and then spend enough to buy a small car to get one: exclusivity. The more exclusive the club, the more people want to be in it, so make your list an invitation-only affair, or put a time or number limit on it.

4. Promise Something Great… and Deliver

Successful newsletters have people waiting for them. If they can’t wait for your newsletter to arrive because it’s so full of deals, information, and other valuable stuff, you’ll have a captive audience. Because it’s not just about getting the subscriptions: it’s about keeping them too!

There is so much information and so many options that people are fatigued. They’re inundated with choices, and drowning in variety, so if you want to make email marketing work for you, you really have to stand out.

Make it easy to sign up. Give people compelling reasons to try your newsletter, and then consistently over deliver your content. In a world full of bored and jaded people, it’s the companies that delight and surprise that really stand out.

Never Buy an Email List

Never Buy an Email List

Everywhere you turn, you hear email marketing gives you the best returns of any digital marketing method. However, attracting subscribers to your email list takes time and effort.

You may think that buying a list would save you time and effort. It’s tempting to shortcut the process of building your own list. But buying an email list brings a lot of trouble your way.

Poor Data Quality

10,000 records might sound like a great foundation for your email marketing efforts. The reality is that you end up with a list filled with data quality issues. Inaccurate emails, missing names, and other problems make the information practically useless for your company.

Failure to Comply with CAN-SPAM

Do you know how the list provider got the emails that they’re selling? If they put together the list without getting an opt-in from all parties, then they’re not following the CAN-SPAM act. If you use this list for your emails, guess what? You’re on the hook for any violations as well. It only takes a few fines from CAN-SPAM to ruin your day and your marketing budget.

Email Deliverability Problems

One element that spam filters look at when determining whether your mail is spam is the deliverability. If you have a lot of people marking your message as spam, the email filter is going adjust its behavior accordingly. You don’t have a preexisting relationship with the paid lists; it’s unlikely you’re going to offer something relevant to their needs. All the people marking your emails as spam adds up. It will be hard to get your message out there.

Violating Email Service Provider TOS

How closely did you read your email service provider’s terms of service? Many of the top companies specifically state that you can’t use a list that was paid for. After all, it’s their email servers on the line if you start taking actions similar to a spammer.

Poor Conversion Rates

Even if you get a paid list with a specific niche, you can’t truly know if you have a targeted audience at the other end. When you have a mismatch, you see poor conversion rates. Your organization also takes a reputation hit, which can further impact your conversion ratio.

List Saturation

Nothing stops an email list provider from selling an “exclusive list” as many times as they want. After all, how likely is it that you’ll find out someone else is using the same list? This list oversaturation results in a lot of people who are tired of their inboxes getting filled up with junk.

Need help building your list? Contact Digital Hill, we can help you develop a strategy using Waftio to do it right.

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