Creating an Email Marketing Plan

Email is a POWERFUL tool for businesses, from keeping customers aware of the latest and greatest, to building and nurturing relationships. It can also, if done poorly, burn a relationship and lose customers. That’s why having a plan is critical to leveraging the platform successfully. Here are the keys to a killer email marketing plan!

Successful Email Marketing Plan Keys

Sign-Ups

Have multiple available channels to gather subscribers to your list. Website, social forms, those sorts of things. The more avenues there are to gather, the more likely you are to net the sign up. Be able to identify where those sign ups occur, this is important for later!

Define the Audience

When your audience signs up, pay attention to the demographics they provide. Look at where they most commonly sign up (do they sign up mostly on your Facebook form?) and communicate with them through that avenue. If 90% of your list is coming from Facebook, you have a good idea on the kinds of things they are seeing and are interested in.

Segments and Groups

With the audience demos you get, put together segments and groups of like-minded people. While everyone should have some similarities (they purchased product X, shared form Z, etc.)  further segmentation can get more defined, allowing for more relevant outreach.  The more relevant, the better it performs - way better (go figure!)

What to Write

Keep in mind what subscribers signed up for originally. What offer got them to give you their email? Was it a code, an eBook full of educational info? That was their initial interest, keep serving it.

Build out a list of potential content ideas for future reference:

• Deals
• Popular posts on social media
• Recaps/photos of events
• New product announcements

Treat your subscribers like gold, because they are. They signed up to allow you to communicate with them directly. Don’t waste their time. Let them know about things before the rest of your consumers, ask them their opinions. They’re your VIPs, treat 'em that way.

Keep your emails:

• Short
• Useful
• Lively
• Inspired

Additionally consider what specific segment you’re reaching out to. Include something tailored for that group. Maybe it’s a code for frequent purchasers of product A, or maybe it’s a social post relating to babies that targets a segment of parents. This keeps it useful and relevant to that audience, meaning they'll keep opening your emails knowing you always offer something great.

Establish Your Schedule

Not every list needs to hear from you once a week. Over stuffing your audience’s inbox is a surefire way to get ignored or lose them as a subscriber. After all, if they think you’ll send another email tomorrow, or the day after, why open this one when the subject line doesn’t grab them?The only way to know that right amount is to test. Weekly emails are common, twice a month keep them spaced out more, perhaps drumming up more interest when they arrive and increasing the open rate? Maybe not. Depends on the market, audience, and most of all what they can expect from your emails!If you need help from other members of your team in creating emails (we do, emails need to look fresh) create an ongoing, understood, and workable schedule internally.  For example: Day 1 write content, Day 3 have designs done, Day 5 test send, Day 7 send it to your list!

Test, Test, Test

As with every other bit of marketing we can do, test everything.

• Test different email clients or ISPs to ensure the email looks great no matter where it’s opened.
• Send test emails to coworkers/friends/family - getting fresh eyes on it might spot something you didn’t notice.
• Run A/B testing. Test specific variables against each other. Half the audience gets Subject A, the other Subject B. Refine the best time for your audience to receive/open emails,

Leverage Automation, When it Makes Sense

Using a simple nurture sequence when folks first subscribe can make all the difference into teaching them what to expect when you hit their inbox. More on this another time.

Review Performance

For the Plan to work, you need to have measurables that can back it up. Check the open rate, the clicks, the website traffic, look at any numbers you have access to to find the story they tell. If opens are low, investigate. Is the subject line not working? Are the emails being delivered to spam? Are your emails going out at the wrong time of day for your audience. With the performance reviewed, go back to the top of the plan and confirm best practices down the line. Ensure you’re getting the right sign ups, your segments make sense, your content is what readers want to see, and you are maximizing your chances with solid testing.Helix House has handled email marketing campaigns for dozens of clients, from eCommerce brands to B2B companies innovating their space and we've gotten results. Need help navigating the new media channels? Give us a call and see what Helix House can do for you!