Imagine creating emails as satisfying as freshly baked cupcakes.
Sounds good, is not it?
Your readers would eagerly bite into your content. And wait anxiously until the next time you hit send.
Can an e-mail be ever that good?
For Sarah Waters, brand director of Treat Cupcake Bar, email marketing is one of the most effective ways to boost the appetite of her customers and entice them to shop with her.
"We are the kind of store where people can only come every two months, so we really have to be able to reach people by email," says Sarah. "Email has certainly helped increase our online orders. People who can click and buy online have been huge."
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Here are the four ingredients of Sarah's e-mails:
1. Start with an enticing entry experience
Since she's signed up for email marketing, Sarah has expanded her e-mail list to over 2,500 contacts. She collects contact information both online and in-store to reach her audience at multiple points of contact.
Her registration form is visible on every page of her website – not just on the home page. She also uses the Facebook Join My Mailing List application so that anyone visiting her Facebook page can easily join her mailing list.
Here's how the application Join my mailing list appears on his Facebook page:
In store, Sarah offers a small incentive to encourage people to sign up.
"We have bowls in our two stores asking people to" sign up for the Friends of Treat mailing list, "she says." When they sign up, they're also engaged in a monthly raffle to win a dozen cupcakes. "
Tip: Use this list to make sure you are doing everything you can to create your mailing list.
2. Send only valuable information
With a growing list of subscribers, Sarah is sure to make sure every email counts. His emails include information on upcoming sales, details of in-store events and creative solutions.
"We never want to put together a newsletter that seems to have no reason to be," she says. "We always want to have the impression that we are informing them of something new.We do not want anyone to have the impression of sending them garbage or something that they know already. "
Sarah points out that her emails are not always promotional. His advice for great marketing is to simply understand your customers and what interests them.
"You do not have to always send sales," says Sarah. "If you send a creative recommendation (such as a cupcake centerpiece) or a unique gift idea that can be a breath of fresh air among all the special offers." We try to solve a problem for them or have a problem. to offer inspiration. "
Here is an email that Sarah sent to remind customers of Treat's gluten-free options:
Tip: Use these 30 e-mail ideas when you do not know what to send.
3. Be About
Timing is an important part of Sarah's email marketing strategy. When she decides what she should send, she thinks about the holidays and how Treat Cupcake Bar can fit into her clients' plans.
"I try to assign one day a month where I can think about what my game plan will be," Sarah explains. "I plan things around the holidays – for example, I know that in October and November, I should send emails about Halloween and Thanksgiving."
Working around the holidays means that Sarah's messages are always timely and she is able to plan things in advance.
"My advice is to write your game plan in advance," she says. "It saves me a lot of time to have a calendar with what type of content I want to send in. And then, it's sticking to that schedule as best as you can."
Sarah sent this email to promote personalized orders for Thanksgiving:
Tip: Here's how to create an email marketing plan to which you will adhere.
4. Keep the emails short and sweet
A recent Constant Contact survey found that emails with about 20 lines of text and three or fewer images had the highest clickthrough rate.
For Sarah, the use of a mobile-friendly e-mail template allows her to create short, targeted messages that are quick to create and easy to read.
"I want my emails to be clean, and I want, from the moment someone opens it, that they can see the goal without scrolling down," says Sarah. "I'm going to add a cute and whimsical header, a big picture of something that makes them hungry, and just a line or two about what email is about."
Sarah makes sure the main picture goes back to her website and she always includes contact information and buttons on her social media channels.
The example below includes an engaging header, an image and a short description, and a call to action to order online:
Tip: Use these steps to design emails to generate more action.
Make your readers hungry for your next email!
Using Sarah's advice, you can create emails that your subscribers are happy to consume.
Do not bite more than you can chew – choose one of these four tips where you think you can make the biggest improvement. Even small improvements can make a big difference and greatly contribute to the retention of new and existing customers.
Photos via permanent contact