Building an engaged email list can be one of the most profitable marketing initiatives you could put in place.
Introduction
At mailfloss we’re focused on helping email marketers get the most from their email marketing campaigns. We do this in a few different ways. First, we help email marketers improve their deliverability through the use of our email list verification service. Secondly, we work hard to educate email marketers on the various topics relating to running a successful email marketing campaign.
Today, mailfloss had the opportunity to chat with Yosef Silver, founder of Fusion Inbound, a digital marketing agency, to talk about how he approaches email marketing for maximum gain.
Without further ado, let’s jump into the interview.
The Interview
You take a cross channel approach when working on marketing campaigns for your clients. In your experience what channels provide the best opportunity for sales conversions? What channels do you generally see as the lowest risk / highest reward?
A strong email list is the missing piece of the digital marketing channel for so many brands. Taking a cross-channel approach to building an engaged email list can be one of the most profitable marketing initiatives you could put in place. This doesn't mean buying email lists — never buy an email list — but think about what you can do within your funnel to have people opt in to your content.
You have extensive knowledge of both marketing automation and email marketing. Tell us a little bit more about your experience where these two worlds intersect. What are some of the most successful email marketing automation strategies that you've deployed and why do you feel like they were so successful?
This depends very much on your niche and the way you approach email and automation. I have found that many people send coupons or discounts, and focus so much on their own brand. When I think of successful email and automation, they have one thing in common. They speak to the value they are adding for the customer. If your content leads with "we" or "us" take another look at the content. It's not "we put this on sale" it's "you can benefit from sale pricing".
Let's talk a little bit more about email opt-in optimization. What type of lead magnets, as well as magnet placements, have you seen used successfully to help increase the opt-in conversion rate of an email newsletter?
Not all opt-ins are equal. Start your segmentation early and tailor the emails to the opt-in. Does the language match the landing page? Does the lead magnet match the ad copy — I know, this sounds obvious but I've seen mistakes happen more often than you'd think. I also recommend refreshing your content frequently. If there are seasonalities in your industry, a lead magnet that works well in spring might not work well in winter.
Generally speaking, once a subscriber joins up for a mailing list, what is a good first email to send within the sequence? In your opinion, what should the goal of the first email in an email sequence be?
I think of the first email as your chance to fulfill a promise. Give the user what they are looking for. Be direct, and create a good first impression. If you promised them a checklist, deliver it. Don't hide it behind another video or another signup process.
Let's talk a little bit more about email marketing and sending frequency. How do you approach email sending frequency for your clients?
You need to really know your audience and provide value with every email. I believe in creating content that will resonate and provide value to the user rather than creating content dictated by the calendar. At the end of the day, the more value you offer, the better it will perform. There's a balance to be found to make sure you have ongoing engagement and interaction too.
In terms of engagement (i.e. opens/clicks) what types of email content have you seen perform best?
I have found that a highly targeted, detailed, and easy to understand abandoned cart email series can have outstanding open rates and drive tremendous conversions. And with the right copy, my testing has proved that you don't need to offer a coupon or discount to convert these abandoned carts into sales.
Lastly, if you could go back in time and give a younger version of yourself three pieces of advice with regards to creating the best email titles, what would those three pieces of advice be?
Don't neglect the importance of spending time writing the perfect subject line. The subject line can be as important as the copy in the email itself.
Know when to offer a coupon or discount, and when to educate and portray value. You don't want your entire customer base to expect a discount every time you email them.
Don't be lazy when it comes to segmentation, use the data available to send emails that will resonate with your audience.
Thank you greatly for taking the time to chat with mailfloss’s email marketing blog readers today Yosef. We really appreciate you taking the time. To our audience, if you’d like to learn more about Yosef and the work he does, you can follow him on Twitter or head over to his website here.