When a business sends an email to one or more customers, they are using an email marketing campaign. Email marketing strategies serve as a road map for companies looking to maximize the effectiveness of their email campaigns. Email strategy planning is an important aspect of any email marketing or campaign.

The goals of email strategy planning consist of users making a purchase, users downloading content, and users requesting further information. Properly utilized, email strategy planning provides a direct channel of communication with customers for achieving the said goals. Additionally, an email will be an essential tool for you if you follow the email strategy planning accordingly.

Rules and Regulations

Now, there are a variety of regulations in place across the world to protect individuals against unsolicited emails. Emails should be used sparingly, and businesses should refrain from misusing this form of communication. Doing some research first on the rules of your country is recommended. While they differ in severity, it’s critical to recognize one very essential rule. In addition to that, if someone wishes to be removed from your contact list, you must comply with their request or risk fines.

Service Providers for Your Email Strategy

An email marketing campaign would not be possible without an email service provider (ESP). These are partners that can help you manage the email design and send it.

The vast majority of ESPs do not operate on autopilot. Rather, they equip you with the necessary tools so that you may manage it on your own. The things for consideration when choosing an ESP are as follows:

  • Ease of use
  • Uploading and migrating the contact list
  • Self-service or managed
  • Process of reporting
  • Deliverability
  • Authority
  • Practices for direct marketing
  • Data storage

Examples of email service providers are as follows: 

  • Gmail
  • Yahoo
  • Outlook
  • AOL
  • Zoho
  • Mail.com
  • Protonmail
  • Hushmail

Taking into account the appropriate email service provider for your campaign, you may now proceed with the strategy and planning. 

Before running a successful email campaign, email strategy planning should be done right. A strategy is essential for a number of reasons and the most significant steps will be discussed next.

How to Conduct Email Strategy Planning 

Email strategy should be inclined with your business, marketing, and digital strategy. It is essential to employ proper email strategy planning so you can reach the target audience while keeping their interest. These are the steps as to how email strategy planning is done right.

Grow a database

A database is a list of subscribers that agreed to receive marketing emails from companies. While running an email campaign, a company should have a valid opt-in database. Permission should be explicitly given to the receiver of a marketing email.

LOOKING FOR A ONE-STOP SOLUTION TO YOUR GROWTH NEEDS?

Companies are putting their reputations in danger by abusing this. In many countries, spamming practices such as sending large numbers of unwanted emails are punishable by law.

It is critical to track the permissions produced for each user. A timestamp is a vital component of the data gathering and opt-in process. This protects a business from spam complaints and possible legal action. Keep the database targeted while growing it. The database should only have one entry, that is the prospect’s email, but also needs to consider the following:

  • Name, surname, and title
  • Date of granted permission
  • Who gave the permission
  • Gender
  • Country
  • Contact number
  • Date of birth
  • Frequency of receiving emails

Keep in mind that the more information that can be gathered, the more emails can be customized for the prospect. However, this affects the rate of prospects signing up. Don’t ask for more unnecessary information, but instead request it over time. 

Designing an email

Emails must be viewed and created as HTML for most devices, and basic text emails for simpler phones. Text emails are text only. You can utilize this by using a Notepad and saving it as a ‘.txt’ file. HTML emails have more complexity in them. These can contain graphics, varying fonts, and hyperlinks. Subscribers should be given the choice as to how they want to view the marketing email. An email follows a format and these are the parts of an email:

  • Sender information
  • Subject line
  • Preheader
  • Header
  • Personalized greeting
  • Body
  • Footer
  • Unsubscribe link

Email Templates

When it comes to creating emails, you can work with email templates to save more time and some ESPs offer templates. The two types of email templates are paid-for templates and custom-designed templates. In choosing between the two, flexibility, price, representation, and structure must be considered. 

Design Considerations and Guidelines

Design is the process of how it is built, which affects the delivery and the interaction of the users with it. Emails need to have a good overall feel and look to them. Users scan emails in an F-shape pattern. Using this pattern, you can plan the information accordingly.

HTML and CSS principles in designing differ for email and web. The guidelines in designing emails are below:

  • Use table nesting
  • Specify width and spacing for each cell
  • Include 100% width table when using block background color
  • Fonts must be larger than 9px
  • Use inline CSS
  • Test emails before sending

Preview Pane

Most users view emails in their desktop clients and prefer to view them in the preview panes. Consider the design of the preview pane. These are the tips for the preview pane designs:

  • 600px width works best
  • Preview panes favor the top left side of emails
  • Use plain and email-friendly fonts
  • Consider the appropriate images to display
  • Place logo in the top left
  • Include Call to Action 
  • Use the preview pane as a table of contents

Images and Call to Action

Use alt text for images that are used in the email and minimize using images to deliver important information. This makes sure that your email makes sense with or without images. 

The design of emails must support the Calls to Action. For marketing to be successful, the goals and KPIs must be supported by the layout and design of the email. In general, both CTA buttons and text links are effective for clickthroughs. 

Testing

Be sure to test the layout and design to ensure the content’s clarity. Ensure that images and links line up and work properly. You can also test the variations in what results in a high rate of clickthrough and conversion on your marketing.

  1. Content

Content is a crucial aspect of the email strategy. Moreover, your email’s content should be relevant and valuable to the receiver. Value is in terms of information and how it addresses the needs of the receivers. The consistency of the content must be ensured to strengthen the bond of the business and the customers. Ensure that you supply the most important information first and that the email is scannable. 

  1. Deploying

Following the appropriate email strategy planning, the email is ensured for an excellent rate of delivery. It’s also vital to keep everything consistent and on time. The timing varies by the audience, and by testing, you can be guided with the correct time in sending emails. In general, it is best to send emails from Tuesday to Thursday.

Email Reputation

Now, internet service providers and your subscribers score your email reputation. If the score is within the threshold of the ISP, the email will be delivered. If not, they will mark the email as spam.

  1. Measuring and Testing

The key to growth and success are digital marketing, analyzing, tracking, and optimizing. Email tracking systems usually produces user-friendly statistics. Additionally, the key measurables for evaluating the performance of campaigns are as follows:

  • Number of delivered emails, bounces, and unique emails opened
  • Unsubscribes
  • Rate of pass-on
  • Rates of clickthrough and conversion

When it comes to testing, it is important to ensure that the efforts of your email marketing are improving. A common form of testing emails is conducting an A/B test. This involves sending one version to a percentage of the database and sending a modified one to the remainder. The factors to test include:

  • Different subject lines and delivery times
  • Optimal quantity of links for rates of clickthrough and conversion
  • Varying copy styles and length
  • Effects of video
  • Text and image ratio

© Image credits to Negative Space

LOOKING FOR A ONE-STOP SOLUTION TO YOUR GROWTH NEEDS?