Email Marketing Tips for SMEs

Email communications remain the cornerstone of online marketing; done right, they can be an affordable way to remind customers about your brand as well as developing your relationship to them along the way.

How to Keep your Email Subscribers Happy

And that’s why it’s important to show your customers that your business is worthy of their email address. So how do you keep your email subscribers happy? Here are a few tips to help get you started…

Make the Sign-Up Process Quick and Easy

If you’re thinking of starting a newsletter, make sure that it’s easy for your users to subscribe. Provide a clear form in a prominent location on your homepage or blog. Try to design a simple form that doesn’t ask for too much information – but don’t be afraid to add a birthday date field – sending your customers a birthday e card is a great way to sweeten their opinion of your brand.

Say ‘Hello’ with a Welcome Email

It’s always a good idea to get off to a good start with a friendly welcome email. You could even send your customers a discount code or provide them with some exclusive content to say thanks for trusting you with their email address and as an incentive to pay attention to future mailings.

Send Email Marketing that’s Mobile Friendly

When we developed the Ecard Mint website, we were adamant that all our ecards should be compatible with all mainstream mobile devices, and therefore created designs which could be viewed on most smartphone and tablets including iPads and iPhones. But why was this such a big deal for us?

Just ask ReturnPath who published this infographic with a number of very persuasive statistics, including this one:

43% of Europeans and a staggering 63% of Americans would close or, even worse, junk a marketing email that wasn’t optimized for use on mobiles.

Brand your Marketing Emails Clearly

Make sure your marketing emails fit in with your brand by adding your company logo, a link to your website and your social networking profiles. This isn’t just about directing people to different marketing channels, but about giving your customers the full picture of your brand and what it can offer your subscribers.

It’s exactly why each and every one of these elements is present when you come to customising one of our corporate ecards.

Keep your Newsletters Brief

Amongst the abundance of other emails in their inbox, your communication has limited time to make an impact. So it stands to reason that brevity and clarity should be your main mantras when it comes to creating the copy for your newsletter. Subheadings, short paragraphs and content that you can get the jist of at a glance are all great ways to ensure that your readers stay subscribed.

And Above All, Make it Relevant

Ask yourself why you’re sending your marketing email; what are your goals and what will your contact list get from your newsletter. One sure-fire way to encourage ‘unsubscribe’ emails is to send a communication that has no real purpose. But by keeping your email campaigns user friendly, easy to digest and, above all, relevant, you might just earn you and your company a great return on your investments in email marketing.