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We know that email marketing provides results time and time again for business owners just like you. But you don’t have to take our word for it — we have the numbers to back it up, plus advice on how to create your email marketing strategy. As the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding (and it’s a pretty great pudding).
Why is an email marketing strategy important?
If you can only do one thing to market your business, make sure that you create an email marketing strategy. Yes, it’s that important.
With 4 billion unique users worldwide, email has a larger reach than most social media channels. Not only does it have a larger reach but also it’s a more effective way to engage customers. In fact, you’re “five times more likely to be seen via email than Facebook”, according to Campaign Monitor.
It’s also important to note that “77 percent of consumers prefer email over social media for permission-based promotional messages,” according to OptinMonster.
What are the benefits of an email marketing strategy?
Email marketing allows you to reach your customers each week with a pretty impressive return on investment (ROI). According to Statista, for every pound invested, the average return is £35.41. Think about that for a moment. What other marketing strategy can give you that type of return? If you think of one, we’re all ears.
Email marketing also allows you to build credibility and strong relationships with customers. In fact, 49 percent of those asked in the US said they would like to receive weekly promotional email from their favourite brands, according to Statista.
If that’s not enough reason to create an email marketing strategy, you should know that welcome email has a 91-percent open rate and a 26.9-percent clickthrough rate, according to GetResponse. Your customers want to hear from you — the numbers don’t lie.
How can you get started with an email marketing strategy?
Now that you know all the reasons why you need an email marketing strategy, let’s get started on creating one.
You first need to decide what your email marketing goal is. Do you want customers to come into your shop? Do you want them to visit your online store? Do you want them to engage with your business? What about getting them to an event or using a promotion?
Once you set a goal, dig a bit deeper. To whom, exactly, are you sending this email? How will you measure their engagement? How long will the campaign run? Define if the campaign is a one-time send (to announce a Black Friday sale, for example), or an ongoing trigger email sent to customers regularly (like a welcome email when they are first added to your email list, or a birthday email).
Then you can define your audience and use Square Marketing to set up your email marketing campaign. If you’re not sure how to create an email campaign, Square’s step-by-step guide can help.
Through your Square Dashboard, you can collect email addresses online through a hosted sign-up page and embedded sign-up form. A hosted sign-up page allows you to share a unique URL on social media that takes your customers to a dedicated landing page where they can share their email address.
An embedded sign-up form gives you an embeddable widget where your customers can add their email address. You can also collect addresses with the Square Point of Sale app by enabling the email collection screen for the app: Just tap Email Collection within the Settings menu.
What else should you consider when creating an email marketing strategy?
Remember to send your email on the same day, at the same time, each week. Your customers will appreciate your consistency and may even start to enjoy your email so much that they look forward to it.
To keep your email marketing engaging and captivating, pay attention to the tone of voice of your emails. Tailor the language and style to match your brand personality and connect with your audience effectively. If your strategy contains multiple messages, you can keep your customers engaged with different types of content in each send. Maybe one week you send your customers a voucher, the next week an event invitation, and then the following week a behind-the-scenes look at your business. By changing up the content you send, you can pique your customers’ interest in not only your products but also your business as a whole.
