Fullerton
Every business has to send emails. They send emails to employees, they send emails to industry connections, and they send emails to customers and clients. That’s a lot of emails!
You could end up spending all day, every day trying to send out emails, but there are so many other things you should be focused on. Instead of burying your head in emails day-in and day-out, follow these tips to help your business get the most out of sending digital mail.
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Know the Difference Between Email Marketing and Outreach
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When most businesses start thinking about sending emails, they think of sending emails directly to customers and clients. It’s a great way to connect directly with the people who are most interested in your products and services, but it isn’t the only kind of email you need to think about.
You also have to do outreach. What’s the difference?
Email marketing is about reaching out to a list of customers and clients without the expectation that you will receive an email back. Outreach, on the other hand, is a great way to do PR. It involves contacting media outlets with the expectation of receiving a response.
For example, GMass is a great tool when doing outreach. It allows you to personalize emails, even if they are being sent to a large group of people, you can track opens, and there are features that enable you to send responses. In contrast, MailChimp is an example of an email marketing program that focuses on offering features that enable you to engage a target audience on a regular basis with marketing strategies.
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Have a Plan for Sending Emails
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If you want your email campaign to be successful, you can’t just wait until you’re in the mood one morning to send out emails. You have to have a plan for how often you’re going to send them and what each one will contain.
You should create a schedule for sending out marketing emails so readers know when to expect your mail in their inbox. When it comes to outreach, you should have a plan for sending follow-up emails.
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Keep Things Simple
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No matter what kind of email you’re going to send, the entire goal of the email is to get the person receiving it to read it. The best way to do that is to keep things simple.
You should include high-value content in your email, but you shouldn’t overwhelm the reader with too much information. If you have more to say, include a link to your website or suggest scheduling a phone call.
Keeping things simple also means thinking carefully about the design of your email. Marketing emails have the ability to be a bit more creative in this arena. You can choose bold colors and vibrant images to catch the attention of readers.
When it comes to outreach or company emails, skip the wild colors and keep things in black and white instead.
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Make It Easy for the Reader to Take Action
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Unless you’re sending an internal email that is meant to inform employees, you will want the reader to take some kind of action. Making it easy to take action is important.
There are a lot of creative ways to include a call to action on your website to build your reader list, but don’t forget about CTAs in your emails! Consider including:
- A link to finish reading an article on your website
- Your contact information, so they can give you a call
- A link to your direct email inbox
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Maintain Organized Lists
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Building an email list from scratch is exciting, but finding new people to email isn’t the only thing you have to do when it comes to your list. You also have to maintain it.
Make sure you have separate lists for outreach efforts and marketing efforts because each will require different kinds of emails.
It also means going through your list from time to time and removing addresses that get returned. In addition, as your list evolves, you may realize there are some people that should be removed simply because they are inactive, or they no longer are a good match for your business’s goals.
Sending emails can be a messy business, but with the tips on this list, it doesn’t have to be. You can streamline the process of sending and receiving emails, freeing up plenty of time for you to do other things that are more important to the operation of your business.
