8 Tips that Turns Email Marketing into a Lucrative Venture
Marketers who wish to connect and communicate to millennials should look at moving some of their marketing budget into mobile advertising and email marketing. A study conducted in 2010 indicated that millennials outpace older generations in mobile use.
The high proliferation of new mobile tools and social media outlets such as SnapChat, We Chat among many more, might wrongly make a marketer suspect that the old tools, like email, are irrelevant to this group. The same study quoted above indicated that 90% of the modern generation use the internet to receive and send an email.
A recent study done by Principal Financial Group was an eye opener about how the modern generation prefer to have one-to-one communication with business institutions, whether it is updates, customer service, transactions or other dialogs. Given the option between doing so through postal mail, email, social media, text message, in person, online chat or phone call; a majority of respondents chose email communication. For internet users, who view transparency, personalization and brand authenticity as basic needs for attracting their attention, email is what they use to conduct continuous one-to-ones with brands.
Email is part of the foundation on which all person's digital identity is built. For instance, there isn’t a single social media outlet that does not request an email address during signup. As of late 2013, 61% of webmail users preferred using mobile devices and 51% of email signups were done on mobile devices.
###8 rules that make email marketing campaigns most effective?
1. Mobilize
Mobile devices being so pervasive that more than 80% of the modern generation sleep with their phones by the side of their bed, every email marketing program should be responsive across any screen size.
2. Create killer content
High-quality content is paramount, and that’s about customization again. Make the content relevant and relatable, and communicate to the audience on their specific individual terms. It may require the use of gamification tactics or embedded video in order to look smart and provoke thought.
3. Champion choice
Building on their desire for personalization, millennials are offered various options in terms of content, timing, frequency and many more. They will, as a result appreciate and respond.
4. Shorten the content and ensure straight to the point communication
Long format content is plague to the modern generation. One should resist the temptation of putting everything on this earth into a single email. Emails should not overflow with tertiary, secondary, and primary calls to action. Chunk it up to ensure that it is easily shareable and scan-able.
5. Make sharing a visible option
Millennials don’t open their emails in browsers like older consumers. Being on mobile devices, they scan and share with social media straight from the content. To level up the engagement rates, embed the buttons for sharing beside each email.
6. Test timing and keep testing
Embrace experimentation and testing in everything you do. Don’t assume the times of the day or week days that deliver high open rates for former audiences will work similarly for millennials. Modern youths can access email anywhere, anytime since they spend their life on mobile.
7. Offer incentives and special offers
Special offers and gifts based on prior services, discount codes, exclusive access, content unlocks or any other tangible benefit will work right for an email marketing program.
8. Cross the channels
A majority of people want a coherent integration between email, IM, mobile web and other platforms. Don’t risk annoying some potential clients by partitioning your email program from other channels. One should ensure perfect integration between the technical aspect and the content.