Every entrepreneur knows: a website doesn’t grow on its own. Building strong customer relationships requires effort. Are you ready to take action? In this blog post, we share our best email marketing tips, especially for entrepreneurs who want to grow and aren’t afraid of a challenge.
Why email marketing?
Every day, we are flooded with emails. Some we read eagerly, while others go straight to the trash without being opened. While not every customer will want to receive your emails, email marketing offers several key benefits:
- (Almost) everyone has an email address. This makes it an excellent way to reach a large part of your target audience.
- Automated campaigns. Smart email campaigns ensure a continuous flow of relevant content for new subscribers.
- Stronger customer relationships. Unlike many other channels, email is a personal medium, offering opportunities to build stronger connections with customers.
- Avoid ad fatigue. Readers don’t always want to be pushed into making a purchase. Email marketing also allows you to create engaging and valuable content for your audience.
- Measurable success. How many readers open your emails? What actions do they take? This information is easy to track with minimal effort.
The first 3 steps to successful email marketing campaigns
Successful email marketing starts with:
- Collecting subscriptions
- Developing a strategy
- Choosing the right tool
Before moving on to our advanced email marketing tips, make sure you have these steps in place.
1) Collecting subscriptions in compliance with GDPR
Without subscribers, there are no results. Not enough signups for your mailing list? Read our post, where I explain how to build sign-up forms with Elementor. For larger campaigns, you can also create a landing page to convince visitors to subscribe.
For both approaches:
- Highlight the benefits for visitors. Why should they subscribe?
- Show examples of what they can expect. How often will you email them? What kind of content will they receive?
- Use different opt-ins and pages for different purposes. Don’t place the same call-to-action on every page. Make sure it fits the content of each page.
It’s also crucial to collect email addresses in a way that complies with GDPR. This means you must get explicit consent before sending newsletters or emails.
2) Setting up a strategy
A good strategy is essential for effective email marketing, define:
- Your goals
- Your target audience(s)
- How often you’ll send emails
- What content you’ll include
- Which tools you’ll use
You can create a single strategy for all your email marketing efforts or develop specific strategies for different campaigns. This allows you to target different segments more effectively and achieve better results.
Your overarching strategy for weekly or monthly newsletters serves as the foundation for your various campaign strategies.
3) Launching your email campaign with EmailOctopus
For most clients, we use EmailOctopus as our email marketing tool. After trying Mailchimp, we chose EmailOctopus because of its ease of use and affordability. It’s free for up to 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails per month.
EmailOctopus – Create new campaign
Once you’ve created an account, you can set up your first campaign. Here are some useful email marketing tips for beginners:
- Use merge tags to personalize your emails. The {{FirstName}} tag, for example, allows you to insert the recipient’s first name (if provided). You can find merge tags in the EmailOctopus text editor.
- Leverage branding features. Under Account Settings > Branding, you can customize logos, colors, and fonts to match your brand identity. These settings automatically apply to both emails and widgets, saving time and ensuring consistency.
- Always send a test email. Most email marketing tools let you send a test version to yourself. Use this feature to check how your email appears across different email clients, and review it on your mobile device as well.
The secret to successful email campaigns
Whether you’re promoting products or sharing insights, three key factors make every email successful:
- Relevance – The most important email marketing tip is ensuring your emails are relevant to the recipient. Ask yourself: Does this subscriber really want to receive this email right now? Use segmentation or allow readers to choose their preferred topics.
- Personalization – Generic emails that feel mass-produced are ineffective. Email is a one-on-one communication tool—make it feel personal. Address the reader directly, show empathy, or offer exclusive deals.
- Entertainment – Content should be engaging, not just informative. Don’t be afraid to stand out with humor, videos, or creative storytelling.
The best email marketing tip: segmented, automated campaigns
One major advantage of EmailOctopus is its ability to create automated campaigns—pre-written emails sent to recipients at the right moment. Automated campaigns can be triggered by:
- A specific date
- A user action (sign-up, previous email, etc.)
- An updated field or tag
Instead of sending emails to your entire list, you can target a specific segment. This is called a segmented, automated campaign.
Examples of segmented campaigns
The goal of a segmented campaign is to reach customers more effectively and drive more conversions. Common segmentation strategies include:
- Different emails for men and women
- Separate campaigns for budget-conscious vs. luxury shoppers
- Targeted emails for frequent buyers vs. inactive customers
Another segmentation method is allowing subscribers to choose which emails they receive. This increases engagement and reduces unsubscribe rates.
Segmented campaigns aren’t just for e-commerce. If you share knowledge via email, you can let subscribers choose topics they want to learn about or create campaigns based on their goals. The possibilities are endless.
Tip: Let subscribers sign up for only one topic at a time to prevent email overload. Over time, ask if they want to update their preferences.
Increasing revenue with premium content
Many businesses use email marketing purely for promoting products and services. However, it can also be used to sell premium or paid content—especially if you already monetize your expertise.
By turning your knowledge into an email course, you can generate passive income while providing valuable content. Additional benefits include:
- Establishing expertise, increasing the likelihood that participants will buy your products or services in the future.
- Expanding your reach. Even those uninterested in your core products might sign up for your course.
- Building stronger customer relationships. If your course includes assignments or interactions, you’ll gain insights into potential customers’ needs and interests.
Email courses aren’t suitable for every business, but if you already share valuable knowledge on your website, they’re worth considering.
The power of integrated content
Email marketing should not exist in isolation—it should connect with your website, blog, and social media. A strong content strategy ensures that each channel supports the others rather than repeating the same content.
Email marketing in your content strategy
Use email to:
- Highlight valuable content from your other channels
- Share case studies or customer success stories
- Offer exclusive content to loyal customers
- Curate and share content from other experts
- To announce new products and services
Email conversions
Every email should have a clear goal and a relevant call-to-action (CTA). Examples include:
- Linking to a blog post
- Encouraging social media shares
- Promoting a product or service
Tips for high-converting emails:
- Avoid too many CTAs. Don’t overwhelm your readers.
- Match the CTA to the email content. Only promote a product when it makes sense.
- Place key CTAs early. Many readers won’t reach the end of the email.
- Experiment with different CTAs and test what works best.
Ready to apply our tips?
Email marketing is a powerful tool for any business. With these tips, you can start improving your email campaigns today. Be sure to follow the three steps for setting up successful segmented campaigns to maximize your results.
Gepubliceerd in: Tutorials
