Email marketing has long been one of the go-to methods of effectively communicating with your audience; whether that’s sending a newsletter packed full of information and updates, or notifying your customers of upcoming products or services, email marketing is a great element to include within your marketing strategy.
But how important is this method when incorporated into a multi-channel strategy?
Firstly, let’s define what a multi-channel strategy is so that we can better identify the pros of integrating email marketing.
Multi-channel marketing is an integrated strategy that incorporates multiple channels and platforms to communicate cohesively with your audience. It allows you to get a
comprehensive overview of how your audience is interacting with your brand and your content, as well as indicating where they are in their decision-making journey. Overall, this helps you to tailor your communications to suit each individual and move them further towards taking the action that you’re after.
So where does email marketing fit into it? Well, there are so many ways! Some general, and some that are more integrated. We’ve listed three from each category below, so read on to find out more..
Personalisation
Personalisation is a must have in modern-day marketing. Customers are looking for a unique and tailored experience that values their custom, rather than a sales-heavy or dismissive approach. Utilising personalisation within your email marketing allows you to speak directly to your customers – whether that’s by using their name, showing them products or services that are relevant to their interests, providing discounts to show thanks for their loyalty to your brand and much more. Utilising analytics from your website and social media channels as well as personalised fields will allow you to ensure that your email content is relevant for each person.
Segmentation
Making use of segmentation across your entire multi-channel strategy is extremely important when trying to drive results, reach multiple audiences and tailor your messaging effectively. For example, you may notice that certain age ranges within your database open emails at different times to others, or you may want to send a specific email campaign to lapsed customers who haven’t engaged with your brand in a certain timeframe. This is where segmentation comes in, and it’s a great way to ensure that your customers feel valued, rather than having a ‘blanket approach’ to your email content which can often feel a bit spammy and disingenuous.
Automation
The automation options are almost endless when it comes to email marketing, but when it comes to nurturing leads, setting up drip campaigns and custom triggers area great place to start. You could set up a series of welcome emails for new subscribers, product replenishment emails for those who have perhaps viewed a certain product page on your website or via your social media/Google shopping functions, re-engagement emails to people who haven’t interacted with your content for a while or acknowledgments of special occasions such as customer birthdays. Automation can be used for lots of different reasons, and the main benefit (aside from personalisation, of course) is that it saves a hell of a lot of time and often generates great results.
Utilising website data
Did you know that 59% of respondents in a HubSpot survey said that marketing emails influence their purchase decisions? (HubSpot) This cracking statistic shows that leveraging email marketing to enhance purchase or engagement is a tactic not to be missed! You can utilise analytics data and automation to trigger an email to be sent to people who – for instance – landed on your contact page but didn’t complete the form, or people who added an item to their cart but didn’t complete their purchase. A lot of marketers may see a ‘drop off’ as a lost or cold lead, when in fact, there may be a perfectly simple reason why that prospect didn’t engage or convert – such as being distracted by a WhatsApp message or their laptop running out of battery. After all, life gets in the way sometimes right! Sending prompts and reminders to these types of leads can generate fantastic conversion rates and ROI.
Making use of paid advertising
Using the data gathered from paid advertising campaigns, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads or similar, allows you to compile lists for your email marketing which you can then segment appropriately. For instance, setting up a paid ad that successfully targets a specific audience can feed into your email marketing in several ways – whether that’s generating sign-ups directly, utilising A/B testing to figure out what content they prefer, or even seeing where they end up on your website. Those last two points can really help to guide your future email marketing content, which in turn will improve personalisation and results.
Alternatively, you can utilise your current email marketing list to influence your future paid advertising. By uploading your email marketing lists to paid advertising platforms such as Facebook, you can create custom audiences that allow you to target your ads at people who you may already have demographic data on. You can then create look-a-like audiences that allow you to expand your reach to those who have similar characteristics to your current subscribers.
Using lead magnets across multiple platforms
Lead magnets are a great way to generate engagement and drive new leads for your business – but they’re also a great tactic for building your email database and allowing you to communicate effectively with these new prospects. Creating a compelling lead magnet, such as a free e-book, checklist or guide, will not only help you position your brand as an expert in its field, but it will also prompt new leads to engage with your content and hand over their contact details in return for what you’re offering (of course, your lead magnet needs to be something that your target audience will actually want!) You can either host a lead magnet on your website, or you can use integrated forms within your social media ads to make the data capturing process more seamless for potential prospects. The collected email addresses can then be automatically added to your email marketing database, CRM or downloaded as a file ready to upload.
So, as you can see there are so many ways that email marketing can enhance and impact your multi-channel marketing strategy – and there are tactics to suit all budgets and goals.
