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Email has been around for over 50 years and continues to grow in importance: Not only is it used heavily in the workplace, but it has also repeatedly proven its effectiveness as a marketing channel.
By 2027, email marketing revenue will be Grow to $17.1 billion‘ predicts a Statista report. 69% of marketers Use email to distribute content to increase brand loyalty and boost sales.
As a startup founder, you may be wondering how you can achieve the same success. You may feel anxious about launching or your first campaign may not produce great results. With a clear and strong strategy, you can overcome those fears with confidence and hit send.
Learn how to improve your approach and avoid pitfalls when planning an email marketing campaign for your startup.
1. Define your goal
Before you get started, define what you want to achieve with email marketing: increase website traffic, build brand awareness, increase sales, etc. Setting your goal will give you clarity on the next steps to take and how to measure your success.
Related: Increase your brand awareness with innovative PR tools
2. Assemble your email list
It’s time to put together your email list and make sure it’s ready for outreach. Don’t worry if your database is small; many startups get high engagement from small databases. What’s more important than the size of your list is its quality. Have all your subscribers opted in to receive emails? You want to reach an audience that expects to hear from you.
3. Double-check your contact details
A high-quality list means that your subscribers have given you consent to be emailed, as well as being genuine and having accurate contact details. Bouncebacks on your newsletters and campaigns can negatively impact your reputation with inbox providers. To avoid this, validate your list with an email validation service before sending emails.
Related: How to Manage Your Email List Like a Pro
4. Segment, segment, segment
A healthy opt-in email list will put you one step ahead of many of your competitors. Next, to fine-tune your approach further, analyze your customers and prospects and think about how you can organize them into separate groups. Start with one or two filters, like one-time buyers or returning customers, and narrow your niche from there. To increase engagement, send emails to these groups gently encouraging them to try more of your products.
5. Choose a good email marketing platform
Once you have your list ready, it’s time to choose a service to send your emails. As a startup owner, you might be wary of spending too much, but this is not an area where you should cut corners. Your email marketing platform should help you streamline your efforts. And most importantly, Ensure high email deliverability Choose a reputable company to ensure your campaign reaches your audience.
6. Test your mobile emails
Some emails may look great on desktop but show errors on mobile devices, which can quickly turn off readers. To keep your readers engaged, use testing tools to point out issues so you can fix them before they happen. Also, test your emails with your team. Not only will you catch errors, but your feedback will help you further improve your content.
7. Don’t procrastinate – send it!
If your list is in good shape, you’ve found a reliable email sending platform, and you’re happy with your content, it’s time to hit send. Startup owners and marketers often put off taking that big step because they worry about customer feedback. But procrastinating or obsessing over the small stuff only adds to your anxiety. Send out your email, get your first feedback, and learn how to improve.
8. Show up when you promise
This is probably the best email marketing habit your startup can adopt. Sending emails here and there won’t make a huge difference to your business. Emailing your subscribers regularly will. Plus, sending emails regularly also gives you the opportunity to learn exactly what your audience responds to most so you can focus on that in your future campaigns.
Related: 11 Email Marketing Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)
9. Make every email better than the last.
While consistently emailing your audience is crucial to success, you must also strive to maintain and improve the quality of your content — that’s how you’ll continually improve your metrics. 47% of consumers The main reason customers open your brand’s emails is because they always send good emails from that brand, so avoid sending emails just because you have a deadline looming – instead, work with your team to make every email count.
10. Partner with other startups
Partnering with other companies on co-marketing efforts has been one of the best ways I’ve grown my startup, ZeroBounce. My team and I continue to do this to gain exposure to new audiences. Reach out to companies in your industry and propose a partnership that includes cross-promotion via email. It will also help increase awareness and bring in new subscribers.
11. Keep your email sending rules up to date
A lot has changed in the email industry in recent years, from Apple releasing email privacy updates to Google and Yahoo enforcing new sending rules. To get good email marketing results as a startup, you need to stay on top of similar updates. For example, major email service providers now require email authentication for senders who deliver emails to more than 5,000 subscribers daily. Following the rules ensures that you comply with these protocols, helping your campaigns land in inboxes and drive sales.
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