Email marketing for small business owners can be perplexing. A good offer oftentimes gets few click-throughs. A poor one can generate tens or hundreds of clicks.
What is the poor franchise owner to do? You rely on email to keep in touch with your target market, so time spent figuring out what will improve your CTR, click-through-rate, is well spent.
Here is a look at three proven ways that have been proven to generate more interest among your subscribers.
Why Worry About Email
First off, why even concern yourself with email in a social media, mobile world? When it comes to business opportunity marketing, email is the preferred conduit for information and offers, the most effective way of building loyalty and interest.
According to experts at Marketing Profs, over 30% say they prefer email for customer service issues and over 25% for special offers and deals.
Compare this to a mere 5% or who prefer social media, 9% for text messaging and 7% for snail mail. So any time you spend figuring out how to get a handle on your email strategy is amply rewarded.
Here is a close look at three ways to make the most of your email marketing efforts.
#1. A Meaningful Call to Action
A meaningful call-to-action offer is the most effective method for increasing click-through rates, based on a report from Ascend2, a research and marketing firm.
What does that mean? A call to action is a short sentence that urges your reader to take an immediate action. For email, it might be a hyperlink that reads “Click Here for More Information, ” which brings them to a sales page.
What makes that call to action meaningful is writing it in a way that it offers your subscriber something of value, like a substantial discount. “Save Money Now” will get fewer clicks than “Save 25% Today Only.”
Another example of a meaningful call to action is one that appeals to their curiosity, like “Looking for healthy snacks?” You can also offer social proof, like “Join 816 franchisees who made the switch.”
#2. An Engaging Subject Line
Though the call to action received the most votes in the Ascend2 study, it assumes that your email got opened at all. In fact, 50% of people answering a survey posted by HubSpot reported that they “read most of their emails.” That means 50% don’t.
To attract that 50%, you have a fraction of a second to catch their attention with an engaging, attention-grabbing subject line. The best subject lines appeal to your readers’ curiosity. Be specific, use active words and offer value to get them to open your email.
#3. Segment Your List and Personalize Your Offers
Segmenting is considered one of the most confusing aspects of email marketing. It simply means sending offers to subgroups on your list based on their specific interests.
Subscribers are interested in information and deals that deal with their particular goals and lifestyle. It is influenced by a number of factors, like demographics, income level, why they signed up for your list, among other factors.
The process can be broken down into four steps.
Overview
Using the data you already have about your subscribers, get an overview of what types of people with what goals and interests are on your list.
Grouping
Figure out the most logical way of grouping them. The three most effective are by
l demographics, meaning age, where they live, how old they are, how much money they have
l interests, meaning why did they sign up for your business opportunity list
l behavior, meaning have they bought from you yet, do they sometimes open your emails and click through, or just sometimes
Offers
Then you need to send each subgroup, which you created in the prior step, content and offers that are geared to their interests. Make sure there is a clear and definite link between how you segmented your list and the subject of each mailing.
Monitor
Monitor and track how each offer works. Without this step, you are simply sending crossing your fingers and sending emails out into the ether. Use the metrics you track to tweak future emails and develop effective strategies.
You can get better CTRs for your business opportunity and franchise lists. It takes research and patience. The rewards are well worth the effort because you can significantly improve your CRT, and your bottom line, with careful tracking and refining.
