Email marketing remains one of the most effective marketing techniques. According to research, around 89% of marketers currently use email marketing as their main lead generation technique.
However, before you jump into email marketing, it pays to understand the different types of emails you should be sending out.
If you are new to email marketing, here’s 6 types of emails every local business should utilize.
1. Welcome emails
You’ve done it – someone has signed up to your email list. Now, make sure you show your appreciation with a well-constructed welcome email.
Welcome emails take the time to thank the customer, while also letting them know what to expect. Why should they remain on the list and what value will your emails provide?
One thing to avoid here is promotion. Don’t start bombarding them with products they might like or use it as a sales pitch. Keep it informational, and make sure you make a great first impression.
2. Newsletters
Newsletters are potentially one of the most important types of emails all local businesses should send. Their main goal is to nurture your relationship with your customers, keeping your brand firmly in their mind.
There are tons of opportunities newsletters present, such as:
· Helping your audience solve a problem
· Providing tips and advice
· Keeping your audience informed of upcoming products
· Exclusive discounts and promotions
· Keeping your audience up to date with your latest news
When sent out on a monthly basis, these types of emails can help you to retain customers, nurture leads, and keep you in the customer’s mind.
While you can use them to promote upcoming products and discounts, never make them solely promotional. Each email newsletter you send out should offer some kind of value to the reader.
3. Retention emails
Customer retention is important in any business. Multiple studies have shown that repeat customers spend more than new customers, and they also provide more word-of-mouth referrals.
If you want to increase your chances of keeping hold of your customers, retention emails can work wonders.
Analyze your customers and identify which ones haven’t made a purchase in a while. Create and send a personalized offer to help encourage them to make a purchase.
You can also make sure your customers understand the value of the product. Send emails explaining the benefits or providing tips on how to get the most out of the product.
Basically, you need to create emails that will encourage customers to stick around.
4. Transactional emails
Failing to provide transactional emails can be damaging to your business. These types of emails let the customer know that you have received an order, how it is progressing, and when they can expect to receive their items.
Not receiving transactional emails can make buyers nervous, and they can also lead to increased calls to your customer service team.
Keeping the customer informed helps to build up trust. It also increases the likelihood they will buy from you again.
At the very least, you should create an email that lets the customer know you have received their order. Provide contact information in case they need to contact you and give them an idea of how long it will take to receive the goods.
5. Promotional emails
While you definitely shouldn’t focus solely on promotional emails, they do come in useful from time to time.
A clever way to make promotional emails work, is to make them exclusive. For example, you could send occasional exclusive promotions that are only available to your email subscribers.
Receiving special discounts through email can be one of the main reasons people sign up. When you provide exclusive promotional emails, you’ll see an uptake in sales.
6. Lead nurturing emails
If your goal is to gradually convert your leads into customers, lead nurturing emails can help.
These types of emails are sent in a series, rather than as individual emails. They aim to nurture your leads by giving them plenty of useful content, sent to them at the right time.
These are the 6 types of email marketing every local business should have. While it can be time consuming to create them, you can always schedule them to send automatically. When done correctly, email marketing can drastically boost conversions, as well as aid in customer retention.