Email Marketing - Part 2

Your Subscribers

Like all forms of marketing, grasping the key elements is essential. The most significant element is your subscribers. Knowing them inside and out will help guide the content you create and share.

Two ways to start growing your subscriber list is by:

1. Make sure your website has a form on it

2. Use sign-up sheets at events.

And remember, people must subscribe (or opt-in) to your list before you send them an email. Make sure you are following all pertinent legislation related to privacy, like CASL.

Segmenting your list

Next, let's talk about segmentation. Segmentation is where your subscribers are separated into lists, groups, or subgroups based on demographics, location, stage of the buyer's journey, or products purchased. Personalization has become a popular term over the past few years and can have a considerable impact on the success of your email campaigns. By integrating a segmentation strategy, you can deliver a personalized experience to increase your open rate and create a stronger relationship.

To begin, determine your goal or goals. Are you wanting to drive traffic to your blog, create awareness, sell a specific product, gain reviews or fundraise? You can have multiple goals for your overall strategy, but it is best to have a particular goal for each campaign or flow. This information can be used to segment your subscribers to ensure you are delivering the most value to each segment.

Let's say you own a pet store. In this example, the goal will be to sell a new treat ball for dogs. Since you won't want to send this email to your feline, amphibian, or rodent owners, segmenting out those who have a purchase history of dog food and toys would be best for your campaign. Using this segment, you can build a personalized email that feels like you are talking directly to them and about the most important topics. This fosters a one-on-one relationship.

Segmenting might seem overwhelming if you haven't started it, but it's well worth it. The first thing to do is create a list of the most relevant attributes for your business (Adams, 2018). Third-party services like Shopify will automatically segment your lists by two factors: purchases in the last 30 days and purchases over $100 (Adams, 2018).

Maintaining healthy lists

As mentioned earlier, your subscribers are a crucial element of your email marketing efforts, and that's why it is critical to maintain and grow your lists properly. To do this, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• Get permission

There are two types of consent you need to be aware of, explicit (aka expressed) consent and implied consent. Explicit means they have given their permission to receive communication from you. Implied consent is a grey area with a business relationship based on previous transactions or a

membership. The CRTC site is a great resource to learn more about the Canadian requirements regarding privacy and consent.

• Keep all your subscribers on one list

You can run smaller lists or groups based on the segmentation noted above. Doing this will help you avoid any compliance issues.

Don't forget to go through your list regularly and remove anyone who has opted-out or unsubscribes from your list. I highly recommend maintaining previous versions of your lists used for each email you send. This will be helpful if there is ever a compliance question.

Next up, experience matter! Check out our upcoming post on developing good customer experience and driving engagement.

Works Cited

Adams, M. (2018, 7 11). Email and Newsletter Marketing Course. Retrieved from LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/email-and-newsletter-marketing-foundations/defining-email-marketing?u=2109516

Forsey, C. (2020, July 23). The Ultimate List of Email Marketing Stats for 2020. Retrieved from Hubspot: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-stats