How To Gain An Edge In Email Marketing
Email remains to be one of the most effective marketing methods to achieve sales. It's a place to build strong relationships with your customers - most people check their email every day, and come to enjoy and even look forward to receiving emails from their favorite businesses.
We've heard it again and again - the key to successful marketing at this day in age is personalization. Most companies are not doing this, and they could really be losing out because of it.
Let's say you are subscribed to receive emails from a crafts store. Last time you browsed the store's online inventory, you spent a lot of time looking at paintbrushes. Maybe you even added a paintbrush to your shopping cart before deciding not to purchase it. If you were to receive an email from the store the next day with a promotion on that paintbrush and other painting supplies, perhaps even with a 15% off coupon included, how likely would you then be to follow through with that purchase?
Email subject lines are an easy place to personalize. You likely have your email subscribers' names, even if you have no other information about them. How about: "Jim - See our Best Recommendations for Painting Supplies at Our Lowest Prices!"
Do you have the basics down when it comes to email marketing? It may seem obvious, but many businesses are not proactively building email subscriber lists. Email addresses should be collected at the point of sale, and most people prefer an emailed receipt as well as emailed follow-up regarding their purchase. Social media is another place to gain subscribers. This is a platform where people are already choosing to follow your dealership, so it would make sense for them to receive your emails as well. Other call-to-action forms that act as pop-ups on your website or linked from online ads that you run can allow you to easily collect email addresses.
Social media and email marketing integration is a genius strategy. While each platform is powerful on its own, they're even better together. If you're promoting an event or sale through your weekly email, create a matching graphic that you can share on social media. You could even run a special offer that rewards Facebook followers who subscribe to your emails, or vice versa. And you should always include social media contact buttons on your emails for easy access.
Some industries, such as retail clothing, are blazing ahead in email marketing. Others aren't quite up to speed - but that allows your business to jump into action. Implement some of these strategies for your dealership, and see where the results take you!