Using email marketing to generate leads

Personally I’m a bit of a sucker for email marketing. If I’m sitting scrolling my phone and I get an offer in from a company I’ve bought from before, it’s quite likely I’ll at the very least have a look at what they’ve got to say, maybe have a little browse and often go on to purchase. Email is a fantastic way to speak directly to your customer, either to give them important information, encourage them to visit your site, or simply just remind them you’re still there. According to various data sources, email has a median ROI of 122% which is four times higher than other forms of marketing, so if you haven’t yet built emails into your strategy, why not give it a go?

Dangle the carrot

You’ve got to give people a reason to open your emails, and an even bigger reason to then actively do something. By using emails to offer discount codes, insightful information, early bird access to sales or educational information, you are saying thank you for being a loyal customer and creating a personal connection between you and your customer. Or if you’re starting from scratch and need to grow your email list offer, you could offer a discount for signing up or ask people to refer a friend.

Don’t make it too long

People tend to receive a lot of emails, so you don’t want to overload people. They should act as a hook for people who are interested to take the next step whether that be visit your online store, get in touch or tell their friends and family about your service.

Eye-catching design

The design of your email is extremely important for grabbing people’s attention. Bold, attractive imagery accompanied with incentivising messaging and a clear action encourages people to engage with you. Don’t leave the font and font colours on default – your first step should be to brand these (it should be pretty simple to do). And make sure you add your logo to the header so recipients instantly recognise you. If you want to try a new trend, try adding a GIF, which really brings the email to life!

Optimise for mobile

Nearly half of emails are opened on mobile devices so you’ve got to make sure the design is optimised for mobile. Vertical layouts to encourage scrolling and call to action buttons that are big enough to tap with a finger are all things to think about.

Segmenting your contact list

You probably want to give different messages to people who purchased from you once three years ago, and customers who buy from you on a regular basis. Segmenting your contact list and creating content specifically for each group is a really good way to both make the customer feel like the email is relevant to them, and for you to target a specific set of customers. For example, a discount ‘we miss you’ code for users who haven’t bought from you in a while, or offering regular customers early bird access to a new product launch as a way of saying thank you.