The catch-22 of small business marketing is that it’s absolutely necessary to grow the business, but typically takes time and money when both are in short supply.
The beauty of email marketing for small businesses is that it sits low on the scale of time and financial investment, making it a valuable ally for any small business owner.
For example, email marketing has been shown to return, on average, $36 for every dollar spent. That’s a higher average ROI than other marketing strategies, and a relatively easy win for business owners.
Whether you’re new to email marketing or looking for ways to improve your existing eDM performance, these are the best email marketing strategies that can make it happen.
1. Experiment with sending emails at different times of the day.
When you come to work and check your emails in the morning, are you rushing to clear them out of your inbox, or taking your time to read them?
The success of an individual email may be influenced by the time of day and the day of the week it was sent.
Studies typically suggest that Tuesdays at around 10am are one of the best days and times to hit send, but success can be found by tapping into that mid-afternoon break (1pm) or when people get home from work (6pm).
Consider experimenting with your days and times, switching it up and comparing results to find out which days and times work best for your audiences.
RELATED: How to measure the success of your email marketing.
2. Expand your subscriber list.
If your list of subscribers is low, even the best email marketing strategies won’t produce the results you want, simply because the audience is not large enough. Efforts to expand your subscriber list should go hand in hand with efforts to improve the emails themselves.
Here are a few tried-and-trusted methods of boosting your subscriber list:
- Ask customers to sign up in store when they make a purchase
- Offer a discount or deal for anyone signed up to your email list
- Create a resource (an eBook, how-to video, guide etc) that can only be downloaded when customers sign up with email
- Offer customers the chance to opt in when they check out online
- Run a competition exclusively for those who’ve already signed up
3. Segment your audience.
A common mistake for small business owners when creating an email marketing strategy is to send every email to every subscriber on their list every time.
However, while it’s certainly tempting to share your news with everyone, it might not be relevant to everyone. And when someone receives a marketing email that holds no relevance or benefit to them, they may well be tempted to hit unsubscribe.
This is especially pertinent in Australia, where our unsubscribe rates are double that of international figures, at 0.2% compared with 0.1%.
That’s why it’s so important to segment your audience. Create smaller groups out of your subscriber list, create content specifically for them, and send emails that offer them some kind of benefit. This benefit could be in the form of a financial benefit (such as a discount or special), an informative benefit (such as a how-to guide, or news that affects them), or an entertainment benefit (such as a fun game or video).
By segmenting your audience, you can therefore better personalise your messages and connect with your audience in order to build your brand and avoid unnecessary unsubscribes.
When you’re ready to create your own email marketing strategy, Thryv can make the job that much easier. It’s software designed for small businesses that offers tools for everything from client scheduling and social media management to automating your marketing. Sign up for a free trial to see how Thryv can help you streamline your business.
