Email marketing is designed to help brands such as yours bring your target audience through your sales funnel. The goal is to get your audience to engage with the emails thus encouraging them to take further action.
Considering that not everybody is ready to convert immediately, you must first engage with people who aren’t ready to commit to your brand. These leads are interested in what they’ve seen from you thus far but are not fully convinced to buy from you just yet.
If you’re having issues converting your leads into sales, this post is for you. We’ll discuss how you can build better relationships with your leads using your emails and newsletters. When done correctly, you can encourage your leads to become your clients.
Let’s get started!
🌊 Ride the Wave of Current Email Design Trends
Let’s get straight to the point.
Your email’s content isn’t enough.
Even if you’ve written the most compelling email copy and newsletter to your audience, there’s a chance they’ll skim over it because of its appearance (although I would like to say it’s what is on the inside that counts).
So, a good-looking email layout and design are just as important as good content.
But, while using templates will increase your email’s and newsletter’s engagement, it is just as important to stay on top of current design trends. From here, analyze the hows and whys behind certain trends so you can utilize them to your advantage.
In this case, knowing the top trends for converting subscribers into customers is highly useful. The fact that it’s an emerging tactic or strategy means they’re working!
For instance, a minimalist design can perform much better than a newsletter overloaded with colors and other elements. In fact, shying away from using loud elements can achieve a higher engagement rate.
For example, 3D images create eye-catching and attention-grabbing newsletters. However, they might divert the receiver from the main message of your newsletter. In contrast, custom illustrations that align with your brand might not stand out as much. However, they will complement and get your message across in a more impactful way.
Another trend you should prioritize is accessibility. Make your emails more inclusive to reach out to those with special needs, especially the colorblind. This is a reason why a minimalist design works—less clutter directs people’s attention to the right elements in your emails and newsletters, whether there are colors or not.
📚 Share Expertise
People don’t trust brands right off the bat. The best way to get in their good graces is for them to know who you are and that your people have a passion for your industry.
And what better way to show your leads that you’re passionate about your brand than by showing off your extensive industry knowledge via your newsletters?
For example, as a financial publication, you want to send out weekly newsletters sharing industry news, reports, and relevant white papers to subscribers.
By tapping into your expertise drawn from your deep knowledge in the industry, leads can trust you, and by extension, your brand, much easier.
Also, you want to format your emails based on their tone. In this case, you want to send out formal emails to align them with your expertise. This enables subscribers to take your message seriously.
Finally, use this opportunity to show customers that you listen to them by sharing things they’re interested in. Run a survey or ask them for topics they want you to discuss and share your personal stories about.
Automatically curate content by experts!
Become the thought leader for your industry by sharing knowledge through your newsletters.
✉️ Send Non-Promotional Updates
You should also consider showing your audience who’s running the show behind the scenes, as part of your email strategy to humanize your brand.
It’s normal to send them emails about your latest offers and discounts, which are designed to convert them into clients. At the same time, however, you want to mix up the emails that provide relief from sales talks.
What you can do is share the achievements of your organization and the people behind the brand. These achievements may be as significant as an award or as simple as a milestone one of your team members reached recently.
By showing the hand-working people working behind your brand, you enable leads to see another side of your business.
You’re not just a soulless corporation that wants to turn them into customers by hook or crook. You simply want to share your expertise and talent to create something awesome with like-minded people and unleash it to the world.
Another option is to share with leads something you and your team are currently working on. It could be a new project or even something from your home life, like a hobby you just picked up.
Lastly, you can use newsletters to share valuable information with your subscribers. You can curate the best news and articles about your topic or share your thoughts about them in an exclusive opinion piece.
Such an email allows you to connect with leads on a more personal level. If done correctly, you can build personal relationships with a few leads, making it easier for you to naturally convert them into clients.
Send Ad Hoc Emails to Individuals
Normally, you already have emails prepared before launching a campaign. All these emails are aligned with your strategy to engage and convert leads into clients and repeat buyers.
However, you may often feel the need to send emails that aren’t part of the initial campaign. Also known as ad hoc emails, they contain updates, the latest news, and opportunities in your organization that your subscribers must know.
These emails are also unsegmented, which means that everybody on your list will receive them.
As far as engaging leads are concerned, ad hoc emails allow you to be flexible with your email marketing efforts. Changes happen on the fly, and the organization must be flexible enough to take advantage of these changes.
For example, there’s a new Google algorithm that affects organic rankings across different niches. Instead of waiting for more news to come out, be the news. Collect as much information as possible regarding its effectiveness and look at your data to see if there are changes.
From here, send out the gathered data to your subscribers. In doing so, you become the source of information that everybody in your niche needs. You also get to boast your expertise and passion for the industry, which could translate into greater sales.
Ad hoc emails can be part of the email process, depending on your industry. If you’re in healthcare and want to tap into your prospects for job opportunities, make sure to personalize the Healthcare Email Marketing template you’ll be sending to each one.
Conclusion
These are just some of the best ideas to engage leads in your email marketing initiatives. But these should be more than good enough to help bring them through your sales funnel until they’re compelled to purchase from your brand.
Ultimately, your email campaign should revolve around personalization. Once people know that you care about them as people and not just prospective customers, you can get them to trust your brand.
Over time and by their choice, they’ll be more than happy to buy your products and services without you telling them!
