Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing tools business owners have at their disposal, including artisan contractors and tradespeople. Email marketing is a tried-and-true tactic, but that doesn't mean it's simple. From choosing the right email platform to segmenting your audience and creating automated workflows, the nuts and bolts of emailing your list can feel daunting.
Well, push that worry to the side because we have 22 tips that are guaranteed to have you thriving in the digital marketplace.
1. Use an Email Marketing Service
Email marketing services like MailChimp or Klaviyo offer user-friendly platforms with built-in analytics. They provide beautiful design templates and allow you to track the success of your campaigns, making it easier to manage your email marketing efforts.
Explore the best email marketing platforms for small businesses.
2. Build and Segment Your List
Build an email list. Start by compiling a list of homeowners who have contacted you about a project, past clients, and those who requested a free estimate. Remember, everyone is a potential customer. However, ensure you have their permission to send them emails to maintain a good reputation and avoid spamming.
Make sure to segment your list so you can send emails to the right group of people at a time. Tag your list members in a way that's easy to identify: past clients, prospects, or even by types of service requests.
3. Send Emails at the Right Time
Timing is crucial in email marketing. Research suggests that the best days to send emails are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, preferably around 2 PM. This increases the chances of your emails being opened and read. However, it's important to take into account your own analytics and how well your audience is responding to certain times of day.
4. Optimize for Mobile Devices
With over 61% of all emails opened on mobile devices, it's essential to optimize your emails for mobile. Use a one-column template, make your call-to-action obvious, and increase your font size for better readability on smaller screens. Testing your content on your own mobile device is a good rule of thumb before sending it out.
5. Content is Key
Quality content is vital in email marketing. Keep your emails concise and engaging. Include high-quality images from your recent projects and links to your blog, website, and social media pages. Remember, less is often more.
Bonus tip: sometimes text only emails come across as more genuine and sometimes result in better conversions depending on the written content. A/B test always!
6. Don't Purchase Contact Lists
Purchasing contact lists can lead to a drop in your emails' performance. They don't guarantee that your audience is engaged in your content nor want to receive it. Instead, focus on building your own list of interested and engaged subscribers.
7. Send from a Real Email Address
Using 'no-reply' in the sender's email address can discourage recipients from engaging with your emails. Instead, use a real email address that encourages communication and builds trust. This email is best used for informational and transactional emails such as receipts, order confirmations, or account information.
8. Stick to Fewer Than Three Typefaces
Too many fonts can distract readers and ruin your email's visual appeal. Stick to a maximum of three typefaces to keep your emails clean and professional.
9. Optimize the Email's Preview Text
The preview text of your email should complement your subject line and capture your audience's attention. Make sure it provides insight into what the email is about. Treat it as if its the continuation of your subject line either in context or content.
10. Include an Email Signature
An email signature adds a personal touch to your emails and increases brand visibility. It reassures the reader that the email has come from a real person. Homeowners are often making big financial decisions so its important that they know a human is working with them.
11. Clean Your Mailing List Regularly
Regularly review and remove subscribers who haven't engaged with your emails over a certain period. This helps maintain a healthy open rate and ensures your emails reach interested recipients. When email service providers (ESPs, ie. Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) notice readers aren't opening their emails they may flag your email across the platform resulting in worse performance.
12. Keep the Main Message and Call-to-Action Above the Fold
Place your main message and call-to-action where they can be seen without scrolling. This increases the chances of your recipients taking the desired action. Close to half of users (41%) spend anywhere between 2-8 seconds per email while 30% close the email in less than 2 seconds.
13. Personalize the Email Greeting
Personalizing your email greeting with the recipient's first name can grab their attention and make your emails more personal and engaging. Similar to a personal sign-off, this also enforces a human connection between brand and customer by addressing the recipient by name. Most email platforms will do this for you: you only need to add the right tags in the email, such as [FNAME] and the platform will insert the names from your list.
14. Keep Your Email Around 500 to 650 Pixels Wide
Keeping your email template within this range ensures it displays correctly across different devices and email providers, providing a better user experience. You can also send a test email to your personal inbox first to make sure everything is displaying correctly.
15. Split Test Your Subject Lines and Calls to Action
A/B testing allows you to determine which subject lines and calls to action are most effective. This can help improve your open and click-through rates. Its important not to A/B test more than 2-3 factors, helping reduce the chance of false positives/negatives.
16. Include Your Logo
Including your logo in your emails can increase brand recall and purchase likelihood. It adds a professional touch and helps recipients instantly recognize your brand.
Bonus tip: Try and create branding guidelines for your company to create a more cohesive look to your emails through colors, themes, etc.
17. Name Incentives in Your Subject Line
Including an incentive in your subject line can significantly increase your open rates. However, ensure the offer is relevant and valuable to your audience. Be wary of adding words in all caps and overzealous punctuation as email service providers may mark these emails as spam.
18. Allow Recipients to Subscribe to Your Newsletter
If your emails are forwarded to others, make it easy for them to subscribe to your newsletter. One of the best ways to do this is through an evergreen banner including your contact info, subscribe option, or special announcements. This can help grow your email list organically and gain more interaction within your emails.
19. Make Sure Your Subject Lines Are Concise
Your subject lines should be engaging, create a sense of urgency, and give an indication of what the email contains. Keep them between 30 and 50 characters to ensure they display correctly across different email providers.
20. Use Automations for Opt-Ins
Automations are one of the most useful tools in email. They can remind people that they've opted into your emails and provide additional content or bonuses as a reward for subscribing. Automations can also be used to trigger based on the certain actions people take on your website.
21. Closely Tie Emails to Landing Pages
A landing page is a specific page on your website designed to sell a service or to persuade a visitor to take action. You'll want consistency between your email and the landing page it points to. Ensure your emails and landing pages have consistent headlines, copy, and content. This consistency can increase trust and improve your conversion rates.
22. Conduct a Five-Second Test
Before sending your email, conduct a quick test by sending a copy to yourself and someone who is less familiar with the campaign. Can the main message and call-to-action be understood in five seconds? If not, consider revising your content for clarity.
Overall, email marketing can be a powerful tool for contractors and construction pros, helping you reach more potential customers and grow your business. By implementing these simple yet effective tips, you can create engaging, high-performing email campaigns that resonate with your audience and drive results.