Every Store Owner's Intro To Email Marketing

Hello, I decided to write this blog post today because I wanted to answer a few of the popular questions that email marketers and e-commerce store owners ask me all the time.

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What is email marketing and how does it work?

When I first started in email marketing, I approached it as if it were some other marketing channel, such as Google ads, Facebook ads, and sometimes these disruptive types of advertising that were annoying and some and pushy forceful and other users, that's how I saw email marketing as well. But when I continued to write and hone my skills, I realized that email marketing could be a lot more than that.

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Email marketing is the most direct form of marketing. It’s a personal relationship.

Other types of advertisement are impersonal, repetitive, and targeted to a wide audience, whereas email marketing is strongly segmented and targeted to a particular customer.

If done well, email marketing takes into account the user's past behavior and customer journey. The goal of email marketing is to establish a relationship that will ultimately lead to a conversion and loyal customer.

Instead of thinking of it as a way to simply increase your revenue, which it is, think of it as a way to connect with your customers by continuously imparting information about your brand, sharing your brand message, and sharing what you're passionate about with your customers in little bite-sized chunks now over time, being at the forefront of your customers' minds by providing quality content to users whom they can easily share with their friends and family.

First and foremost, it's personal. As I previously said, emails will call people by their name, first name, last name, or whatever you have, and they can communicate with you directly. This is in contrast to social ads, which does not address actual users.

Second, emails are viewed as trustworthy, as long the user has given you their permission to send them emails. Which is why so many advertisers and e-commerce store owners favor email marketing because it's a much stronger, more straightforward way of communicating with the customers.

If you ask any of your family members, colleagues, or coworkers what email is used for, they'll tell you it's like messaging or old school texting, which is correct. It's a means of contact, and it's all about communicating with your customers. When I do email marketing, I don't use it as a way to try and persuade them to buy anything. Any email you give a customer is relevant to what they're interested in, adds value on a regular basis, and can inevitably contribute to a deal, because the overall objective is to create a bond and a long-term partnership.

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It's similar to dating.

Email marketing is similar to dating, which I like because dating is a form of commitment, care, and investment into a relationship with two or more parties, and in order to build that long-lasting trust and rapport with another person, you must continually invest interesting and valuable things in them without expecting anything in return. This is what email is all about, and if you continue to do so, you can build that long-lasting trust and rapport.

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What is the most effective method for getting started with email marketing?

People always ask me what resources I use to get started in email marketing, and I often tell them that the first thing they need is either a pen and paper or a word doc. This is important because it helps you to easily write down what you want to give your customers. It's as easy as texting.

The second tool you'll need is email marketing tools, and the two most common options are Mailchimp and Klaviyo.

Mailchimp has a cheaper price tag. It's better for people who want to easily understand a system and send a few emails to do so rather than devoting their lives to mastering the email system and figuring out all the complexities of what a successful email policy would be in the long run.

I use Klaviyo because it's extremely strong, it's granular, and it allows you to be extremely detailed with the way you build segments, categorize audiences, and filter things, so there's a lot of strategic stuff going on there. Depending on what you plan to do with email marketing, decide whether you want to do a simple journey or a complex journey.

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Three Simple Steps to Follow

The three things you would do with the pen and paper are as follows:

First, consider the subject lines you want for your email. Subject lines are critical and they determine what people can read or throw away an email before they can open it. You might waste 10 hours writing an email just for them to throw it away and never open it, so bring as much time as you can into the subject line to pique the user's attention.

Second, create engaging content without being so wordy, unless you're doing a weekly update, in which case it's a different matter, but in general, emails should be a few sentences long, punchy, and simple to absorb.

Third, add a call to action (or button) in your email to say “SHOP NOW” or to come visit your store. You need something directing the users to take action.

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How much time should you devote to email marketing?

First and foremost, how much time do you want to devote to email marketing?

Second, what effects do you want to see? Do you want to see a 40 percent rise in sales in six months, or do you only want to set up a few basic emails that can convert on their own over time? It's all up to you.

As a general rule of thumb, designing a relatively simple text-based email can take about one hour, so use that as a starting point, and as you think about how many emails you want to create, just say each one will take an hour, and you can go from there. For example, creating the first batch of highly engaging automated emails that earn the most revenue will take about 10 to 15 hours.

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Let's take a look at the big picture.

So, how can you know if email marketing is right for you? I'll ask you a few questions, and if you answer yes to any of them, then email marketing is for you. Do you want to cultivate relationships with your audiences? Two, are you interested in raising your store's sales by up to 40% in the next six months, and three, are you willing to spend time or money in generating high-performing emails for your business? If you answered yes to all three questions, I believe email is right for you.

Thank you for reading this far, feel free to contact me and my email agency, Grab Digital, at any time. We're based in Ohio and will be pleased to answer any email marketing questions you might have.

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