Email marketing is undoubtedly one of, if not the most powerful tactics in your marketing tool chest when applied correctly. Email marketing is a great way to convert and retain wine buyers.
For every $1 spent on email marketing, the average ROI is $38. -Campaign Monitor
However, if you are just sending out a newsletter every month or so, don't expect to see that kind of ROI. If you're going to do email marketing, and you should, you need to do it right.
Here's a list of 17 tips to create emails that convert wine buyers:
1. Gather email addresses. In order to convert more wine buyers via email, you need to have an email marketing list to work with. Here are some tips for growing your email marketing list- the right way.
2. Segment email addresses. Sending newsletters is not recommended. There is no clear call-to-action or direct objective of the email. Furthermore, the average attention someone gives an email is 8 seconds. Instead of newsletters, create targeted lists that you can send niche content to. The more specific the better. For example, you could have mailing lists for those who signed up on your website, those who signed up in your tasting room, those who purchased from you, those who joined different levels of the wine club, etc.
3. Objective. Every email you send should have a clear, and well-thought out objective. Don't send email just to send email and expect to see an ROI. Make sure your objective is clear from the start.
4. Stay inline with your brand. When writing emails, especially with the objective to sell something, it can be challenging to stay away from the overly-cheesy, promotional tone. Do a brand review and refresh right before you write your email to keep it inline. Additionally, make sure the look and feel is inline with your visual brand guidelines.
5. Personalization. Personalization adds another layer of connection to any email. Personalization can mean adding their name and/or the name of the city or state they live in. With all the marketing programs out there now, there are so many ways to personalize email be it in the subject line or the introduction. Don't be afraid to include a first name in your opening line, that being said, don't get so personal it's creepy.
6. Emojis. You may have noticed an emoji or two in your recent email subject lines from brands you love. That's because these days, everyone uses emojis- why wouldn't marketers?! Adding one to your subject line just adds that extra layer of communicating with your target audience in the way that they want to be communicated with. Plus, they are fun! ;)
7. Enticing subject line. Your subject line needs to stand out from the hundreds of other emails your audience is receiving a day. According to Litmus, you have 3-4 seconds to grab your readers attention. Invite intrigue. Why would someone want to open the email? Get clever but relevant or just keep it straight to the point.
8. Send from a person. There's nothing warm, fuzzy or personalized about an email from info@yourwinery.com. Having it come form an actual person or people is much more touching. Especially if it's the winery owners.
9. Enticing content. Great, you got them to open your email, congratulations! Now you need to get them to actually read the email and take the next step. Make sure your subject line delivers and your content lives up to the enticement. Be human. Play to emotions.
10. Keep it short and easy to consume. The average time span someone gives to an email is 8 seconds. Less is better. Use visuals, call-to-action buttons and formatting to make it easy on the eye. White space is your friend.
11. Links. Don't go overboard but have more than one link in an email. Link a line or two of actionable copy in addition to making any image, call-to-action and social icons linkable.
12. Have a clear call-to-action. Open rates are great, but in order to convert you care about click-through-rates. Again, what was the objective of the email? This is the point where you need to make it easy and mindless for the reader to know what the next step is and how to take it. Prompt your call-to-action (CTA) with questions relevant to the CTA.
13. MOBILE optimized. No questions asked- your email needs to be easy to read on mobile as well as desktop. According to Litmus, mobile opens of email is at 51%. That's a lot of people reading emails for the first time on mobile. If your email is not readable on said mobile device, you can bet that's getting a quick and one way trip to the trash can. In fact, 69% of mobile users delete emails that aren't optimized for mobile.
14. Images/Animated Gifs. Make your email visually appealing. No one wants to read a bunch of text- they just don't. Make your content easy to consume by adding fun images or animated GIFs. Remember, make those images linked.
15. A/B test. Certain email platforms, like MailChimp, allow you to A/B test different subject lines and times emails are sent. Take advantage of this. If you want to go the extra mile, create emails with different images and CTAs as well. However, try to only A/B test one element at a time so you can see which has the greater impact. Test subject lines, CTAs, copy, times of day, days of the week, just about everything you can imagine.
16. Consistency is key. A conversion rate is highest when you send two emails per month. If you're not sending newsletters, how frequently can you send to your segmented groups? What makes sense? Can you set up abandoned cart emails? What about welcome emails?
17. Analyze. Lastly analyze your efforts. Which A/B test performed better? How did different email lists respond to your email? Did you get more click throughs on Tuesday or Thursday? You can never stop improving!