Email marketing ideas for small businesses
Take a look at these different small businesses to see how they use email marketing.
Dan runs an ecommerce business called Mount Hope selling handmade leather notebooks.
Find out more
Toni runs an Italian street food stall called Pizza Pie.
Find out more
Pavan is a PR freelancer for hotels.
Find out more
Jemima runs an online shop business selling wedding rings called Eternally Yours.
Find out moreHow can I grow my email marketing database?
Data capture and communications with customers should be a priority for all businesses. Even if you’re really busy you should make sure you are asking people if they want to hear from you so that you have a strategy in place should things ever get quieter.
Here are some suggestions as to how you can grow your email database:
Website sign ups
Make sign up options prominent on your website by adding them to the header, blog and including a pop-up. You can offer an incentive of a competition, discount or free resource. Ensure the email addresses collected are automatically stored in your email software system.
Offline
If you attend events or have a physical store then have data capture cards or a device with a tool like this Mailchimp app to collect emails.
Partnerships
Partner with similar brands to drive new customers to your site or to sign up. For example, collaborate with a brand with a similar target market to offer a competition and share the sign ups.
Social sharing buttons
Make sure your emails include social sharing and ‘forward to a friend’ buttons so your current database can push the content out to their friend.
Email signatures
Include sign up links in the signature of your own emails (and give them a reason to sign up). When obtaining, storing and using email addresses and other data, it’s really important that you comply with the General Data Protection Regulation. It states that people must give permission to have their data used for the purpose you intend to use it (and you must keep record proof of this). It must be stored securely and they must be able to see a copy of their data or have it removed in a timely fashion if they request.
How should I measure and optimise my email campaigns?
Any marketing that you do should be tracked and measured so you know if it’s giving you a return on investment and which content is working best. Any data is better than none so start now, keep it simple and start small. Your email service provider will have reporting tools that will provide you with a wide range of stats, the top line being:
- Open rate (how many people are opening your email and the industry average)
- Click rate (how many people click on a link within the email)
- Subscribers and unsubscribes
- Orders and revenue generated (add the supplied code to your website to track orders and revenue generated)
For tracking user behaviour on your website beyond the click and purchase, you can tag the links in your email campaigns with Google Analytics (presuming your website is already using Google Analytics). You’ll be able to compare how your email campaigns stack up against your other referral channels (for example, other websites, Facebook, search engines).
What is email marketing automation?
Automation means that certain campaigns can be automatically sent out so your marketing can tick along in the background without you having to constantly manage it. They can be set up in your email service provider and will offer additional revenue opportunities and will help to eliminate repetitive tasks. Personalise your automated emails so that you’re saving time without compromising on creativity.
Abandoned cart email
Thanks for signing up email (free download)
Thanks for your web enquiry email
Happy birthday email
