Text Wrap

The <a href="https://www.smartinsights.com/email-marketing/email-communications-strategy/email-marketing-evolution/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first marketing email</a> was sent in 1978, resulted in $13 million in sales, and kicked off what has become one of the most highly used marketing channels even to this day. Given its early beginnings, email isn’t as shiny as some newer channels like messaging and social, but it is an effective way to build an owned audience that gets results.<a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/what-is" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Email marketing</a> isn’t just about you, or your company. It’s about your customer. This Afterpay Day, you can use email to speak to those customers about your sale offer in the right way, targeting those eager to shop with you, who are ready to convert.To help you create emails that stand out this Afterpay Day, we turned to email guru <a href="https://www.hubspot.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">HubSpot</a>. We chatted with HubSpot’s APAC Marketing Director Kat Warboys on the best ways merchants can use email this Afterpay Day.

1. Kat, email is a powerful channel, but it’s also a cluttered one. What are the best approaches merchants can take when sending emails this Afterpay Day that can help them cut through the noise and get noticed?

While many have speculated that email is dead, we’ve witnessed the opposite at HubSpot. We wanted to understand how the pandemic was impacting the way bands communicated with their audience so we analysed the aggregated data from over 70,000 HubSpot customers globally. We found that Aussie companies were staying more connected with their customers than ever before. In May 2020, Marketing email sends were at 24% above pre-COVID levels and, encouragingly, open rates were also up by 34%. Fast forward to today and email remains a powerful tool for marketers and a valuable medium for your customers.Today’s consumer values interactions with your brand that are personal, helpful and authentic. When applied to your email strategy, these principles can help drive revenue for your business.

Numerical Highlight List

2. Do you have any tips on subject lines? For example, should merchants be including their offers directly in the subject line?

We all know first impressions are important and for email, that’s your&nbsp;subject line. We only have to&nbsp;take a look at our own inbox to see how&nbsp;cluttered it can get so having a subject line that earns people’s attention is key.&nbsp;Including offers in the subject line is fine and since most email marketing platforms allow for smart personalisation tokens where you can pull in the recipient’s information you have the power to get clever with your subject lines, from product recommendations to reminding the recipient of their <a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/marketing/customer-loyalty-program" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">loyalty program</a> rewards.

Unordered Highlight List

Social proof is fast becoming a non-negotiable in the shopping experience and your subject line can be a great opportunity to provide that validation.

If your offer is going to&nbsp; be the focus of your subject line, limited-time offers&nbsp;are highly effective at getting consumers to take action. If you want to capture&nbsp;the attention of your recipients, use your subject line to highlight what they&nbsp;stand to lose if they don’t open the email.&nbsp;For more subject line inspiration, we pulled together <a href="https://offers.hubspot.com/hubfs/Email-Subject-Lines.pdf?utm_campaign=Q1%20ANZ%20SB&amp;utm_source=afterpayday" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">100 email subject lines that we couldn’t&nbsp; help but click</a>.

Core:Section

Button

Learn more about the email marketing course

3. There are two key phases to Afterpay Day: the hype phase and the live event phase. How should merchants look to differentiate their emails and messaging across the two phases?

<a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-guide?utm_campaign=Q1%20ANZ%20SB&amp;utm_source=afterpayday" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">78% of consumers have unsubscribed from lists because a brand was&nbsp;sending too many emails</a>. My advice is only send when you have&nbsp;something valuable to say. A well thought our <a href="https://offers.hubspot.com/email-marketing-planning-template?utm_campaign=Q1%20ANZ%20SB&amp;utm_source=afterpayday" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">email schedule and plan</a> will&nbsp;ensure your communications are consistent and feel conversational as&nbsp;opposed to sporadic and clumsy.&nbsp;The hype phase should be all about education and relevancy. What can your&nbsp;audience expect?&nbsp; How can you make it relevant to them? Consider using&nbsp;segmentation to focus on categories you know the customer is interested in.&nbsp;Curate a wishlist category for your customers based on their interests that they can save. Provide education and social proof to truly engage the customer so they are ready and waiting for the live event! Subject lines that focus on pain points can be a great way to earn attention during this time.If you have done the hype phase well, your audience won’t require any more education and your emails will be optimised for conversions. If they created a wish list your email should link straight to it, making the shopping experience easy and enjoyable. Use this time to communicate the key offer dates to create urgency.&nbsp;

4. Personalisation is always really important when it comes to email marketing. What are some of the ways merchants can segment their lists to drive stronger personalisation across their email campaigns?

We’ve all heard of abandoned cart emails and welcome offers, but these are&nbsp;just the tip of the iceberg. Merchants can get really creative when it comes to personalising the&nbsp; experience for buyers and email can sit at the heat of this.&nbsp;Each person who signs up to receive your emails is at a different level of&nbsp;readiness to convert into a customer. The way you engage with a new subscriber vs your most loyal, repeat customer should be very different. If you send a discount code for your product to new subscribers that don’t even know how to diagnose their problem, you’ll probably lose them.&nbsp;

5. HubSpot offers so many great tips and best practices for email marketing success. To finish us up today, what’s the most important thing merchants need to remember when it comes to running a successful email campaign this Afterpay Day?

Focus on delivering experiences that are personal, helpful and authentic&nbsp;within your email strategy. Provide value before you extract value. Personalisation at scale is only possible if you have the behavioural and demographic data available to segment and deliver great experiences via email or any other channel. Assess your tech stack and the data required to enable you to segment your audience and drive valuable moments to your customers..If you keep these principles in mind, your subscribers will not only read your emails, but they will look forward to hearing from you every time.

Kat Warboys

To help you create emails that stand out this Afterpay Day, we turned to email guru HubSpot. We chatted with HubSpot’s APAC Marketing Director Kat Warboys on the best ways merchants can use email this Afterpay Day.

Getting it write: Email best practices from HubSpot you can use this Afterpay Day

Email best practices you can use this Afterpay Day

Let's start with the basics. What is email marketing? Put simply, it's&nbsp;the use of email as a direct channel to promote a product or service or build a relationship with your customers through email marketing campaigns and strategies. Most often,<a href="https://neilpatel.com/blog/beginners-guide-email-marketing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 20px;">&nbsp;it’s used to generate sales or leads</a>&nbsp;through the use of incentives or advertising material. Essentially, anytime a business sends an email that isn’t to confirm a purchase or respond to a specific query, it can be labelled as email marketing.

From TikTok videos to influencer campaigns to webinars and everything in between, when it comes to effectively targeting your audience it can be difficult to know what is email marketing and where to start – or where to stop. While it’s no secret that<a href="https://venturebeat.com/2015/01/20/marketing-technology-innovation-exploding-1876-companies-in-43-categories/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;marketing technology innovation is exploding</a>, there’s one channel that continues to outperform the rest when it comes to return on investment (ROI), and it’s been generating the big bucks for brands since the ’70s. Enter: email marketing.

Today,<a href="https://optinmonster.com/is-email-marketing-dead-heres-what-the-statistics-show/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;experts estimate</a>&nbsp;the average person checks their inbox 15-20 times a day and email marketing is an integral part of any successful brand strategy. But what is email marketing, what does it encompass, and why is it (still) so important? Let’s break it down.

<h2>What is email marketing?</h2>

Let's start with the basics. What is email marketing? Put simply, it's the use of email as a direct channel to promote a product or service or build a relationship with your customers. Most often,<a href="https://neilpatel.com/blog/beginners-guide-email-marketing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;it’s used to generate sales or leads</a>&nbsp;through the use of incentives or advertising material. Essentially, anytime a business sends an email that isn’t to confirm a purchase or respond to a specific query, it can be labelled as email marketing.

While email marketing has been around for decades, the possibilities and segmentation opportunities within the field have evolved significantly as eCommerce continues to evolve.

<h2>What is email marketing in 2022?</h2>Where email marketing was once used to send mass communications to a big list of subscribers, there is an increasing focus on personalisation, email marketing strategy, and sending more targeted communications to sub-groups like your VIPs.

<h2>What are some common types of email marketing?</h2>

The explanation to, "what is email marketing?" should always be followed by the elaboration that there are, in fact, <a href="https://blog.thomasnet.com/types-of-email-marketing" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;various types of email marketing</a>&nbsp;that brands can utilise to build customer rapport and drive conversions, including (but not limited to):

Welcome emails:&nbsp;Your customers will never be more interested or engaged with you than the moment they’ve just signed up to your&nbsp;<a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/how-to-build-an-email-list-from-scratch" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 20px;">email list</a>. Therefore, your welcome email presents a crucial opportunity to build rapport right from the start.<a href="https://www.invoca.com/blog/retail-marketing-statistics" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 20px;">&nbsp;Research shows that 81 per cent</a>&nbsp;of retail shoppers start researching online before deciding on their purchase, and many brands use the welcome emails to start building a customer journey that is more likely to lead to a conversion down the line.

Lead-nurturing emails:&nbsp;As the name implies, this type of marketing email involves sending a sequence of strategically connected emails to gradually encourage your customer to take action through a campaign, offer, or promotion. Lead-nurturing emails (or lead-gen emails) can be used as part of an overall marketing strategy and to promote or sell your product or services – or they can help promote content marketing initiatives such as webinars, or blog posts. It’s important to send the lead-nurturing emails at the right time. For example, if someone has just signed up for your newsletter, don’t assume they’re ready to buy. Start by adding value and building a relationship – send them some tips on how to dress for the season, use your product, or keep their pet healthy. When you’ve gained an understanding of what piques their interest – and built a relationship and see a positive open rate – you can start notifying them of the products or services you can offer.

Transactional emails:&nbsp;These are targeted, singular emails triggered by an action your customer has taken onsite, such as confirming an e-commerce purchase and providing shipping details, confirming an appointment booking with the time and date or as part of advertised marketing campaigns. They tend to have a high open rate and click-through rate (CTR) because customers know they’re coming and value the information provided.

Newsletters:&nbsp;One of the most common types of email marketing, newsletters are a great way for brands to stay top of mind among their customers. Many retailers use newsletters to showcase their bestselling products and discount items or offer adjacent content marketing (such as tips and advice stories or interviews with people aligned with the brand). Meanwhile, service providers often use e-newsletters to showcase employees, share company updates or announce special discounts with a catchy subject line. This kind of regular communication is key to a strong marketing strategy.

Abandoned cart email:&nbsp;These are automated emails designed to re-engage customers by reminding them of the items they were interested in. When done well, they can be an excellent way for retailers to recover lost sales –<a href="https://www.barilliance.com/cart-abandonment-rate-statistics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;research has shown that 10.7 per cent</a>&nbsp;of shoppers will complete their purchase after opening an abandoned cart email.

<h2>Is email marketing worthwhile for your business?</h2>

It’s personal:&nbsp;Your customers want to feel seen, heard and special, and no channel can achieve quite this like email. Research shows personalised emails can increase revenue by<a href="https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-new-rules/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 20px;">&nbsp;as much as 760 per cent</a>. In an era of oversaturation, personalisation is a marketer's secret weapon. Alana Pozzebon, senior global media manager at luxury fashion label Stella McCartney, says email offers an unparalleled level of relationship building, compared to other channels.&nbsp;

Article Quote

“Email marketing offers a direct conversation channel between a brand and a consumer”

“Email marketing offers a direct conversation channel between a brand and a consumer. We can use promotional content to speak with an individual, rather than&nbsp;at&nbsp;them, unlike other platforms like print and even social media. Receiving an email addressed specifically to you, with a special discount offer for your birthday along with recommendations based on previous purchases is a powerful customer experience.”

It’s cost-effective and scalable:<a href="https://www.litmus.com/blog/infographic-the-roi-of-email-marketing" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 20px;">&nbsp;Studies show</a>&nbsp;that marketers receive a staggering $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing and targeted email campaigns. The data also shows that using a good email marketing tool can see a<a href="https://www.smartinsights.com/ecommerce/ecommerce-analytics/ecommerce-conversion-rates/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 20px;">&nbsp;conversion rate of 2.3 per cent,</a>&nbsp;compared to 1 per cent for social media. Unlike print or social campaigns, you don’t have to pay exorbitant fees to a third-party platform for their space or audience because you’re sending direct communications to your own. You can decide how much you want to spend on your email marketing, whether that’s hiring a dedicated email specialist and graphic designer, paying for high-proficiency software, or simply doing it yourself.

Sabri Suby, author of<a href="https://selllikecrazybook.com/free/?gc_id=1693741401&amp;wickedsource=google&amp;wickedid=381832564308&amp;wtm_term=sell%20like%20crazy&amp;wdevice=c&amp;wtm_campaign=1693741401&amp;wtm_content=63483057822&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjw1ouKBhC5ARIsAHXNMI9kIxB5whmJ8jqQldMRnNfZJqc2Tzp2emZUt1xAjd2vMuNfHMv41PsaArHiEALw_wcB" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Sell Like Crazy</a>&nbsp;and founder and head of growth at leading marketing consultancy<a href="https://kingkong.co/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;King Kong,</a>&nbsp;says: “Email is the engine that’s generated millions of dollars for my marketing business. It can sell to 10 people as easily as it can to 100,000 people. In other words, it scales! I once spent 30 minutes writing an email, which has made AU$467,163 to date. Thanks to the power of email marketing and automation this one email has been a workhorse that keeps grinding to bring in revenue, with no further input from me.”

“Email can sell to 10 people as easily as it can to 100,000 people. In other words, it scales!”

It can reach a vast audience:&nbsp;Profitability and personalisation aren’t the only benefits that email has over other marketing channels – it can also reach the most people. Having an active email address is the prerequisite for an account on any other digital platform, so in effect, it’s the currency of the internet. Research shows that<a href="https://squareup.com/us/en/townsquare/consumers-want-email-from-brands-do-it-well" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;61 per cent of consumers</a>&nbsp;choose email as their preference for hearing from brands.

Chad S White, head of research at Oracle Marketing Consulting and author of<a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Email-Marketing-Rules-Checklists-Frameworks/dp/1546910638/ref=asc_df_1546910638/?tag=googleshopdsk-22&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=347664591317&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=2196816164576066377&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=1000339&amp;hvtargid=pla-332228958185&amp;psc=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Email Marketing Rules</a>, says: “Email marketing gets headlines for being inexpensive and generating a really high return on investment. However, it’s greatest strength is that everyone has an email account – and that consumers prefer to hear from brands via email than through any other channel. And this preference for email has held strong in survey after survey for well over a decade.”

It’s yours to control:&nbsp;In addition to having to pay to reach followers on social media, you’re also at the mercy of the platforms’ algorithms.

“It is a huge risk to build a business on a platform owned by somebody else,” Suby says, pointing out that social media platforms regularly change their algorithms, which can affect your ability to reach your followers.

“It's a huge risk to build a business on a platform owned by somebody else.”

It provides valuable customer insights: Email marketing is incredibly data-driven and measurable. With the right software, you can analyse click-through rates (CTR), bounce rate and conversion rate, and conduct A/B testing.

The data you gain around the content or messaging that’s resonating with your email subscribers – and which campaigns convert – can be used to optimise your marketing activity across all channels.

<h2>How to get started with email marketing</h2>

We know why email marketing is worthwhile for your business, but it’s important to look before you jump into this powerful channel. Here’s how to get started:

Learn the law:&nbsp;Before you do anything, it’s essential that you have a comprehensive understanding of the data and privacy regulations for email marketing in the region that you’re sending to. Australia, the UK and the EU must comply with the<a href="https://mailchimp.com/help/about-the-general-data-protection-regulation/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;GDPR policy</a>. If you’re sending emails to multiple regions, you must tailor your practices to their laws, not the law of your origin country.

Choose your email service provider (ESP):&nbsp;Next, you need an ESP to help you create and store your subscriber list, create the template and provide your insights. There are a number of <a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/best-platforms" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">email marketing platforms</a> that can do this, depending on your budget and the size of your <a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/how-to-build-an-email-list-from-scratch" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">email list</a>. Choosing the right one is important to optimise your email’s deliverability.

<a href="https://www.salesforce.com/au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Salesforce</a>&nbsp;and<a href="https://www.hubspot.com/products/get-started-f049?utm_id=329183587108&amp;utm_medium=paid&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_term=marketing_hubspot_EN&amp;utm_campaign=Marketing_MQLs_EN_APAC_ANZ_Brand-HubSpot_e_c_campaignid963083038_agid51603737001_google&amp;utm_content=&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_acc=2734776884&amp;hsa_kw=hubspot&amp;hsa_grp=51603737001&amp;hsa_mt=e&amp;hsa_cam=963083038&amp;hsa_ad=329183587108&amp;hsa_tgt=kwd-298569398281&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwnJaKBhDgARIsAHmvz6cCcrVZlczn6cNN1uwsw7aAtJhFbzYCW7K3oiLK_qQIPPKcQMFeGkEaAhqREALw_wcB" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Hubspot</a>&nbsp;are the among the bigger players in the industry, but there are plenty of options for smaller budgets too. Suby suggests: “A great place to start if you have a smaller sized list (sub-10,000) is MailChimp, which has some of the best deliverability in the industry. Some other good <a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/best-platforms" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">email marketing platforms</a> are ActiveCampaign, GetResponse, AWeber and Drip.”

<a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/how-to-build-an-email-list-from-scratch" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Build an email list</a> of the right people:&nbsp;Most ESPs will let you create a subscription form to embed on your website, and one of the easiest ways to drive sign-ups is by creating an offer or incentive, such as 10 per cent off their next purchase. But remember, you’re looking for the right subscribers, not just any subscribers.

Pozzebon explains: “The quality of your leads is crucial in your capture phase. If you are actively recruiting people who are in the market for your brand, it’s going to be much easier to get your message across. Personalisation is key here – ensure you quickly send new sign-ups a welcoming email to start building a positive relationship with your brand.”

Define your goals and key messages:&nbsp;Email marketing can deliver a range of outcomes – whether that’s nurturing new leads, re-engaging lapsed customers, announcing sales and discounts, recovering lost sales, or confirming a purchase or booking. Before you construct your email, make sure you understand which objective you’re focusing on. And, as White says, don’t be afraid of a bit of repetition.

Craft an engaging email:&nbsp;Your subject line and preheader copy will essentially determine whether or not your email gets opened among all of the others. They need to be strong, punchy, engaging and informative.

Once your audience is through the first hoop, the rest of the copy needs to be engaging and personable in tone – you’ve dropped into their private inbox, remember. Ensure key messages are communicated clearly, and most often, less is more when it comes to text or copy. Don’t waste their time with huge bodies of text and distract the reader from clicking through to your website. Following your subject and preheader, Suby says this sequence is best:

<ul><li>Lead:&nbsp;Drag them into your copy by captivating them with an interesting statement or ‘pattern interrupt’ that jolts them to attention.</li><li>Body:&nbsp;Fascinate them with a gripping or unusual story or example.</li><li>Call To Action:&nbsp;Get them to click, share, buy or do whatever the primary call to action of your email is.”</li></ul>

Design also plays a huge part here. If you don’t have enough budget for a graphic designer, most ESPs offer email templates, and platforms like<a href="https://www.canva.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Canva</a>&nbsp;make simple design accessible for everyone.

Track and evaluate:&nbsp;An often-overlooked step in the email marketing process, is implementing regular evaluation or analysis.

Take time to examine your analytics and see what time of day people are most likely to open your emails, which subjects and preheaders get their attention, what kind of content keeps them most captivated. And – more valuably, what has the reverse effect? As White says: “Measure your negative performance metrics, not just your positive ones.”

<h2>Do’s and don’ts of email marketing</h2>

<ul><li>Maintain quality control of your subscriber list:&nbsp;White advises: “Use double opt-in and other safeguards to protect yourself from error-prone, low-quality and bot-vulnerable subscriber acquisition sources.”</li></ul>

<ul><li>Include an unsubscribe link in every email:&nbsp;Customers have a right to choose what is being sent to them, and an easy ‘opt-out’ in every email is a baseline expectation. If you make this difficult or hide the link, you may frustrate consumers and be in breach of their privacy and data protection regulation.</li></ul>

<ul><li>Invest time in fantastic copy and creative ideas:&nbsp;Suby explains: “The whole idea is to remove yourself (and your email content) from the norm. If your email could belong to any other business and shows no signs of individuality, why should your reader care?”</li></ul>

<ul><li>Test the sendability of your emails:&nbsp;There’s little point in spending hours – or longer – crafting the perfect email if it gets caught in spam filters, or looks poorly formatted with blocked images. This is particularly important if your emails contain lots of images or multimedia elements. There is a range of free and paid tools that will test your emails in a variety of email providers. For example,<a href="https://www.litmus.com/email-testing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Litmus</a>&nbsp;(a paid tool) and<a href="https://mailninja.co/email-previewer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;MailNinja</a>&nbsp;(free).</li></ul>

<ul><li>Take their trust for granted:&nbsp;Your consumer gave you a direct line of personal communication to them; don’t abuse it by spamming them with irrelevant emails or flooding their inbox with three emails a day. You’ll lose their custom?? and damage the relationship.</li></ul>

<ul><li>Send mixed messages:&nbsp;Pozzebon advises: “Your customers are busy, and [they’re] receiving countless marketing messages all day long. Don’t bombard them with multiple messages within each email, because none of them will leave an impact. Simplicity is most effective.”</li></ul>

<ul><li>Leave it up to chance:&nbsp;Suby says: “Timing is really everything. Get to know your audience. Find out when is best to email them, and in which tone of voice. Whatever you can do to make it personal, do that! Test everything, then analyse your data to see [which content produced] ... the best traffic and conversions.”</li></ul>

Email service provider (ESP):&nbsp;An <a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/best-platforms" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">email marketing platform</a> or service that enables brands to send emails to subscribers.

Click-through rate (CTR):&nbsp;The rate at which viewers click on the link in your email message. It’s calculated by dividing the number of views by the number of clicks and multiplying by 100 to convert to a percentage. A high CTR means your messaging and content is effective and engaging enough to drive viewers to take action.

Bounce rate:&nbsp;The rate at which viewers leave (or ‘bounce’ off) your webpage without taking action. A high bounce rate is a sign that your messaging or content is not resonating with the people you’re driving to your page.&nbsp;

Preheader:&nbsp;The short summary sentence of an email that shows up underneath the subject line. A strong opportunity to stand out in your customer’s inbox.

A/B testing:&nbsp;A method used by marketers to compare two or more types of messaging delivery for the same campaign, by sending it to the audience at random and comparing results.

Text Caption

All references to any registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Afterpay does not endorse or recommend any one particular supplier and the information provided is for educational purposes only.

What is email marketing? Read out step by step guide on why email marketing is important and ways to successfully implement it to your business.

What is Email Marketing: Find Out How Email Marketing Works

What is email marketing (and why you need it)

Emphasized Text

Unsure which email marketing platform is best? We’ve got you covered.

Email platforms have come a long way in the past few decades.&nbsp;

Consider the last time you signed up for a brand’s newsletter - you were probably sent a beautiful, personalised welcome email, right?

Maybe you clicked on a product in the email but forgot to finish the purchase. Maybe you subsequently received a friendly email reminding you that you’d left something in your cart. Perhaps you bought it - only to receive another email the following week featuring a great deal on a similar product.

You’re left thinking: ‘how do they do ALL that?!’

Easy – with an email marketing platform.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Email marketing platforms – or email service platforms (ESPs) – are designed to deliver the very best results from your <a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/what-is" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">email marketing</a> campaigns while simultaneously making it as easy as possible. The features, functions and possibilities are endless – the trick is choosing the right one for you.&nbsp;

<h2>Key considerations when deciding which <a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/how-to-build-an-email-list-from-scratch" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">email marketing</a> platform is best for you:&nbsp;</h2><ul><li>Cost&nbsp;Be realistic about what <a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/best-platforms-for-email-marketing" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">email marketing</a> platform you can afford – or want to spend. There are several great free email marketing platforms and plans available for you to test the waters and see what works best.&nbsp;</li><li>Ease of use&nbsp;Do you have an <a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/what-is" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">email marketing</a> team or are you just starting out? Pick an email marketing platform that aligns with the current skills and capabilities of your team because there’s no point paying for fancy features if you can’t yet use them yet.&nbsp;</li><li>List management/size&nbsp;On some email marketing platforms, you pay more for the size of your contacts list. Do you plan to <a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/email-marketing/what-is" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">build your email marketing list</a>? Understand your list management requirements before you pick a platform.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Templates&nbsp;Do you have a designer on staff? If not, you may need to opt for an email marketing platform that has great pre-designed templates with easy-to-use design tools.&nbsp;</li><li>Integrations&nbsp;Does it integrate with your store platform, or existing business and marketing tools? Clever integrations can not only save you time and make your team’s life easier, but also deliver advanced insights to develop more effective strategies.&nbsp;</li><li>Recommended use&nbsp;What are you trying to achieve? Compare your goals, marketing channels, and the size and purpose of your business to the functionalities and purpose of the email marketing platform you choose.</li></ul>

<h2><a href="https://www.campaignmonitor.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Campaign Monitor</a></h2>

Cost:&nbsp;Approximately AU$12.37 per month (basic), AU$39.8 per month (unlimited), AU$204.8 per month (premier).&nbsp;&nbsp;

Campaign Monitor doesn’t offer a free plan, however you can pay annually rather than monthly, or pay per campaign.&nbsp;

Top feature: Easy drag-and-drop design tools.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Best email marketing platforms for:&nbsp;Teams wanting to create personalised emails with pre-designed responsive templates.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

What it is:&nbsp;Campaign Monitor is an easy-to-use email marketing platform with all the standard features – template creation, list management, segmentation, analytics, A/B testing – with a focus on personalisation.&nbsp;

Best features:&nbsp;This email marketing platform is designed for teams collaborating on email campaigns, with tagging and role assignment functions, and the ability to integrate with over 250+ third-party applications (including team collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams).&nbsp;

It offers 80 pre-designed layouts and templates, with easy drag-and-drop design tools. The templates are all responsive and optimised for mobile, and they also offer a preview option for 20+ different inbox views.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

A key function for Campaign Monitor is personalisation and meeting customers at a specific point in the journey. The visual marketing automation tool is great for mapping flows, identifying customer segments, and building targeted and automated email workflows.&nbsp;

“What I like most about Campaign Monitor is that we can send really targeted emails to our customers,” said Brendan Downs, global webmaster at Rip Curl. “Girls specific content, or guy specific content – or we can even get more macro, [and drill] down to language and location.”

Using their analytics and data, you can heavily segment and create a range of personalised content based on available information – such as age, location, purchase history, point of purchase, etc. There’s also an extensive library of resources available.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<h2><a href="https://www.omnisend.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Omnisend</a></h2>

Cost:&nbsp;Free up to 500 emails per month, approximately AU$26 per month (standard), AU$81 per month (pro).&nbsp;

Omnisend’s plans are restricted by the number of contacts you have,&nbsp;however they all include international SMS, with the ‘pro’ plan allowing unlimited emails and up to 3,540 international SMS to up to 500 contacts.

Top feature:&nbsp;Automations and segmentations across channels.

Best email marketing platforms for:&nbsp;Omni-channel workflows that integrate email, SMS, push notifications, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and more.&nbsp;

What it is:&nbsp;Omnisend is an all-in-one marketing automation platform designed for e-commerce businesses. Focused on helping you reach customers throughout their journey, using different channels, this email marketing platform enables you to integrate email, SMS, push notifications, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and more into your workflows.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Best features:&nbsp;Omnisend allows segmented targeting across all your integrated channels. For example, some customers may not respond regularly to email communication, but they may to SMS. Omnisend allows you to create customised communication workflows to personalise the experience and communicate with your customers in a way that works for them.

As well as offering customisable pre-designed email templates with e-commerce features such as the ability to include dynamic discount codes, the platform also offers pop-up and lead generation form templates. The automations library includes pre-built consumer journey workflows, with welcome, abandoned cart, and transaction templates – enabling users to get started quickly.&nbsp;&nbsp;

As Omnisend is heavily focused on e-commerce, their reports and analytics track sales to identify which campaigns convert so that you can build winning success strategies.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<h2><a href="https://www.sendinblue.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sendinblue&nbsp;</a></h2>

Cost:&nbsp;&nbsp;Free up to 300 emails per day, AU$31.90 per month for up to 10,000 emails (lite), AU$82.32 per month for up to 20,000 emails (premium).&nbsp;For anything beyond that, they offer an ‘Enterprise’ plan with additional features on a quote basis.&nbsp;

Top feature:&nbsp;Automation capabilities and built-in CRM.&nbsp;

Best email marketing platforms for:&nbsp;Small to medium sized businesses needing a quick and easy marketing solution.&nbsp;

What it is:&nbsp;Sendinblue is an easy and intuitive all-in-one marketing and communication platform that includes email, SMS, Facebook, chat, and CRM functionality. It focuses on helping you meet customers where they are, across platforms, with the goal of operating on ‘autopilot’ with clever and extensive automation.&nbsp;

Best features:&nbsp;Sendinblue makes automation ‘beginner-friendly’ with pre-designed workflows, pre-made automation templates, and over 60+ email templates.&nbsp;

Similarly, the platform simplifies lead generation with their lead forms tools that you can use to segment leads into lists and create targeted workflows for – and Facebook retargeting features.&nbsp;

Sendinblue also has a built-in CRM and a shared inbox to keep track of customer email history, which enables smart segmentation and automation functions, including using AI algorithms to select the best delivery time for bulk emails and A/B testing.&nbsp;

The drag-and-drop email editor function, along with a range of tools for creating emails is easy to use, however it’s worth noting that the emails on the free plan will have Sendinblue branding.

<h2><a href="https://www.privy.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Privy</a></h2>

Cost:&nbsp;Free up to 100 contacts, paid plans start at AU$20.6 per month and increase based on contact list size.&nbsp;

Top feature:&nbsp;Conversion tools – pop-ups, flyouts, coupons, spin-to-win wheels.&nbsp;

Best email marketing platforms for:&nbsp;Small eCommerce businesses focused on lead generation.&nbsp;

What it is: Privy is an SMS and email marketing platform that’s popular on e-commerce store platforms, as it focuses on converting and growing sales through your email marketing.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Best features:&nbsp;It is designed for generating online store leads and conversions with a range of targeting functions, unique features to run cross-sell emails, and extensive automation capabilities.&nbsp;

Automation options are designed specifically for eCommerce store needs – including automated newsletters, reminders, abandoned cart flows, purchase follow-ups and customer reactivation emails, as well as campaigns based on exit intent, cart value and behaviour.&nbsp;

Privy is an email marketing platform that you can use to create a range of intent-driven pop-ups and banners, including spin-to-win wheels. They offer unlimited segmentation and run automated A/B testing to find what messages convert, for both email and SMS.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<h2><a href="https://mailchimp.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mailchimp</a></h2>

Cost:&nbsp;Free up to 2,000 contacts; paid plans from AU$13.87 per month based on your contact list size.

Top feature:&nbsp;Over 300+ third-party integrations.&nbsp;

Best email marketing platforms for:&nbsp;Beginners that need a good ‘freemium’ plan.&nbsp;

What it is:&nbsp;Mailchimp is one of the most well-known email marketing platforms, with all the needed features you need: templates, segmentation, automation, personalisation, A/B testing, lead generation forms and CRM integration. It’s easy to learn and even easier to get started with the extensive free plan.&nbsp;

Mailchimp also offers functions that enable you to build websites and landing pages, buy domains, create ads and post on social media, but email marketing is their bread and butter.&nbsp;

Best features:&nbsp;Mailchimp has more than 100 flexible email templates available that you can customise in their easy drag-and-drop email builder. They also have custom landing page creation tools.&nbsp;

One of the benefits of Mailchimp is that you leverage their extensive learning. The company collects data from customers worldwide to provide predictive and actionable insights that you can use to design personalised customer journeys. And this email marketing platform offers smart audience management tools that allow you to set segmentation and autoresponder parameters with ready-made segments, as well as set up delivery times based on the user's timezone.&nbsp;

Mailchimp accommodates businesses of all sizes, from start-up to enterprise, and has over 300 third-party application integrations – including WordPress, Magento, Shopify and other e-commerce stores – enabling you to integrate tools to suit your business needs.&nbsp;

Keep in mind that the free plan does restrict what features are available to you, such as advanced segmentation and send-time optimisation.&nbsp;

<h2><a href="https://www.klaviyo.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Klaviyo</a></h2>

Cost: Free up to 250 contacts; paid plans start at AU$27.5 per month based on the size of your contact list.

Top feature:&nbsp;Ability to send personalised product recommendations and dynamic content.&nbsp;

Best email marketing platforms for:&nbsp;e-commerce businesses.&nbsp;

What it is:&nbsp;Klaviyo is an SMS and email marketing service designed specifically for e-commerce businesses. It has specifically designed functions and features to help e-commerce stores generate sales alongside all the standard email marketing tools – segmentation, automation, A/B testing, sign up forms, analytics, etc.

Best features:&nbsp;Klaviyo has over 120+ third party integrations, including ShipStation and popular e-commerce store platforms. In particular, it integrates with social media platforms to support paid social media campaigns which allows you to sync data to build ‘lookalike audiences’ for Facebook and Instagram for lead generation. It also offers dynamic lead generation forms that you can A/B test to optimise and improve conversions.&nbsp;

Klaviyo has pre-designed forms, and over 50 email and automation templates, as well as ‘saved templates’ that give you pre-built layouts with your company’s logo built in. Alternatively, you can create your own emails using their drag-and-drop design tool, or plain text editor.&nbsp;

The platform also gives you the ability to to send personalised product recommendations and dynamic content based on a consumer’s preferences and interactions.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Reports and analytics are focused on business growth, sales, generating leads and converting. Klaviyo offers the same features for both free and paid plans, the only difference being the customer support that comes with a paid plan.&nbsp;

Cost:&nbsp;14-day free trial, plans start at approximately AU$26.1 per month and increase based on the size of your contact list.&nbsp;

Top feature:&nbsp;Advanced e-commerce CRM.&nbsp;

Best email marketing platforms for:&nbsp;More advanced e-commerce marketers wanting to further their automation and segmentation strategy.&nbsp;

What it is:&nbsp;Drip is an advanced SMS and email marketing platform designed for small-to-medium eCommerce businesses, integrating seamlessly with eCommerce platforms like Shopify and Magento. It’s eCommerce CRM allows for advanced personalisation and segmentation, as well as offering revenue attribution and sales funnel tools.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Best features:&nbsp;The Drip e-commerce CRM enables you to learn more about your customers and build deeper – and more profitable – relationships through more segmented and personalised workflows and campaigns. It has a focus on customer acquisition, with customisable lead generation forms, and an understanding of purchase behaviour so you can nurture customers.&nbsp;

Drip offers intuitive and advanced automation tools, with clever segmenting, split testing and list grouping abilities. You can segment based on a wide range of criteria – clicks, purchase history, engagements, relevant promotions, first-time users, returning visitors, abandoned cart – and A/B test to find what works best.&nbsp;

The platform has a visual workflow builder to help you create customised journeys and find purchase points, with a library of existing workflows and proven strategies you can try for yourself.&nbsp;

After connecting your e-commerce platform, you can also activate revenue attribution to see which campaigns are actually converting to dollars and driving sales. Drip also integrates with a range of other third-parties, including Facebook.&nbsp;

<h2><a href="https://www.mailerlite.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MailerLite</a></h2>

Cost:&nbsp;Free up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month, paid plans start at AU$13.75 per month and increase based on the size of your contact list.&nbsp;

Top feature:&nbsp;Award-winning 24/7 support.&nbsp;

Best email marketing platforms for: e-commerce businesses new to email marketing with a small budget.&nbsp;

What it is:&nbsp;MailerLite is a user-friendly email marketing platform focused on helping small-to-medium businesses grow with all the functionality needed for successful email marketing, including advanced automation and segmentation, promotional pop-ups, and the ability to build landing pages.

Best features:&nbsp;MailerLite has a clean, easy-to-use interface and award-winning 24/7 support.&nbsp;

As an email marketing platform MailerLite integrates with dozens of marketing tools and e-commerce platforms, enabling automatic customer segmentation based on the e-commerce platform data – such as first-time customer, high-spending customers, etc. It offers the ability to track revenue and evaluate how emails impact sales, as well as monetising newsletters and selling digital products.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The platform offers advanced tools to generate leads, attract visitors and turn them into subscribers using landing pages, pop-ups, and embedded forms. You can also personalise campaigns using its advanced targeting features.&nbsp;

And you can also choose between a drag-and-drop template editor, rich-text or customer HTML editor, and test campaigns in multiple ways to find what works. (MailerLite also has a template gallery on their website, too, so you can get a feel for the themes before signing up.)

<h2><a href="https://convertkit.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ConvertKit</a></h2>

Cost:&nbsp;Free up to 1,000 subscribers, approximately AU$12.37 per month (creator), AU$39.8 per month (creator pro).&nbsp;

Top feature:&nbsp;Incentive emails for content upgrades.&nbsp;

Best email marketing platforms for:&nbsp;Creators and eCommerce businesses wanting to drive engagement.&nbsp;

What it is:&nbsp;ConvertKit is an email marketing platform particularly angled at creators – artists, musicians, authors, podcasters, coaches, entrepreneurs&nbsp;– and e-commerce businesses.&nbsp;

Best features:&nbsp;It is feature-rich with landing page and opt-in form functions, email workflows, automation, personalisation, tagging, and segmentation, as well as intuitive design capabilities.&nbsp;

The focus is on automating your sales funnel by sending subscribers engaging content. In particular, the ‘incentive email’ feature enables you to offer content upgrades and special incentives. There are also special features for selling digital products – such as podcasts and videos – and a paid newsletter and subscription functionality, with a referral template.&nbsp;

CovertKit makes automation and segmentation easy with a visual automation builder that you can use to create advanced email rules, triggers and automated email funnels that convert visitors to purchasers. You can also create custom emails for individual subscribers, with funnel-driving landing pages.&nbsp;

The platform also integrates with dozens of third-party applications, including e-commerce store and social media platforms, marketing tools, and payment methods.&nbsp;

Unsure which email marketing platform is best? We’ve got you covered.

Are you looking for the best email marketing services? Read our guide to find the best email marketing platforms designed to deliver the best results. 

Best email marketing platforms: discover the ultimate guide 

The ultimate guide to email marketing platforms

Email marketing helps create a one-to-one relationship with your customers. Here’s how to increase your email subscribers

You’ve built a decent social following, and you’re hitting your impression counts, so is it really worth dedicating your precious time to building an email list and finding new subscribers?&nbsp;If you want to increase your sales and develop a loyal following, then a good email list and email subscriber rate is essential, says brand consultant Emma Sharley, who has worked with the likes of<a href="https://www.westfield.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 20px;">&nbsp;Westfield</a>,<a href="https://nobodydenim.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 20px;">&nbsp;Nobody Denim</a>&nbsp;and<a href="https://au.lespecs.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 20px;">&nbsp;Le Specs</a>.“[With email marketing] you have a direct, one-on-one channel to the customer, and you own your database,” Sharley says, which makes the email list immune to things like algorithms that can play havoc with social media followings.&nbsp;

“Email is more than just a sales driver – it’s where you can engage customers, tell a story about your brand and develop a relationship with them.”

“For the clients we’ve worked with,” she continues, “email is the top channel in terms of conversion, but it’s more than just a sales driver – it’s where you can engage customers, tell a story about your brand and develop a relationship with them. It’s the perfect opportunity to showcase who you are, and you can start small and build over time.”

<h2>1. Pay attention to pop ups</h2>There are endless options for pop-ups and how to time when they appear, but for Ava Chandler-Matthews, co-founder of cult sunscreen brand<a href="https://ultraviolette.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 20px;">&nbsp;Ultra Violette</a>, the look and feel are the top priorities.&nbsp;&nbsp;“We made sure ours felt on brand visually and had our tone of voice because we didn’t want it to look spammy,” says Chandler-Matthews.&nbsp;&nbsp;Consider what might convince your ideal customer to sign up to your email list, suggests Sharley, as well as your brand positioning: a brand that wants to be seen as luxury won’t offer a discount, for example. “[A discount of] $10 off doesn’t really cut through anymore”.She adds, “don’t have pop-ups on every page, because that feels like you’re being spammed,” and advocates for transparency about what email subscribers are actually signing up to – will you be sending weekly, monthly or sporadic emails?

Article Image

<h2>2. Polish your on-page sign-ups</h2>On-page sign-ups – which are built into the content on your website and sit there permanently, unlike pop-ups that appear and then disappear – are a different story when it comes to list building. You can have a signup form on every page, says Sharley.&nbsp;“Make it easy for people, but make sure they’re subtle and in context, too.”&nbsp;Depending on what page it is, your sign-up call to action (CTA) could offer people sale previews, vouchers or a deep dive into what products you’re offering.&nbsp;Women’s fashion brand Reformation has their on-page sign-up high on the page, with casual, conversational copy that invites customers to be an insider (“Get the scoop on all things Ref, including sales and new stuff”) by joining their email list and choosing to opt-in through the sign-up forms.

<h2>3. Start a competition</h2>Offering discounts can work for some brands, but Ultra Violette chooses to go with higher-value competitions instead. “We engaged with an app called<a href="https://www.viralsweep.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Viral Sweep</a>, which created a competition to win a year’s worth of sunscreen. Rather than increasing Instagram followers, it drives people to sign up to your email marketing list and the results were really impressive,” says Chandler-Matthews.&nbsp;

<h2>4.&nbsp;Don’t forget the after-purchase</h2>It’s simple, which is why it’s often overlooked, but the tick-box that opts people into your email list as a subscriber (most people do opt-in, says Chandler-Matthews) or gives them the chance to create an account instead of checking out as a guest is valuable.&nbsp;“Is there something more you can offer them once they’ve purchased, like exclusive content, a bonus experience or a discount for their next purchase?” asks Sharley, while cautioning, “you need to make sure that you’re telling them the benefits of creating an account, otherwise they may just think they’ll be spammed”.

<h2>5.&nbsp;Partner with other brands for giveaways</h2>Approach like-minded brands (or mine your customer research data to find out where your market is also buying) to collaborate on competitions and giveaways, and you can both significantly increase your email&nbsp;marketing lists while growing your subscriber base.“Our collaboration with Frank Body and Mejuri did really well for us,” says Chandler-Matthews. “We created a separate landing page to send people to from social media; when they signed up, they opted in for both our email lists. We want to give back to people and don’t just want to be spamming them, and giveaways are a nice way to do that.”

<h2>6.&nbsp;Drum up pre-launch interest&nbsp;</h2>Whether you’re a product or service-based business, if you have a new offering launching soon that you know people will be excited about, capitalise on that interest by encouraging new subscribers to sign-up (“find out more!”) to your email list.&nbsp;For example, you could offer updates (“be the first to know!”), engaging blog post content, or early entry to a pre-sale. Create a separate landing page for it, too, so you can easily link to it from social media and Linktree, making it easier for people and creating another opportunity to sign them up.

<h2>7.&nbsp;Offer a freebie</h2>Create free content that your target market will likely want to get their hands on immediately as a subscriber, says Sharley, and you’ll tap into a whole new set of contacts.&nbsp;

“Understand why they’re coming to you and then tailor your content accordingly.”

“Ideally you’ve done some market research and know who the customer is – you want to understand why they’re coming to you and then tailor your content accordingly.”&nbsp;Creating an e-book, PDF, masterclass, engaging blog post content, course, or interview series to drive sign-ups is known as a lead-magnet strategy.&nbsp;You can continue to add content to your library, capturing emails for each piece people download (each freebie should have its own landing page that you can link to – landing pages focus on one thing only, which leads to higher conversion rates, and they’re easy to link to from your other channels).

<h2>8.&nbsp;Invest in paid social media</h2>“It’s important to do an audit of where your audience is engaging with you, so you can see where they might be willing to then sign up,” says Sharley.&nbsp;Paid ads on Facebook and Instagram can offer strong returns, particularly when you target people who have already visited your website (which you can do in the ‘custom audience’ section), or when you run the ads in conjunction with a competition, lead magnet or discount.&nbsp;&nbsp;“Make sure there is a strong value-add that they’re receiving in return for giving over their email address,” says Sharley.&nbsp;

<h2>9.&nbsp;&nbsp;Create experiences</h2>“Experiences or events, whether they’re virtual or physical, can provide a really lovely way for people to engage with your brand, and offer an opportunity to capture email addresses en masse,” says Sharley.&nbsp;Whether it’s a webinar or masterclass on Zoom, or an in-person experience, make it exclusive to subscribers. “The most important thing to think about is where does it feel natural for your brand and how can you capitalise on that, so it doesn’t just feel like a sales tactic.”

<h2>10.&nbsp;Turn it into a game</h2>Gamification is a fun way to attract potential customers who are weary of standard pop-ups that appear on most sites: spin to win an incentive, for example, using software like<a href="https://optinmonster.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Optinmonster,</a>&nbsp;and<a href="https://www.omnisend.com/features/forms/wheel-of-fortune/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Omnisend’s Wheel of Fortune</a>&nbsp;are tempting, while Sharley is a fan of layering referrals into gamifications.&nbsp;“A simple example is where your customers reach certain spend limits that then unlock particular rewards for both them and their friends who, when they get a referral code, can receive a discount.”

<h2>11.&nbsp;&nbsp;Ramp up referrals</h2>Word of mouth is always powerful, but unless they’re a superfan, most people will need a little encouragement to spread their positive opinion. Referral programs like<a href="https://smile.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;Smile</a>&nbsp;and<a href="https://www.friendbuy.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;FriendBuy</a>&nbsp;incentivise customers to pass on codes, which offer them and a friend a discount. Again, referral marketing programs often work best when layered with a competition, discount, lead magnet or incentive.

<h2>12. Expand your social posts</h2>Think of social media as the entrée, then offer the main course to subscribers. “When you have a social media strategy being deployed across Instagram, plan for something more that the customer could access from [signing up to] emails, like an interview series with experts, or bespoke product for subscribers that has come from an influencer campaign,” says Sharley. “Always think about how you can tailor sign-up incentives to fit in with what you’re doing more broadly, and what value you can offer to people from signing up.”

<h2>13. Be careful with your content</h2>“You need to keep in mind that you’re talking to individual people; it’s easy to develop a content schedule and just drop it into a template, [but] that’s where it starts to lose relevance,” says Sharley.&nbsp;

“Make sure that your content is conversational, inviting and human, not just a shipped-out piece of information”

You’ve built a decent social following, and you’re hitting your impression counts, so is it really worth dedicating your precious time to building an email list? 

Discover our top 16 tips and strategies on how to build an email marketing list from scratch to drive more sales and build meaningful customer relationships.