What is an email campaign? When we talk about email campaigns, it is, at its core, just sending one email to a bunch of people at once. I’m sure you are very familiar with receiving these emails from retail brands you have purchased from.

We call them campaigns, because they are thought out prior to sending “targeted” specifically to the viewer reading them.

Email campaigns are sent from a CRM or Customer Relationship Management software, using your specific database of friends, customers, fans, members, etc.

So why use CRM to send bulk emails?

One major reason you don’t want to just email your list with your general email address and carbon copy them or blind carbon copy them is that your email provider will get flagged as a spammer and lock or drop your email account. Yikes!

Why you need email campaigns

The BEST thing about email is that you OWN the list. It is yours. Unlike social media, where you are limited by the almighty algorithm which will limit your ability to reach all of your followers, (only something like 4% of your followers on Facebook see your post in their feed). However, with your email database, you can reach all of your readers as long as you follow best practices and stay out of their Junk folder.

Another reason to focus on email is that it is active and not passive. An email will go and grab your potential customers in their inbox as opposed to a potential customer having to be compelled to reach out to your website.

There are varying strategies and tactics for sending emails out to your database.

How to make it most effective

Experiment to see what yields the best results for your business and audience. There are text-based campaigns (like an email you receive from a close friend) or campaigns that are obviously from a business or organization that include images, colorful buttons, and embedded video.

Text-based options are good if you want your email to feel personable as if it is coming directly from you. The image-based format is great if you want a design that is more formatted like your website, or you want to feature a photo, product image, video, or content that you want to visually organize.

Choose a list, segment, or tag

You can send a campaign to a group of people on your list, a segment of your list, or even a tag that you have used in their profile. For example, if you have a list of “Oil Change Customers” you may send them an automated email once they purchase from you with a follow-up email reminder from 90 days.

Or you might just have a segment of that list that needs their tires rotated, so you can segment your list into just customers that need to receive an email about tire rotations, why we need to do it, and how to order that service from you.

And a tag can be a way to “tag” them in your CRM with something they are interested in, like “interested in easy diy” because they downloaded your lead magnet on “Tips for checking your tire pressure in the winter.” Then you know to send them an email reaching out to them about how not to hassle with checking their tire pressure in the cold, and just buy your tire services from you.

Create or choose a template

You don’t have to select one and feel stuck to it forever. Instead, choose or design a template for the majority of your email campaigns that is unified and reflects the look and feel of your website. Every once in a while when you have a more personal message, send a text-only email and see if that elicits a different response.

Branding

Use your hero image or at least your logo at the top of your email template. Integrate your brand colors, fonts, and additional images. It doesn’t have to look like an exact copy of your website, but using your defined elements builds brand recognition and authority. You want to be memorable!

Email Campaign Launch Checklist

Here is a checklist of items you’ll need when sending out a campaign:

• Campaign name
• Which list do you want to email to
• Which layout do you want to use
• What do you want your subject line to be
• Which emojis do you want to use in your subject line What copy should you use for your preview text
• What images or videos to use for your content
• What copy to use in the body of the email
• What your call-to-action button should say and link to 
• Make sure your landing page is public

Preflight checklist

Send a test before you publish to the public to check for spelling, check all links, and ensure you have an enticing CTA!

When to publish: days and times

There isn’t really a hard and fast rule to publishing content, but generally speaking it is better to spread content publishing out evenly rather than just dumping a bunch of content into your feed or bombarding someone’s inbox. Find what works best for you and review your analytics to see which times drive the most engagement.

For me, I would never post on a Friday afternoon about marketing a business, because many business owners are wrapping up for the weekend and getting out of “work mode.” But, if I owned a pizza joint, publishing on Friday afternoon would be essential because people have worked all weekend and just want to not have to think about prepping food and grab a pizza for movie night.

This is all to say, be strategic about what will work best for you based upon what your viewer needs or will be most engaged with your material.

Drip out your content

One type of email campaign is a drip sequence – a series of emails gradually giving the reader more information over time, often based around your lead magnet. 

Test to see what works

Something fun with email campaigns is the ability to run different tests to find the best results. For instance, you can test different subject lines, call-to-action wording, change the title of your lead magnet or the graphics you use to show off that freebie. You can try out the different variables in your emails to see what works best and track results within an excel doc or Trello to keep everything in one spot.

Don’t be intimidated by the concept of testing and analyzing. An easy way to begin is to divide your contacts in half and send one group, one subject line and another a different subject line. After 3 days, take a look at which email was opened by more customers.

Then look at that subject line and figure out what might have enticed the customer to click. Was it personalized? Did you use emojis? Was the wording more fun? Gamify the process and have fun!

Metrics to consider when reviewing a campaign:

• What was your open rate?
• How many people unsubscribed?
• How many people clicked on your CTA?
• How many people bought from your website?

Download a copy of our free team marketing worksheets here. Want to learn even more? Check out our book and video course, Unify Your Marketing.