Simple Guide to Email Marketing (How to Do It Yourself!)

Are you trying to learn how to do email marketing yourself? You have absolutely nothing to worry about, I have some tips below that will give you the insights you need.

1. Know your goals
2. Choose an email marketing platform
3. Build an email list
4. Design your email template
5. Design recyclable template
6. Allow auto-reply
7. Preview before sending
8. Time your email
9. Send!
10. Activate tracking

1. Know Your Goal

First things first! Don’t rush! Pause for a moment! Before writing your email, you must first know your goals. What do you want to accomplish? If you want to sell products, it is no doubt that your goal would be to drive sales. It is very important to discover this goal before starting your email marketing yourself.

2. Choose an email marketing platform

Due to its effectiveness in delivering messages to an enormous contact list, it is necessary to work with an email marketing platform. This will enhance your email goals and you get to also enjoy benefits like tracking features to know who is opening your message and templates. There are lots of email marketing platforms that can be of help to grow your contact list. It is important to compare the various options and choose the one that suits your wants.

3. Build an email list

It is sometimes advisable to build an email list from the scratch. You can get contacts from an existing email list or a previous list you have. You can also gather contacts from your previous and existing email accounts. Another idea is to use your customers’ contacts list. It is more advisable to use your customers’ email addresses than buying an email list that contains people you don’t know. 

With your relevant contents that your current customers are already familiar with, you can get them more attracted. Though it might look like a slow procedure, with time, customers will take interest and become loyal enough to make a purchase on their own. 

Offering some products for free in exchange for an email address can also help you build your email list. You can also give customers discounts on their first purchase and promote the value they will enjoy by being on your email list and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

4. Design your email template

There are three ways to design your email: generate the header, craft the body and include your footer.

1. Generate the Header – The header is the upper portion of your email template. It is where you put the message you want the recipient of your email to see when they receive an email from you. The header must be attractive because it determines the reaction of your receiver to either open it or leave it. The header must include the addresser’s name, the subject matter and the preheader. A header is attractive when the addresser of the email uses the addresser’s name rather than a company’s name. The subject matter must also be short. The subject matter depends on your goals of writing the email. For example, if you want to drive sales and you are taking a 10% discount off, your subject matter might just be: (Include the addressee’s name), claim your 10% discounts with just a click.

People respond when they notice their name is included. The preheader is always after the subject matter and most times, it is advisable that the preheader is short.

2. Craft the Body – After getting your recipient to open your email, it is also another task to get them to click on a link in your email. The body must contain some group of words that speak to your recipient. It must always show some genuineness. It is very possible that your recipient gets different emails like yours day-to-day but putting a unique body can make your email different from the others. Make your email short, easy to understand and simple.

3. Include your Footer – The footer is the bottom portion of the page which looks like a wrap-up. You have already made your mission known to your recipient in the body of the email. It is now important to conclude your email in your footer. You must also include your company’s information and links such as the address of your company and your social network platforms. This will ensure that your message does not look like a spam.

5. Design recyclable templates

You might not be a professional designer but you should be able to design a professional-looking template that will attract your recipient. When designing a template, there are some steps to take: 

1. Use a clean and catchy layout
2. Include your company’s logo
3. Add your company’s name in the footer after including your links and make a copy for reuse.

6. Allow auto-reply

Auto-reply can also be called an autoresponder. It is a program that automatically sends an email when triggered by an action. You can customize an auto-reply with the link to your email list. Below are some types of auto-replies and what triggers them:

1. Thanks: When subscribers take a particular action, this email thanks them.
2. Welcome: This email welcomes new subscribers as soon as they subscribe.
3. Event countdown- It reminds subscribers of a new event coming up. There are other auto-reply emails that could be designed to align with the company’s objectives.

7. Preview before sending

Before sending out your email, it is necessary to examine your email since there is no back button after pressing the send button. You might skip some important sections unintentionally and it is at the stage you should discover it. Previewing your email might be very boring but it is important that you check thoroughly. 

8. Time your email

Timing is a big factor when sending out your email. Your timing depends on your email list. It should be a time that will be convenient for them to open and read such as their most active hours during the day. A convenient day should also be fixed which could be every last day of the month so that your subscribers would expect your email.

9. Send!

After timing your email, click the send button.

10. Activate tracking

Sending out your email is not the last step of email marketing, you should track down your email just to know who is reading, responding and subscribing to your email. Track down actions that happen within your email and after the recipient clicks on your link. 

Bottom line

The email marketing environment is an environment where email marketers compete rigorously. It is very necessary to make a good impression by creating a catchy email. You have 10 steps on how to do email marketing yourself. So, give it a try and get it right because it’s always worth it.