E-Mail Marketing Tips for Millennials and Beyond

If you aren’t a card-carrying member of Gen Z, you may have some questions about e-mail marketing. Questions like, “Does asking questions about email marketing make me old?” and, “Is it weird if my emails still go to my xXPuNkRoCkPrIncess06Xx@hotmail.com account?”

And while the answer is an unequivocal yes to both, it’s entirely possible you just haven’t had the chance to dip your toes into the email marketing world ever since the Prince of Nigeria left a sour taste in your mouth many moons ago.

However, if you ever plan to increase customer conversion rates and draw traffic to your site, it’s about time you buckle up, buttercup, and enter the ride that is the email marketing world!

So how do you manage to form a marketing plan that, much like your senior photos, doesn’t turn out to be wacky, tacky, and yet, still a little classy (seriously though, how did they manage to capture all three so perfectly???)?

Below, we’re going over some of the best email marketing tips to take your email campaign to the next level, no matter your experience. So whether you’re an old dog learning new tricks or a fresh-faced marketing baby hoping to increase your email game, as the great Sean Connery once said, “You’re the man now, dog!”

Choose an Email Marketing Software

Choosing an email software is much like a dating app—for every fish out there in a lake, you can bet your bottom dollar some dude is on Bumble posing with it. In other words, there are a lot of different email marketing software programs to choose from—each one holding a slightly different fish from the other—but at the end of the day, someone’s still crying to themselves alone, wondering why online dating is so difficult as they eat fried fish.

Thus, it may take trying out some duds before you find the program that doesn’t send you a message asking you to drive them to your first date because they’re currently too drunk to risk getting another DWI to meet you in person. Or, you know… whatever it is, the email marketing programs do these days.

Some of our favorite email marketing programs include:

MailChimp

Perhaps the most well-known email software, MailChimp, is a one-stop shop for all your marketing needs. Perfect for beginners, it has features such as campaign scheduling, A/B test copy, built-in email analytics (including unsubscribe rate, click-through rates, and more), and an easy-to-use email editing system. While it tends to be rather pricey for businesses with contact lists over 150,000 people, MailChimp is best for smaller businesses, with several options for affordable plans.

Klaviyo

Our personal weapon of choice, we enjoy Klaviyo for its extensive integrations, responsive and pre-built design templates, behavior-triggered automations, and its ability to segment your audience into specific groups. On the downside, Klaviyo can be a bit pricey. However, we find that its bountiful features more than make up for its somewhat steep price point.

MailerLite

One of the simplest email marketing software systems to use, MailerLite has a simple drag-and-drop interface that makes creating beautiful designs simple for even the most technology-averse users. If you’re looking for a program with clean and super-intuitive UX, this is your guy. On the downside, though, there’s less room for integrations, and it can be challenging to integrate with your CRM.

Hubspot

Another popular marketing suite, Hubspot, like MailChimp, is known for its all-in-one marketing features, containing tools like marketing campaign reporting, its own CRM integration, and other features like social media, blogging, and email marketing. However, Hubspot isn’t for the novice marketer and is best for someone who has worked with other marketing software systems.

Moosend

On a budget? Moosend is one of the best options for budget-conscious marketers, offering one of the lowest-cost plans on the market. Its plans include the ability to choose between your number of subscribers or emails sent. While its user interface is simple to use, it may appear a little rudimentary compared to other options, and you won’t be able to send emails from a Gmail or Hotmail address.

Customize Your Emails

You know how you go into a store, and a great salesman will shake your hand at the end of the sale, look you in the eyes, and say something like, “You can’t go wrong with this PT Cruiser, Frank. You’re gonna be the envy of all your neighbors for years to come.”

And more than your poor decision, you’re just concerned about how the heck he knew your name? Well, email marketing is much the same way.

Is it weird that a bird diaper company sends you personalized emails years after you called it quits on your indoor chicken coop operation? Yes, absolutely, it is. I mean, it was a weird phase in your life you’d much rather forget.

But you know what? It still feels good that they remember your name.

Turns out, when emails are personalized with things such as customer names, special offers, product suggestions based on past purchases, and product tracking information, it increases customer engagement and click-through rates.

Consider adding personalization tactics to your emails, such as:

Employing Segmentation

Really, this is just a fancy term for separating customers based on specific demographics like gender, age, and location and sending particular emails to those groups.

Using Browser History to Suggest Products

How often have you been sent an email with suggestions of products you might like? And how often have you wound up clicking on said products (I’m talking to you, Nuts.com, for knowing just the right time my case of the late-night munchies might make me weak to your suggestions)?

Sending Emails on Specific Dates

Who else can’t wait for all the Black Friday sales to hit their inbox? And how about those glorious birthday coupons sent straight to your email? Sending customers personalized emails based on special dates is a great way to nudge them into buying what they’ve been eyeballing for some time.

Stop Emailing Your Customers All. The. Time.

Sure, constantly spamming your customers with emails may initially increase your click-through rates, but how many potential buyers are you losing by annoying the absolute heck out of them? Everything is best in moderation. Consider how many times a week it would take for you to unsubscribe to a brand’s email and use that same principle for the sanity of your customers. Once a week at most. But an email once every two weeks with tantalizing offers? Way better.

If your emails aren’t adding value to your customers, stop sending them. Ideally, you should be providing your customers with some type of insight that equips them with valuable knowledge (think behind-the-scenes of your company, deep product informational dives, or a letter from the CEO about why they love a particular product), a special offer they won’t receive anywhere else (coupons, promo codes, or limited time sales offers), or some type of unique, curated product guide.

Include Customer Reviews and Testimonials

You should never trust strangers, especially strangers on the internet. So how can you convince a suspicious and street-savvy customer to buy a product from your company? By showing them evidence that other people have purchased products from you successfully.

Utilize customer testimonials, feedback, reviews, and transformation stories to help solidify trust in your brand from new customers. User-generated content is one of the best tools at your disposal to convince customers that you won’t steal their identity or their kidneys and sell it on the dark web.

Utilize A/B Testing

It’s essential to understand which emails are speaking to your customers and which aren’t. So even though it may hurt to rip off that analytic band-aid and see if they loved that email you composed straight from the heart, it’s pretty likely the goose that laid the golden might just be that email you composed in five minutes at 2 am after the Ambien had kicked in instead (for the sake of our future civilization, let’s hope not though).

Experiment with different elements of your email to find out what customers like and what they don’t. Maybe sending certain emails out at different times hits better, or perhaps certain CTAs result in higher click-through rates. Whatever it is, A/B testing is an excellent way to learn the best way to speak more effectively to your audience.

Final Thoughts

Look, the Prince of Nigeria was honestly one of the best OG email marketers. He figured out a way to personalize his emails, made a riveting plea as to why people should help restore his rightful reign after the death of his beloved parents, and made a clear CTA on how we could help.

Granted, what he did after you gave him your bank account number probably destroyed lives and wasn’t so great, but… if only somewhere in that vast multiverse, another version of him just lands a job at a marketing agency instead.

So basically, what we’re saying is that if the Prince of Nigeria can run a successful email marketing pyramid scheme, so can you.

Errr— nope. Nope. Scratch that. Scratch that real, real hard.

What we mean to say, legally, is that thanks to today’s technology, email marketing is now more accessible than ever before. Whether you’re a small business looking to level up your marketing game or a professional agency hoping to increase customer engagement rates, you can boost your email marketing strategy to the next level with a few simple tips and tricks.

But… if you still find you need an extra hand getting there, we’re here to help!

From advertising planning to social media management and more, let us help crank that marketing strategy up a notch— drop a line with one of our marketing wizards today!