Email is one of the most effective marketing tools you can use to connect with your customers and promote your business.  It lets you reach a wide audience on a medium that everyone uses on a daily basis.  Creating an email campaign isn’t as difficult as you’d think but it does require some effort for sure.  When you follow these simple steps you’ll be able to create an email campaign that engages your customers and keeps them in the loop about your products and services.

How To Brand Your Email

Adding your logo – The first step in creating an awesome email campaign is adding your logo.  This should go without saying but I’ve opened so many emails where the logo isn’t evident or even present!  Adding your logo to your email campaign instills trust in your viewer that the email is coming from a reliable source.  It’s also the easiest branding opportunity that gives your campaign authenticity.  Your logo should appear at the top of the email in the header section.  You want your reader to know who the email is from right away without having to scroll.  Once you decide where to put your logo you should keep the logo in the same location in all future campaigns to provide consistency.

Color scheme – That being said, your logo is NOT the only way to brand an email.  The colors you use in your email template should be consistent as well.  It’s best to use the color scheme of your actual website in your email marketing.  You can add other colors throughout your email but try to keep your email campaign colors relative to your website.  You can use a free tool like ColorCop to find the hex code of colors on your site.  My general rule of thumb for email campaigns is a maximum of 2 colors.  You don’t want your email to look too busy so again, keep it clean and simple with your color choices.

Choosing Fonts – When it comes to fonts stick to the basics.  I recommend sticking to one font so your email looks clean and simple.  You can make your email ‘pop’ with other visuals.  Opening an email with multiple different fonts can be confusing and annoying to your readers.

Personalize Your Email

Personalizing your email with your recipients name allows you to connect on a more authenticate level.  When you start your email by addressing the reader by name it gains trust and email is all about trusting the source.  Your reader is more likely to read the email if it’s directly addressed to them.  Just like in the real world, when you call someone by name it creates a bond and it’s important to do the same with email marketing.

Use their name – When you start your email you can use either the first or last name.  When I open an email addressed to me I know it’s from a company that I’ve given my name to obviously so I’m more likely to read further.  It’s proven that addressing your reader by name increases conversion rates.

Include products or services they have – Depending on your campaign goals it’s a good idea to reference a product or service your reader has purchased or even considered purchasing.  A simple ‘Hey John, we see you’ve been eyeing that blue jacket and it’s now on sale!’.  Another example, ‘Hey John, we hope you’re loving the blue jacket and now is the perfect time to complete the outfit during our summer sale.’.

Authenticity – One of the main differences between a legitimate email and a scam email is the how you start your email.  Would you open an email that starts with ‘Dear customer’ or ‘Hi John’ ?  We all receive too much spam in our inbox so by addressing someone by name and having your logo in the header you’re already a step ahead.

Add Social Media Links

Social media is one of the main reason people use the Internet.  Your email campaign should include all of your different social media platforms.  Typically I recommend adding social media icons on the footer of your email.  I myself have clicked on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram links in emails I’m interested in.  Social media is an extremely powerful as we all know and by adding your relevant social media links in email campaigns you’ll increase your followers over time.  This also adds to the authenticity and trust of your email.  When people see links to your social media accounts they know who the email is from and can trust the source.

What Not To Do In Your Email Campaign

Now that I’ve gone over the basics of how to create your email campaign, let’s go over a few things you should avoid.

• Don’t use too many images.  Using one optimized image should be your goal.  When you add more images you’re just adding fluff and distracting your reader.
• Avoid sounding like a salesman.  You may be trying to get your reader to buy something but be genuine, honest and if the reader is truly interested they will click through.
• Don’t add too many links in your email.  You’re not trying to confuse your reader so stick to links you want them to click on.  A link to your website and maybe a couple links to the product or service you’re promoting.
• Don’t bombard your recipients with emails too often.  When I get a daily email from a company I almost always unsubscribe.  You don’t want your emails to seem like they are spam.  Only send an email when you can add value to your users.

Your End Game

Email marketing has the highest ROI compared to any other digital marketing strategy.  Creating the perfect email campaign takes trial and error but eventually you’ll notice the importance of good email marketing.  Even if you have a small audience you should start an email campaign to keep your customers interested and informed.

To get started with Email marketing I always recommend using MailChimp.  MailChimp is an email marketing service that not only allows you to create visually stunning emails but more importantly they give you analytics.  You can see how many people opened your email, which links they clicked and so much more.  Their email templates cover a wide range of businesses or you can start with a blank canvas if you prefer.  It’s also free to use MailChimp for up to 2000 email subscribers per month.  You can automate your marketing with MailChimp and make sure your emails end up in your readers inbox, not their spam folder.  Remember, email marketing is a valuable tool for any online business.  Go ahead, create your amazing email campaigns!