Every day, more than 333 million emails are sent and received1 by users worldwide. Some are full of important information. Others are simple correspondence between friends. And then there are promotions.
Of those millions of daily emails, only 19.8% are opened and read.2 An even fewer 11.3% are clicked. With such low response rates, you may be wondering whether or not email is still a viable part of your digital marketing strategy.
Despite these seemingly disappointing open and click-through rates (CTR), email marketing is growing. In fact, 78% of marketers claim their email engagement has increased3 since 2019. And when asked if they’d rather give up email marketing or social media, four out of five say they’d go without social.
Given what you already know about the power of social media, that’s a pretty provocative statement. Clearly email marketing is firmly positioned as a keystone of great digital marketing strategies.
But what if you don’t have an email marketing plan? What if your autism treatment center is new and needs to create an e-marketing strategy from the ground up? Initiating email marketing is easy in three steps.
Step 1. Make a Plan
Every excellent digital marketing strategy starts with a plan, and email marketing is no different. Kick off your plan by setting clear campaign goals. What do you want to achieve with your email marketing? Think about what your autism care center needs to accomplish and plan accordingly.
Your email marketing plan also must have a defined audience. If you have any other promotional plans in place, you should already have a good idea of your ideal patient persona. If not, take the time to identify the demographics of your ideal audience, to learn their tastes and preferences, and to understand their motivation.
Step 2. Build Your List
Now that you have a plan and an audience, create a list of specific patients and their families within your audience to target. When you first start, this will take some time. But you can’t just add random emails to your distribution lists because that violates CAN-SPAM laws.
Instead, ask users to voluntarily subscribe to your emails. Ensure you include a call to action to subscribe to your emails on everything your center produces—whether that’s a whitepaper, a how-to article, or even a webinar.
Also, add an opt-in form to your website. That’s where you’ll direct interested clients to subscribe. Include a button on your homepage with a strong CTA so every website visitor has an opportunity to sign up for your mailing list.
After creating your list, segment it. Studies show that marketers who segment their email lists increase their impact by as much as 760%.4 Divide your list by relevant factors, including life stage, geography, and personal interests.
Step 3. Create Great Content
On average, your clients receive 121 emails a day5 and probably open about 24 of them.6 So how do you make your communications stand out so users will open them?
One strategy is to personalize your communications. Personalized emails are opened 26% of the time7 and have a CTR of 14%.8 This could be as simple as personalizing the recipient’s name, or you could take a deep dive and use your segmentation data to customize the content entirely.
Personalization aside, there are several formats for email marketing. You could create a monthly newsletter, send your weekly blog articles, or provide as-needed updates about what’s happening at your center.
And have you thought about how often you want to communicate? There’s no right answer, although most marketers send emails weekly.9
Don’t be scared to change your strategy later on down the road. As you get to know your audience better, you’ll become more attuned to the type of content your audience is looking for and how frequently they want to receive email marketing. Adjust your plan accordingly.
Email marketing can be one of the most valuable tools in your marketing mix. If you’re interested in learning more about creating effective email marketing campaigns, Dreamscape can help. Connect with us at 888.307.7304 to schedule your strategy session.
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