Entrepreneurs have heard for years that electronic mail is useless. Nonetheless, simply the alternative is true. The significance of electronic mail has by no means been larger, and there may be nonetheless no higher method for ecommerce retailers to speak with a buyer or prospect. From sending transactional data to promoting and promotions, accessing an individual’s inbox represents a robust advertising and marketing alternative.

With that stated, listed below are 4 of the perfect methods to spend money on electronic mail for 2016.

1. Outsource or Rent an Skilled

Many ecommerce retailers attempt to tackle each position themselves, to cut back prices. Typically, nonetheless, the chance value of trying to do one thing your self is larger than the expense to outsource or rent an skilled.

In a day when there’s a wealth of skilled and educated designers, coders, electronic mail advertising and marketing specialists, and consultants, now could be the time to get an outsider’s opinion, to assist steer your program in the proper path.

One place to seek out electronic mail advertising and marketing specialists is Solely Influencers, a member-only group comprised of electronic mail advertising and marketing professionals. I’m assured that you’ll uncover certified and educated expertise there.

Solely Influencers is a group of certified electronic mail advertising and marketing professionals.

2. Attend Academic Conferences and Webinars

Studying concerning the adjustments going down within the electronic mail advertising and marketing business or listening to case research from firms much like yours won’t solely offer you many concepts however may also encourage a big shift in your strategy and practices. This yr, put aside a part of your finances to spend money on schooling and attend extra conferences and webinars.

Late winter and early spring occur to be key occasions for electronic mail advertising and marketing and digital conferences. What’s extra, the contacts made by networking could reveal further alternatives, apart from the tutorial advantages you accrue. A number of common electronic mail advertising and marketing conferences embody:

  • Advertising Sherpa Summit – Las Vegas Feb 22-24;
  • Electronic mail Evolution Convention – New Orleans March 30-April 1;
  • The Electronic mail Design Convention – Boston Aug 26-28th;
  • Electronic mail Insiders Summit – Dates TBD; December 2016.

3. Improve to a Extra Refined Advertising Platform

There are simply half a dozen electronic mail advertising and marketing instruments designed for small- to medium-sized ecommerce retailers which can be comparatively cheap and simple to make use of. These embody platforms reminiscent of Vertical Response, MailChimp, or Fixed Contact.

Nonetheless, these instruments, nearly as good as they’re, could also be restricted of their total capabilities. As your small business grows — or as you intend to develop — having a real full-service advertising and marketing automation system that may push the boundaries of not simply electronic mail advertising and marketing but in addition different automated communications will enable you get to the following stage.

There are dozens of suppliers, relying on scope, finances, and capabilities. I like to recommend that you just obtain an electronic mail advertising and marketing vendor information, reminiscent of one from electronic mail advertising and marketing consulting agency RedPillEmail, to discover a platform greatest suited to your wants.

RedPillEmail affords electronic mail advertising and marketing vendor guides.

4. Spend money on Your Database

Repeatedly, I stress the significance of getting a top quality electronic mail advertising and marketing database. With no good supply of electronic mail addresses with which to correspond, you can’t have a really profitable program.

For 2016, I extremely suggest that you just make investments time in refreshing and growing the scale of your database, or attending to know the traits that make up the majority of your buyer base no less than.

Additionally, to be cleaner, extra trendy, and cellular pleasant, many ecommerce websites usually lack an apparent place for a customer to join emails. That represents an infinite missed alternative.

Listed below are some tricks to enhance subscribers in 2016:

  • Guarantee that you’ve an electronic mail sign-up type on each web page of your web site;
  • Subscribe people in the course of the checkout course of, however ensure that is clear to them;
  • Strive ways reminiscent of pop-up electronic mail captures for brand spanking new web site guests, or contests and drawings;
  • Purchase new emails with co-branding or co-registration ways.

Choose-Intelligence is a subscription acquisition service that permits entrepreneurs to specify, utilizing demographics, what sort of subscribers they’re after. Use of this service could assist bump up your subscriber base with well-qualified prospects.

Choose-Intelligence: an electronic mail subscription acquisition service.

Be assured and observe these 4 steps to speculate extra in your electronic mail program in 2016. Regardless of the naysayers, electronic mail nonetheless supplies the best return on funding of any media channel.