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By Jamie Cloak, Marketing Director at Omega High Impact Print Solutions
If you're just starting a new business venture, the many layers to launching a new website can feel overwhelming and endless. There's a lot to be done, but one of the most important (and overlooked) components is to capture the email addresses of your visitors. This is necessary to build a foundation for your subscriber base, allowing you to target them when your site launches, deliver any announcements you may have, and ultimately notify your subscribers when you release new goods. Keep in mind, with your new site, you will need to integrate an Email Service Provider (ESP). Lots of website providers offer native email platforms, but if you find there are limitations on your site's solution, there are plenty of options available to you.
Let's get started!
Step 1 YouTube Shorts
Purchase your domain and begin to build your site. While it's "under construction", design a captivating Lead Generation Form so you can collect the names and email addresses of your site visitors. This will help you have an audience for your "go-live" date.
Step 2
Build out a content calendar. If possible, utilize Microsoft SharePoint or a Google Document so your team can see the cadence and topics in real-time allowing for idea collaboration or suggestions. Theoretically, it's most productive to have 3 to 4 weeks planned/designed out so you have a concrete plan for the coming campaigns. Additionally, this will keep your team on the same page and allow for cross-marketing campaigns to occur via your site, email, SMS, and social media channels.
Step 3
Set up your flows/automation in your email platform that will generate revenue with little to no management. Once they are set, they should be able to live for quite some time.
Best practice tip: use evergreen photography so you're not committing to a product that may go out of stock, on sale, etc.
Some recommended flows to get started are:
Welcome Letter. This is a series (about 3-4) of related emails that could offer a note from the CEO, background on the company, and a promo code to be used on the recipient's first purchase. The main purpose of this series is to leave a positive first impression and offer immediate engagement with the subscriber.
Abandoned Cart. This is a flow series that is sent to onsite customers who have viewed a product, and shown interest in it by adding it to their cart, but did not complete the purchase. Aim to show the clients the items they added to their cart with a direct link to the goods, as the idea is to gently nudge them back into the sales funnel. If possible, add a promo code to this flow to offer an incentive to convert. 10-15% off should suffice.
Thank You. This is an email that is delivered once the customer has completed their purchase. Likely, your website provider will immediately send a confirmation email with transactional information, but this is a different message in nature. The mindset behind a thank you email is to foster customer loyalty and retention, express your gratitude, and ultimately encourage future engagement with the brand.
Product Reviews. The purpose of the review email is to gain customer feedback on your product. This will help build credibility, consumer trust, and social proof that your product is leading above the competition.
Step 4
Design your email header and footer. For your header, it is important to include your brand logo. This way, the viewer can immediately identify who sent the campaign. Under the logo, create a navigation that mirrors your site's navigation layout. This allows the user to easily jump to the landing page of their choosing. For the footer, include links similar to the navigation offering a simple user experience, and most importantly, a footer should always include an unsubscribe link. This step is critical to avoid being marked as spam. If a recipient no longer wants to receive marketing emails and does not see an unsubscribe link, they may potentially mark the message as spam which can be detrimental to an organization.
Best practice tip: utilize your site font and color palette when creating headers and footers so the brand identity remains intact.
Step 5
Building the email. The Subject Line is one of the most important elements of any successful email campaign. Since your customers ' inboxes are so competitive, it's important that you capture their attention with a witty and brand-related subject line - just remember to keep it short and sweet. Since over 40% of emails are opened on mobile devices, emojis are a good component to include as well. Next, ensure each individual campaign is strategically designed to offer compelling information while maintaining a consistent pattern throughout. Utilize strong imagery to capture the attention of your recipient and creatively showcase your goods. The a-spot (or first image displayed), will determine if the viewer will scroll below the fold. This is where your photography can really shine and showcase your products.
Step 6
Scheduling your email. As you're growing your subscriber list and sending out email campaigns, you may need to run A/B tests for your campaigns and weigh the results against each other to determine the best time to send. Traditionally, mid-day / mid-week are the best times to send campaigns, but it may be beneficial to identify when you have the most traffic on your site. Knowing when people are most engaged with the brand may help push them through the sales funnel to ultimately complete a purchase.
A few final thoughts...
Email Marketing can be a lot of fun! It's an opportunity to speak directly to your audience and tailor each message to your liking. Ensure your designers all speak in the same brand voice and keep it light and positive. Try to find a harmonious balance between lifestyle photography and in-studio photography to keep the viewers engaged. And lastly, though each individual email should feel unique, you want the viewer to be able to feel a consistent theme throughout all coorespondance.
If you would like assistance launching an email program, our team of experts is standing by and ready to dig in! Just contact us here and we will get right back to you!