Maximizing Conversions: Tips for Effective Email Marketing and SEO

Email marketing continues to be a superior marketing tool. It is a cheap, instant, and effective way to inform your customers about your products and services. However, in the world of overloaded inboxes, maximizing email conversions has been the ultimate goal from the beginning.  

Crafting compelling campaigns requires the use of the best email marketing practices, a hint of creativity, and an understanding of your average subscribers. Before we get into the details of conversion-focused email marketing, we must brush up on our basics. 

What is email marketing conversion rate? 

In email marketing, the conversion rate is a metric that shows how many people took the desired action because of your emails.  

Now, what is a 'desired action'? It can be different for every business due to their goals. For some, it might be a sale, while for others, it could be as simple as a subscription to a newsletter. The subscribers follow a path from the email to an external link that takes them to a landing page on your website.  

Since conversions represent how effective your email marketing strategies are, tracking them gives you insights into maximizing ROI. Almost every email marketing tool has analytics capabilities that can track conversion rates along with some other success metrics. 

How to calculate conversion rates? 

You can use Google's Campaign URL Builder to monitor your email campaign's performance. Add the website URL and campaign sources and select "email" as the medium. Embed the generated URL in your email to track clicks in Google Analytics to analyze conversions. 

To calculate email marketing conversion rates, divide the number of email recipients who clicked CTA by the number of total recipients. Then, multiply the result by 100 to find a percentage. 

Let's assume you send 5000 emails during your SEO-driven email campaign, but only 700 people landed on your website. Divide 700 by 5,000 and multiply the answer (0.14) by 100 to reveal a 14% conversion rate. 

What is a 'Good’ Conversion Rate? 

The optimal conversion rates depend on your industry, company, and email campaign. The average email marketing conversion rate is 15.22%. However, with 77% of marketers reporting increased email engagement over the past year, individual conversion rates can be much higher. 

Best Practices for Email Marketing and SEO Enhancement 

Boosting website traffic with email marketing will impact return on investment (ROI). A higher conversion rate will lead to lower costs for inspiring specific actions and a higher email marketing ROI.  

Email marketing and SEO are two independent strategies, but you can use them to complement each other through the following tactics: 

Declutter Your Email Lists 

Things like poor email list hygiene can negatively impact your SEO-driven email campaigns. Therefore, it is important to maintain a clean, accurate, and authentic list of valid subscribers.  

If your email list contains invalid email addresses, your email deliverability can suffer, and you will see lower conversion rates than expected. In such cases, most marketers assume there is something wrong with their strategy. In actuality, all they need is to clean any invalid email addresses. 

Compelling Subject Lines 

We cannot stress enough the importance of having a crisp subject line. By that, we do not imply any fancy terms or dramatic writings. Sometimes, simple and action-oriented subject lines are the best for maximizing your email conversions.  

If your subject line is boring, your consumers will delete the email before even opening it. This way, they never even reach your website, let alone purchase something. However, you must be careful about making it look like clickbait because that will land you in a spam inbox. 

Optimizing Email CTAs 

You might have great content inside your email copy, but the lack of a clear CTA button will wash your efforts down the drain. Optimizing your CTA will drive people to take action and click through to your website.  

Design them in a way that draws attention. So, place them in a clear space and use obvious words. Moreover, make them consistent with the rest of your email copy. For example, an email that has to encourage a reader to download an eBook will have a CTA "Download Now" instead of "Register Today." 

Targeted Email List Segmentation 

What makes a person want to know more about a certain subject? Of course, a topic of interest!  

Targeted email list segmentation makes sure the right content reaches the right people at the right time. It increases the likelihood of a customer clicking through to your website and making a purchase. 

You can segment your email list based on any criteria that suit your brand. However, some common themes are location, age, gender, buyer journey, etc. 

Mobile Responsive Email Designs 

Nearly half of your customers open your emails on their phones. So, it is imperative to have the design optimized for mobile screens. The copy must be concise and divided into shorter paragraphs rather than a wall of text.  

If you add interactive elements or graphics, make sure they are adjusted to fit on a mobile screen. Likewise, longer subject lines may not convey the message clearly. You might want to keep them between 30 and 50 characters.  

Rely on Valuable Content 

You can always rely on the power of valuable content while boosting website traffic with email marketing. For that, you can include snippets and teasers of intriguing content in your email. The format can be either textual or visual, based on your target audience's preferences.  

Let's assume you run a home decor business. By targeting your audience with aesthetic photos and GIFs of houses, you can compel them to go to your website and see what else you have to offer. 

Email Automation Strategies for Conversion Rate Improvement 

Automated emails are triggered as a result of something that customers did, so they do not feel like 'spam.' Therefore, customers are more likely to go through them and take your desired action.  

Abandoned Cart Emails 

Abandoned cart emails can fit perfectly into your conversion-focused email marketing strategy. Through these emails, you can target shoppers who added items to their cart but left without completing their checkout process.  

You may even add some incentives for your customers in such emails. For example, a personal care brand could email, "Left something behind? Complete your purchase within 5 hours for free shipping!” 

Transactional Emails 

Transactional emails are another great addition to your email automation strategies for conversions. Brands prefer them over promotional emails because they encourage progression in the sales cycle.  

For instance, when a visitor subscribes to your newsletter, purchases something, or downloads something from your website, an automated email is sent. That email not only confirms their action but also subtly pitches in opportunities for further engagement, like product offers. 

Drip Campaigns 

Drip campaigns can simplify the product pitching process by letting sales teams nurture leads and drive faster conversions. You will send a series of automated emails that are timed strategically to maintain engagement.  

By contacting your prospects regularly, you can build trust and guide them through their buyer's journey. This way, drip campaigns help you stay on top of mind with hesitant customers who have shown interest but haven't committed to purchasing. 

Final Word 

Our list of effective email marketing strategies will not only enhance your email marketing ROI but also customer engagement. The key to putting these techniques to the best use is staying strategic. Pulling off random stunts and expecting a win will not work in this case. So, start by clearly listing your goals and the methods that will help you achieve them. 

Although all of these techniques work for any business, you might still have to pick a combination of tactics. A deep understanding of your audience will inform this choice.  

However, conversions are not the only metric you have to consider while devising an email marketing strategy. What other metrics are there? Stick around because we'll talk about them next. 

Resource:

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