Email marketing has long been a favorite marketing medium for many electricians and companies large and small, as it provides a nearly universal way to reach out to and communicate with a market segment – or even an entire customer base – at once. It also offers marketers detailed information about who their customers are, what they respond to, and how they interact with the company.
Being one of the oldest forms of marketing still in use today, email marketing is still one of the most effective and efficient ways to get your business’ message out to your target audience. Since the days when email was first created, companies and individuals have been taking advantage of its power to reach new audiences and promote their products. Thousands of businesses in every industry use email to follow-up sales prospects or connect with existing customers.
What Makes Email Marketing So Valuable?
Email marketing – the art and science of sending messages to specific groups of people who are likely to be interested in them (your message) is a great and inexpensive way to promote your business. It is by means of these targeted emails that you can trigger the purchase decision with your customer, earning their trust over time.
Email marketing is a versatile tool that can be used for a variety of purposes, such as informing recipients about new product offerings, special promotions, or safety precautions, and it can also be used to gather data about who your customers are and what they want.
In recent years, however, email marketing has greatly evolved amidst growing competition in the form of social media and other digital marketing channels. It is increasingly becoming an integral part of most companies’ marketing strategy due to it being a direct, highly-targeted, measurable, and affordable way to communicate with your prospects and existing customers. Today, email marketing is more about be personal with your customers, sharing their interests, communicating with them at a time when they’re open to receiving your message, and listening to their concerns.
Instead of pummeling your future customers with offers, products, and services, email marketing allows you to offer value to your customers. A simple email newsletter, sent out on a regular basis, can keep your customers engaged with your company and can provide a steady source of income if done right.
Another great thing about email marketing is that it can be used to filter your prospects, which is an effective way of narrowing down your audience to the people most likely to become customers. Through your email list, you can select target customers who are most likely to be interested in your products or services and keep them posted with your company’s news and new offering. Through this, you not only reach more potential customers but also maintain good relationships with your existing and potential customers. Your electrician business marketing plan should keep this in consideration.
5 Essential Email Marketing for Electricians Tips
Email is one of the most direct ways of communicating with potential and existing customers. It allows you to create highly targeted campaigns that can be personalized based on the recipient’s location, past purchases, and interests. However, if you are just starting your email marketing journey for your electrical business, here are five tips that you should seriously consider before you start.
1. Email Marketing is Personal
An effective email marketing campaign demands a high degree of personalization/customization. You need to know your customer base intimately; what they think, are interested in, what they like, what their pain points/issues are, etc. Only then will your marketing efforts be targeted appropriately and produce sales. However, not everyone does this. A large chunk of email marketing campaigns is futile because businesses try to spam the recipients. No prudent and sane person would like to receive spam emails from a company they are not familiar with. The best way to avoid becoming a spammer is to treat your customers with respect and courtesy and learn who they are. Invest time and resources in educating, entertaining, and delighting your customers.
For example, if you an electrician, you can share your amazing tips on solar panels (install and maintenance). You can even share a few pointers on improving home office space to support work-from-home. Once you have built the trust of your customers, you can increase the frequency of your email promotions and eventually improve your sales.
2. Schedule Around the Buy Cycle
When it comes to email marketing, timing is everything. It is extremely important to send the right message at the right time. Send too early, and your promotional message will get lost in the clutter. However, sending too late might mean losing out on the rush of customers who convert your sales offer.
To greatly improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns, it is important to understand the buying cycle of your customers. For instance, if you own a children’s clothes company, you can market your goods and services to mothers and fathers during the planning phase of their children’s birthday celebration. If you are running a restaurant equipment rental company, you can promote your products to business owners during the purchasing phase of a new commercial kitchen.
3. Engagement Is A Priority
The success of your email marketing depends on two factors: how well you execute your email marketing campaign and how engaged your customers are with your emails. There are several ways to facilitate engagement with your emails, including surveys, cross-selling and up-selling, videos, interactive images, engaging content, and so on. Engaging customers via email is not an easy task, but it is essential if you want to convert the recipients into customers.
4. A/B Test Your Email Copy
It is very important to understand how your customers respond to your emails. Through the years, and with experience, you will be able to understand what kind of content will generate the best response. Additionally, you can use A/B testing to find out what content your customers find relevant or interesting and what doesn’t. By taking advantage of available email marketing analytics and tools, you can optimize your marketing message to boost sales and conversion rates.
5. Keep It Short
It is extremely important to keep your email marketing message concise because even the most dedicated and regular readers will not spend more than 20 seconds reading your email.
While keeping it short isn’t always an easy thing to do, it should be your ultimate goal while crafting an email marketing message. Most people spend the majority of their time on their phones (thus making their email reading a very short-term activity), and this means that they’re very unlikely to read a wall of text. Long-winded messages are less likely to hit the mark, so keep the copy short.
As mentioned before, it is not as simple as just turning on a marketing campaign. A solid understanding of your target market and the reasons they purchase your products is key to writing the best email copy. Make sure you know what you’re saying and how you’re saying it. Think of it as building a story around your products and how they help your customers. If you have to, sleep on it and come back to it with a fresh, new pair of eyes.
Even if you have the best products and services to offer, your customers will not buy from you if you keep bombarding them with promotional messages. It is vitally important to keep your customers engaged and build two-way personalized communication. Stay true to your brand values, and your customers will recognize that and respect you for it.