Don’t delete that email! It might just be the perfect opportunity to support a small, independent business that’s counting on you to open it.

Many small businesses shy away from email marketing because they all too often get thrown straight in to the junk folder. Business owners get put off by the occasional unsubscribe or ‘report as spam’ feedback.

With a rapidly changing high street, the UK’s small and independent retailers are having to be quite savvy to different ways of communicating with customers. From social media to pay-per-click advertising, there are so many different ways to get your brand in to the palm of your customers’ hands.

Email marketing is a cost effective media. It’s targeted and you can track insights from every open to the moment they checkout. But if you want to avoid the junk file, you have to work a little harder than just hitting send.

Soapy top tips to successful email marketing:

  • Promote your mailing list and reach the people that already love your brand. Promote the mailing list as a stand-alone social media, using Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to push for sign-ups.
  • Don’t buy subscription lists. Remember it’s quality over quantity with email marketing. Buying a subscription list mean you will be emailing customers who have most likely never heard of your brand – and possibly have no interest in your industry or product offering.
  • Give customers an incentive to sign up. Make your emails something a little special – by promising little deals and special offers which will only be available through the emails.
  • Keep your emails simple and small. Campaign builders such as MailChimp allows you to design beautiful eye-catching emails that don’t overwhelm the recipient with information.
  • Don’t cram too much information in your emails. Loads of text and not much visual content turns people off. Likewise, lots of huge pictures with little context isn’t going to score you many clicks.
  • Remind customers that you are an independent or small business. There is nothing wrong with shouting about how small your brand is. Trends show customers can tend to be more sympathetic towards indie retailers, therefore they may feel a little more inclined to open your emails if they feel it’s less likely to have come from a spam-driven marketing department.
  • Be consistent. It’s important to create a calendar of when you will send your emails. If you’re a small business, there is no need to clog inboxes with daily emails – as you will most likely lose subscribers. But create a schedule of two or three emails a month to coincide with sales, events or special offers.

The key to email marketing, as with any form of marketing, is test and refine. Build your campaign schedule and allow yourself time to see the results and make any tweaks to improve each email’s performance.

At the end of the day, people have opted in or signed up to your mailing list for a reason – they like you and like your products.

For more information about how Soapy Digital can help your business grow through email marketing, contact us today.