Email Marketing: How to Set Your Goals and Reach New Customers

Email marketing is a digital marketing strategy that helps with finding new customers and reminding the old and loyal ones to visit your site again.

But, in order for your email marketing to work and thus, reach new customers and consumers, you must first set your goals. Without them, you will not be able to track the results of your efforts and see whether your email marketing is actually helping you out. 

If you are having trouble setting your goals, do not worry, you are not the only one. Start with making sure that the goals you are planning to set are relevant to your business and that they are achievable, specific, measurable, and timely.

And, once you do that, here are some examples of email marketing goals you can set in order to reach new customers and keep the old ones. 

Boost Your Open Rates 

The average email open rate will vary depending on the industry you are in. But, in general, the global average email open rate is between 17% and 18%. If you want more specific numbers, you should take a look at your specific industry. 

So, in order to efficiently plan the digital marketing strategy that will help you set your goals and reach new customers, you must first boost your open rates. You can do that by sprucing up your subject line so that it becomes more intriguing and by changing the preview text so that it shows the email content. 

Moreover, keep in mind that people are more likely to open your emails if they seem more personal. Thus, try to create a more personal relationship with your subscribers. Be transparent about who you are and what your emails contain if you want to create an immediate connection. 

Create Automated Campaigns 

Many people associate automation with something that is generic and robotic. But, it is quite the opposite! Creating automated campaigns can actually help you take your email marketing goals to an entirely different level. With them, you can free up a lot of your time, and most importantly, you can personalize all of your communications! 

Automated campaigns do not have to be complicated at all. What you can create is something simple such as: 

• Welcome emails 
• Goodbye emails 
• Thank you emails
• Holiday emails 
• Birthday emails 
• Transactional emails 

What these automated campaigns do is also boost your, previously mentioned, open rates. ‘Welcome’ and ‘thank you’ emails, for example, deliver approximately 60% open rates – all because those emails are a lot more relevant and timelier to subscribers. Thus, do not hesitate to introduce automated campaigns in your goal-setting process. 

Construct Personalized Customer Journeys 

Personalized customer journeys are also known as drip campaigns. They contain relevant personalized content which is sent at different intervals. So, for example, when someone new signs up, you can send him/her one of the premade drip campaigns which will introduce them to your brand in the best possible way. 

With personalized customer journeys, you can create anything from reminder emails (such as ‘Your stock is running low!’) to automated re-engagement emails (such as ‘Let’s catch up’ or ‘We’ve missed you’). Of course, this way of attracting new customers and keeping the old ones is just one of many marketing services you can choose for your business, but it is surely one of the best as it is personal and timed just right. 

Be Sure That Your Emails are Accessible 

Currently, there are around 4.5 billion email users around the world. Those users all have different abilities. For instance, 1 out of 15 men/women suffer from a color deficiency. Or, 1 out of 50 men/women on your email list suffer from bad vision. Thus, think about what kind of audience your content is attracting and adjust your emails accordingly. 

Your email marketing goals should definitely be making sure that the emails you send to your subscribers are accessible. 

Avoid the following things: 

• Complex vocabulary 
• Sentences that are too long or too confusing
• Flashing lights 

Include the following things: 

• The contrast between the text and the background 
• Alt text for describing images 
• Bolds and italics for specifying important information 

Optimize For Mobile and Tablet Readers 

It goes without saying that more than half of the emails sent are opened by smart devices like mobile phones and tablets. So, it is necessary for you to optimize the emails you send to your subscribers. Of course, you should pay special attention to the design of the email, but do not forget about the content, copy, and media included. 

Copy must be direct and plain. You should not use any fancy vocabulary nor wordplay – just be straightforward and get to the point. Content and media should also be specific and load at lightning speed. 

Avoid Getting Junked 

Last but certainly not least, one thing to keep in mind when trying to set email marketing goals in order to reach new customers is to make sure your emails do not get junked. Many companies have this problem – the emails they send either end up in junk or in spam folders, thus, they never reach the targeted subscribers. 

Moreover, platforms like Gmail, have recently started asking their users if they want to unsubscribe from lists that were never opened or that haven’t been opened in the last 30 days. 

You can try to avoid being junked by using a clean email list. If you notice that there is no response from the subscribers, you should take a hint. First, send re-engagement emails and ask users whether they want to unsubscribe or continue receiving your emails.

You should get your answer, but if you do not, it is time to cut the cord and start looking for other potential customers elsewhere.