Email Marketing Tools: How to Increase Conversions through Email Marketing

Email Marketing provide one of the best returns on investment (ROI) out there. In fact, for every dollar invested in email marketing, marketers can see a return of over $38, or a 3800% return on investment.

 

You would think that only big companies can afford this kind of high impact email marketing, but that's not true. Even small and medium-sized businesses can take advantage of these tools to create an email marketing strategy that gets real results.

 

Professionally designed email newsletter templates, such as those provided by Venngage, offer an easy way to create high-quality graphics for your email campaigns.

 

There are a lot of email marketing apps and tools on the market. Some offer a simpler dashboard with a limited number of options, which are a great solution for small companies, personal blogs, etc.

 

For e-commerce websites and larger companies, more advanced options are necessary, in which case you should consider an advanced email marketing solution. A lot of tools offer the most basic options for free, while advanced settings are a part of a payment plan.

 

Here is a list of some email marketing tools you can use to inform, excite and delight your customer base:

 

Venngage

Venngage is an online infographic design solution that is also one of the best email marketing tools. Whatever email marketing resources you need to create for your newsletters, you can do it easily, using Venngage's hundreds of easy-to-edit templates and drag-and-drop editor.

 

Here is an example newsletter template you can create with Venngage Email Maker:

Main advantages:

 

·       No design experience necessary

·       Branding kit for professional subscribers

·       Over a thousand customizable templates

·       Simple drag-and-drop interface.

·       Posting Drawings to the Venngage Community Page

·       Flawless sharing via a public link

·       Export emails to HTML for use with Mailchimp or Outlook

 

Pricing:

Venngage offers users a free plan that gives them unlimited access to over 1,400 models and 3 million stock photos.

 

To create more email templates and have more storage space for graphics, you can upgrade to the Premium plan, which costs $19 per month or $16 per month if you sign up for an annual subscription. For businesses, Venngage offers a full Business plan for $49/month or $39/month if you sign up for an annual subscription.

 

Email sending software can help you reach your customers, but Venngage can help you engage, excite, and inspire your customers with amazing infographics.

 

 

Marketo

Here is another all-in-one marketing software with major feature like,

marketing automation,

 

·       account-based marketing,

·       email,

·       mobile,

·       social,

·       digital ads, web,

·       marketing analytics and predictive content.

 

Having such a tool that combines all the most important marketing tasks is really helpful and makes the job a lot easier. Besides managing an email marketing campaign, a set of all the features Marketo offers allows an opportunity to create and manage a complex business strategy.

 

The packages are divided into bundles and the email marketing bundle includes email and landing page creator, intelligent nurturing, A/B testing, audience segmentation, forms and progressive profiling, automated workflow, etc. Unlike some other more simplified versions of email marketing software, this one is surely enough to provide even the most experienced marketers with a platform where they can explore the full potential of their business.

 

There is no clear pricing for the email marketing bundle, but it is based on the number of contacts in your database. To learn more about the packaging and about the pricing, you will have to contact their sales department.

 

TinyLetter

 

This software is known for its simplicity. It is perfect for sending newsletter emails, updates and similar emails, which is something smaller blogs would benefit from.

 

This is not a solution for businesses that want to go ahead with email marketing because advanced customization and settings are not included. The software offers a custom background and a few options for branding and customization. There are no templates or advanced settings.

 

With TinyLetter you can send unlimited number of emails per month to a list of 5000 email addresses. The tool is free and there is no possibility to upgrade to a paid plan. In case you want to upgrade, you can do so by signing up for one of the MailChimp’s plans, as the same company owns both tools. The contacts are directly transferred from TinyLetter account when you upgrade.

 

MailChimp

 

Mailchimp is one of the best email marketing tools available, thanks in part to its intuitive interface and comprehensive suite of tools available on one platform.

 

Main Features :

 

·       Website builder

·       Domain Hosting

·       Email marketing

·       Social Media Marketing

·       Application integrations

·       AI-powered creative assistant

·       Audience management tools

 

Pricing:

Mailchimp offers a free plan for up to 2,000 customer contacts that lets you build a website and start putting your CRM together. Mailchimp also offers an Essentials plan for $9.99/month, a Standard plan for $14.99/month, and a Premium plan for $299/month. Additionally, it offers transactional email plans that allow you to pay per block of emails.

 

With Mailchimp's free plan, entrepreneurs can start creating their email marketing strategy at little or no cost. Plans are available to keep pace with your business as its needs change, from its expansive, AI-driven Premium plan to one-to-one transactional email bundles.

 

 GetResponse

 

GetResponse is email marketing software that offers additional ways to connect with your customers. With this tool, you can create on-demand webinars and use screen sharing, whiteboards, and surveys to engage with customers in real time.

 

Main Features :

 

Marketing webinar software

Campaign Automation

Visual Workflows

Email analysis

Customizable popups

Abandoned Cart Emails

 

Pricing:

GetResponse offers a 30-day free trial, no credit card required. After the trial month, you can choose between their Basic plan ($15/month), Plus plan ($49/month), Professional plan ($99/month), or Max (custom pricing). You also save 18% for a 12 month billing period or 30% for a 24 month period.

 

GetResponse offers two different but complementary value propositions. They offer comprehensive tools to automate and manage email marketing campaigns, as well as a platform to create and deliver webinars.

 

Zoho Campaigns

Zoho Campaigns is a powerful email marketing tool to build customer lists and develop email marketing solutions that keep customers engaged and interested.

 

Main Features :

 

·       Intuitive fusion labeling

·       Dynamic content

·       Ecommerce Integrations

·       Email Workflow

·       Newsletter Templates

·       A/B testing capabilities

 

Pricing:

Zoho Campaigns pricing is reasonable for small and medium businesses. Their plans offer several approaches for businesses.

 

Their email-based plan lets you send 500 emails per month for $4/month (or $3 if billed annually) for a list of up to 250 subscribers. The subscriber-based plan lets you send as many emails as you want to a list of 500 subscribers for $6/month (or $4.50 if billed annually). You can also choose to pay by email: for $7 per month, you can send 250 emails to anyone you want.

 

Zoho Campaigns is a great choice for small businesses new to email marketing. You get all the features of a complete email marketing solution, but on a smaller scale and at a lower price.

 

SendLoop

SendLoop is a digital marketing platform combining email marketing, marketing automation and email gateway in a simple-to-use platform.

 

Features

·       The most important features include

·       email templates and builder,

·       email delivery infrastructure,

·       reporting,

·       mobile solution,

·       marketing automation,

·       integrations,

·       list management, etc.

 

Pricing:

There are multiple payment plans available with unlimited email delivery for each plan. The price starts from $9 for 500 subscribers and it goes up as the number of subscribers increases.

 

 Hubspot

 

This platform is perhaps the most advanced tool of them all, as it comes with an impressive list of features and tools that are particularly designed to help marketers in the management of their tasks.

 

Features

When it comes to email marketing, you will need Hubspot’s marketing software which includes features like

·       content optimization,

·       email marketing,

·       custom workflow,

·       goalbased nurturing,

·       marketing automation,

·       A/B testing for CTAs and emails,

·       event-based segmentation,

·       predictive lead scoring, etc.

 

These kinds of features can really help you take your business to a next level. Hubspot is generally recommended for medium to large business, due to the type of features the platform offers, as well as due to the costs.

 

FreshMail

 

Here is another tool that comes with a free limited account.

 

Features

This kind of tool come with features like  

·       auto-responders,

·       campaign scheduling.

·       A/B testing,

·       transactional emails, etc.

·       Real-time email tracking

 

The combination of these features allows you to grow your business through the interaction with subscribers.

 

Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is an email marketing and automation tool that lets you create personalized customer journeys with targeted contact strategies.

 

Main Features :

 

·       Drag-and-drop email creation

·       Template Management for Teams

·       Mobile optimization

·       Easy for beginners

 

Pricing:

Campaign Monitor's pricing structure is based on a sliding scale. Starting at 500 contacts, the Basic plan is $9/month, the Unlimited plan is $29/month, and the Premier plan is $149/month. Up to 50,000 contacts, the Basic plan is $299/month, the Unlimited plan is $699/month, and the Premier plan is $989/month.

 

With Campaign Monitor's sliding scale, it's easy for entrepreneurs and startups to create a plan that works for them, and it's easy to adapt as their needs change.

 

 Litmus

 

Litmus is editor built for email, which basically allows you to create your own custom email from scratch.

 

Features

·       checklists to monitor

·       performance,

·       spam testing with major spam filters,

·       email analytics, and community.

 

Pricing:

With instant email preview, you get to see a preview of the design across more than 50 apps, which helps with optimizing email in a better way.

There are four payment plans, starting from “Freelancer” plan priced at $79 per month. Each plan comes with a 7-day free trial and 200 email previews available during the trial period.

 

How to Increase Conversions through Email Marketing

What is conversion?

 

A conversion is a desired action taking place, and with email marketing, this action is taking place through email message as a channel. The email recipients basically follow a path from the email to the external link, most commonly a landing page on your website.

 

 

This can be many different things for different businesses. For some, it might be a sale. For others, it might be an event RSVP. Sometimes, it can be a visit,
simply reading the latest blog article.

 

To think about conversions and to analyze them, you have to define this desired action in your own terms.
You might have several conversions in mind, as all of those could help with achieving your goal.

 

This is completely natural, and in fact, each marketing section could have its own conversions. For example, social media marketing can have its own conversion such as becoming a follower, clicking on an ad, etc.

 

When it comes to email marketing, it is important to have in mind that one email campaign should only have one conversion.

 

Once you have completely defined a conversion, the next thing you will need to focus on how to increase conversion.

 

1. How to increase conversions?

 

When you think of a conversion, you think about desired actions you want users to perform. Your goal with email marketing is to refine your strategy in order to maximize the number of these desired actions being completed.

 

Optimization of email design and A/B testing are things that will help you with increasing conversions, and so are these.

  

2. Subject line that engages

 

Numerous studies over the past years have proven the fact that subject line has a tremendous impact on campaign performance, with more than 30% open rate depending solely on these few words.

 

A subject line is what encourages people to open your email. It needs to be engaging and catchy. Since conversion rate is related to open rate, as the opening has to happen first, with possible conversion to follow, one of the starting points in increasing conversions is modifying the subject line.

 

 

There is no universal solution for the best subject line, so A/B testing is a recommended option.
Having your email opened is a path towards conversion. It is followed by stunning email content.

3. CTA that inspires

In the focus of the email there is a CTA. A button or a link that invites the recipients to click on it. The goal with CTA is to inspire as many clicks as possible, which will take the recipient to the landing page.

 

When it comes to increasing conversions, the more clicks mean more potential conversions. This is why you need to pay attention to the text, color, formatting and position of the CTA inside the email body.

 

Again, A/B testing could be a way to go for, experimenting with different variations.

4. Landing page that converts

 

At the point where the email recipient reaches the landing page, you will notice a significantly lower number of them in comparison to the number of addresses the email was delivered to.

 

It is a natural process that the number of users decreases as the moment of a conversion approaches, with each phase of the sales funnel. As with all prior stages, a landing page is a place where you either lose or gain customers. Obviously, your goal is to gain them so you will need a landing page that converts.

 

Landing page, or lead capture page, is where you want users to take action, i.e. convert. There are many types of landing pages, depending on the industry, the type of audience or products, the business goals, etc.

 

This means that there are no universal instructions for creating a perfect landing page, but there are things you need to consider when designing one, as those impact the power the landing page has in terms of conversions.

5. Effective headline

 

A headline is at the top of the page, and it represents one of the essential aspects of the landing page, together with the CTA. This is where you need to grab user’s attention.

 

 

A good headline should be descriptive, telling more about the offer, product, event, etc. An effective headline also has to grab the attention of the reader. It should be something they can identify with, it should be engaging, remarkable and attracting them to learn more.

 

 

When we consider visual aspect, formatting is also important for an effective headline. It should be easily noticeable, which you can achieve with different color and large fonts.

  

6. Brief description

 

A reader’s attention span is short, especially nowadays, when people interact with too much content on a daily basis. You literally have a couple of seconds to attract the attention of the reader, so get straight to the point.

 

 

There is no need for too many words. Instead, be concise, but make sure you provide enough information. It is similar like with a headline. You need to be persuasive and engaging to get readers interested. Unlike with headline, a description can be a bit longer, but try to keep it simple and short as much as you can.

 

The goal with the description is to offer more information about the offer and a reason for the reader to click on that CTA.
Not understanding your headline or what you offer is might be a reason to lose lots of customers, which is why this description should be composed in a way that appeals to your target audience.

 

In the same time, it has to be informative so that even the first-time visitors can exactly understand what you offer.

7. Prominent CTA

 

The second thing on the landing page that deserves full attention is the CTA. This button is where conversion happens, regardless if that is a download of a free material or signing up for a membership on your website.

 

This is why CTA needs to be prominent so that no visitor will miss it.

 

8. Impressive layout

 

The visual aspect of the landing page is very important. This has to be a beautifully designed page, with a custom design for that particular page. It has to be well-organized, with each section being carefully placed so that they do not overlap and thus disrupt the user experience.

 

It also has to be accessible and adjustable for all devices. The layout also refers to the use of images, fonts, text bubbles, logo, etc. and anything that can help you provide necessary information with an impressive design.

 

9. Boastful testimonials

 

This is not something you should highlight because you want to keep the description brief, so leave the testimonials for the end of the page.

 

 However, feel free to include them, because they can encourage those visitors who are a bit indecisive about clicking that CTA button.

 

 

These can include comments from the previous customers, the list of customers, etc. This kind of recognition helps you build your own reputation, and thus it can help with conversions.

10. Other things to consider to increase conversions

 

These are other things to consider when it comes to increasing conversion and those include:

• Timing it right – Even though there is generally no perfect time to send an email, analyzing past conversions might help you find that sweet spot, the time when you are most likely to convert customers.

 

It can be a specific day of the week, a particular time of the day, or perhaps after a certain event. This can help with the conversion rate, so make sure you explore email marketing statistics with this idea in mind.

 

• Improve email design – Email design is a very important part of increasing
conversions, so you should explore different ways to optimize the email layout to get the most out of it.

 

• Pay attention to other things to do and things to avoid – There are general things to do and avoid if you want to improve the success of your campaign. These refer to both email deliverability and conversions, so explore different suggestions to see if your approach needs a bit of refinement

 

 

Now that you have complete idea on how to increase conversion, the next thing you will need to focus on is tracking those conversions.

 

11. Tracking conversions

 

Tracking conversions is the process where you gather the data from a specific email campaign. Email campaign on its own may or may not be a success. To measure this success, you need to track conversions and determine the exact number of conversions you were able to generate.

 

Besides measuring success, this tells a lot about your email marketing strategy as a whole. The best way to track conversions is to generate a custom report with conversion details you have available. Those can include:

• Conversions happening after first, second etc. click
• Time or day when the conversions happen
• Conversions in regard to A/B testing if you have conducted such a testing
• The place conversions happened (on the landing page, on other pages, etc.)

 

 

The idea with tracking conversion is to go beyond the click (on CTA button in your email). The scope of data goes further, as you want and need to analyze the way this conversion happened after the recipient has clicked on the link in the email. You need to know how visitors behave once they reach the landing page.

 

 

Do they immediately hit that CTA and thus convert? Do they navigate to the homepage first, and then the conversion happens there? What is the
abandonment rate, i.e. the percentage of those who visit the landing page, but leave without being converted? All of this together helps you figure out how conversions happen, allowing you to use this recipe to boost your business success.

 

You will need assistance for tracking the clicks and their path, as well as to compare rates between several metrics, which is why you will need to use tools.

 

Using an email marketing tool to track conversion

There are numerous email marketing tools available on the market. What is necessary to highlight here is that tools offer features, that can be more or less alike, but monitoring email traffic is usually one of those features available.

Since monitoring is one of the important tasks in email campaign management, you will often see this option integrated.

 

Most tools track opens and clicks. Those are two basic metrics that will help assess email deliverability, but to focus on conversions, you will need more data. Email analytics available with email marketing tools can also include:

 

• Integration with Google Analytics
• Link tracking
• Goal tracking
• Tracking opens

 

 

Email campaign tagging

The other option for monitoring the performance of an email marketing campaign is through campaign URL tracking. Google offers a tool to track custom campaigns in Google Analytics.

 

 

All you need to do is provide information about the campaign, after which a URL will be automatically generated for you. To access the Campaign URL Builder, use this link: https://gadev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/