How to Set Up a High Converting Email Marketing Campaign in 2022

Email designEditorial • January 17, 2022 • 6 minute read

In the new year with new marketing strategies on the horizon, it’s time to dive in to make sure your email marketing campaigns are ready to convert customers.

More … than half of consumers still want brands to contact them via email rather than social media or other channels, so don’t discount this essential tool in favor of a flashy new social media platform or other approaches.

Because you can personalize and automate many facets of email marketing campaigns, it’s a powerful channel to directly address your customers’ pain points and drive them to make a purchase.

But high-converting email marketing campaigns don’t just magically appear. You will need to plan carefully, execute your plans well, and regularly analyze and adjust your campaigns to maximize your return on investment.

We’ve made it easy for you: our guide to creating an email campaign that converts will walk you through everything you need to have a profitable 2022.

Plan ahead

Planning is the key to a successful email marketing campaign. Start with a master list or timeline of your upcoming sales and promotions to get an overview of what your campaign should look like.

From there, outline your email sequences and get the templates for each type of email in production. (Some marketers say it may take up to one week to produce a single email entirely, so be sure to start well before the campaign kicks off!)

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The majority of your email design will focus on your main offers and promotions, but don’t forget about other types of emails as well. Your email templates should also include a welcome email, abandoned cart emails, and order confirmation and tracking emails. These are crucial in moving potential customers through the funnel.

Make sure your email designs are eye-catching and match your brand aesthetic. You don’t have long to make a first impression, so all your emails should look great at a glance.

Finally, make sure you have all the data and tools you need to run your campaign successfully. Gather your target market research to help design your email sequences. Set up an email marketing tool to help manage your campaign if you don’t already have one. Make sure your analytics are ready to go.

Segment your mailing lists

Segmentation is the key to email marketing for a high converting campaign.

You can segment your email subscriber lists based on location, previous purchases, or any other demographic that suits your business. For example, some brands choose to send different emails based on the subscriber’s age or gender.

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Once you’ve created your list segments, make sure your email sequences and templates are appropriate for each. This can impact the content of your emails, subject lines, the exact promotion you send, and even the time you send it.

Personalizing your emails with so much detail makes your customers feel known, which leads to higher conversions.

You should also ensure that your email campaign reports reflect these segments. We will discuss this in more detail in a later section.

Automate email sequences

Automation might be the best thing that ever happened to email marketing.

By setting up specific email triggers and sequences, you can ensure that everyone on your broadcast list receives the right emails at exactly the right time, with just a little start-up effort on your part.

One of the best examples of email automation is cart abandonment emails. Send a follow up after a customer has left an item in their cart for a few hours or days to remind them of their purchase, and you’ll get some of those customers back.

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Here are some other uses of email marketing automation:

• Welcome new customers with a special email and offer
• Win back old customers with a reminder email
• Send countdown emails a few weeks or days before a major party or sale
• Ask for reviews or testimonials after a customer has received their product
• Automate learning or lead warming process from your online course platform and webinar registration campaigns.

Email automation helps you scale your email campaigns and make them more efficient – with just a little effort on your part.

Personalize, Personalize, Personalize

Whenever you can personalize part of your email marketing campaign, do it. It’s a proven way to increase conversions.

Your customers want to feel known, not like they’re just another number in your marketing manual. Leverage your customer data into a personalized experience for each person on your email subscriber list and watch your conversions increase.

Names are the easiest thing to customize. Put them in subject lines and email greetings, always. But there are also other ways to personalize emails:

• Deliver location-based emails, so they receive emails at the optimal time for them
• Feature products in promotional emails based on what a customer has already purchased or viewed
• Send abandoned cart emails and recommend related products
• Use segmentation to send specific promotions based on other demographics

You might even be able to get a little more personal, like Spotify does in its year-end wrap-up emails.

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Some email marketing software and landing page builders even allow you to customize landing pages as well. You can create dynamic landing pages that address customers by name, highlight specific products, and even include personalized offers.

Personalization builds trust and makes it easy for customers to buy from you. Many email marketing tools will help you customize your emails based on segments and customer data to make your job easier.

Optimize your landing pages

Landing an email in a customer’s inbox is only half the battle. For the other half, you need a well-optimized landing page to meet the specific needs of your target audience.

Landing pages are where the conversion actually happens. It’s an essential part of getting that high conversion rate.

Your landing page should be eye-catching and motivate visitors to buy as soon as possible. This should make it easy for customers to evaluate the offer and make a purchase, like in this example from Fabletics.

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A good landing page will have these elements:

• Mobile Optimization: 43% of emails are opened on mobile, so make sure your emails display well on smaller screens.
• Catchy title: Attract visitors immediately with a memorable headline that tells them exactly how you can meet their needs.
• Sense of urgency: You don’t want customers to act later, they have to act. Evoke that feeling through limited-time offers or a countdown to the next vacation.
• A clear focus on the product: The more specific your landing page can be, the better. Tailor these pages to specific segments and make sure the products highlighted match what was promised in your email. If customers can’t find what they’re looking for quickly, they’ll walk away.
• Obvious call to action: Don’t stop customers from buying your products. Include a bold and bright CTA that entices them to buy now. You can even include CTAs directly in the email to make the process even faster.
• Secure transactions: Customers want to know that their data is protected. Make it clear that you take their privacy seriously on your landing page. Consider investing in a VPN for an extra layer of data security.

Make sure your landing page includes all of these elements while matching the aesthetic of your entire campaign. Keep an eye on the performance of your landing pages and make any necessary changes to keep them converting strongly throughout the new year.

Analyze and adjust as you go

Email campaigns require near-constant monitoring to maintain high conversions: you can’t just set it and forget it. There may be small adjustments to make as you go along to ensure that you are maximizing your impact.

Know which KPIs are important to your business and email campaigns, and get daily reports on the success of those efforts. Most marketers (63%) track the following metrics:

• The opening rate
• Click-through rate
• Conversion rate

Don’t forget to track your KPIs by segments of your mailing list. This will help you see where and how to optimize your campaigns to ensure the maximum conversion rate for each type of customer.

If you’re starting to see open rates drop or you’re having other performance issues, start adjusting your emails. Run A/B tests on subject lines or landing pages to refine your strategy into something that consistently converts highly.

Conclusion

Email marketing is a powerful tool for any business. With careful planning and attention to detail in your execution, you can create a powerful email marketing campaign that converts highly at every stage of the sales funnel.

Don’t forget to rely on the tools at your disposal: segmentation, personalization and automation make your life easier while making your email campaigns more powerful. Take advantage of these tactics to give your customers an email marketing experience they won’t be able to resist.