According to Talarico (2016), 92% of adults use email, with a total of 13 working hours each week devoted to checking mail alone. Email marketing allows businesses’ to create tailored campaigns with more personalised messages to target a specific customer base, and in turn build stronger customer relationships. For this reason, many organisations have made e-mail marketing the cornerstone of their communications strategy (Reimers, Chao and Gorman, 2016). Not only does email marketing serve to drive website traffic, it also influences impulse buying on online websites (Dawson and Kim, 2010).

Below are some ways to maximise email-marketing efforts;

1. Get permission

If e-mail marketing is to prove effective, marketers must recognise that consumers regard their e-mail inbox as their personal domain, and not abuse this privilege (Chittenden and Rettie, 2003). The Law in the UK now states that permission must be obtained before emailing an account for commercial purposes (Gov.UK, 2018). Additionally, customers must have the option to ‘opt-out’ to no longer receive marketing emails from your business (Gov.UK, 2018).

Click to read the UK’s regulations on direct email marketing.

2. Subject lines matter

35% of people open emails based on the subject line (Talarico, 2016). As it is the first thing they see, its definitely worth putting some thought into those few characters. To improve open rates, Collis (2014) recommends using a clear subject line, less than fifty characters, which that tells the reader exactly what is inside the email, describing the benefit you are providing and creates an immediate emotion (curiosity, urgency, fear, etc) (Rampton, 2015).

Click to read Campaign Monitors’ Top 8 email subject lines for increasing Open Rates.

3. Strong Call to Actions

Write a concise email speaking directly to your audience with a strong call to action. For example, “Receive 30% off your next purchase” has a clear benefit and call to action. “Receive 30% off all dresses – today only” has an even stronger call to action as it is specific and time sensitive, causing the recipients to feel the immediate emotional appeal (Rampton, 2015).

While there may be a few calls to action in your email (follow, visit, call, buy etc.), it’s important not to confuse the recipients. Focus your messaging on one main call to action and others secondary (Talarico, 2016).

Click to read Campaign Monitors’ 75 Calls to Action to Use in Your Email Marketing Campaigns

4. Make sure it is mobile optimised

Its important to be aware of how your email is displayed on smartphones and tablets – and to make sure it’s optimised for these devices. Email’s opened on a mobile device have doubled over the past five years, according to a report released by data and email solutions provider Return Path (Nelson, 2017). The study analysed more than 27 billion email opens between May 2016 and April 2017. The results showed that 55% of emails analysed were opened on a mobile device. On the other hand, emails opened on an Internet browser, have dropped to 28%, and only 16% on a desktop (Nelson, 2017).

Tips for creating a mobile-friendly email include; using a single column template, using larger font, having a single call-to-action and being as concise as possible – both in the subject line and main body of text (Collins, 2014). Click to read the full study here.

Although email marketing can show significant returns on investment if leveraged correctly, the risks associated also need to be considered, see below:

Risks associated with Email Marketing

• Formatting issues – not all recipients will be able to view content (e.g. images/videos). Ensure you test your email marketing campaign on multiple platforms to ensure that it looks the way that you envisioned.
• SPAM – Commercial e-mails sent without the explicit permission of the receiver are referred to as SPAM (Morimoto and Chang, 2006).  To reduce the amount of unwanted emails, many servers have filters in place to lessen the number of spam emails received. Try to avoid words that will cause your email to marked as SPAM, such as these 100 spam trigger words and phrases to avoid.
• Subscriber engagement decay – it is a common occurrence for recipients to start becoming inactive or unresponsive. To prevent this from happening, its important to stay on top of metrics and demographics, and to keep content fresh with strong call to actions.
• Data protection – to ensure your marketing complies with data protection law and good practice, click to read ICO’s email marketing checklist– ideal for small businesses.

References

Dawson, S. and Kim, M. (2010), “Cues on apparel web sites that trigger impulse purchases”, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management , Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 230-246

Campaign Monitor (2018). Top 8 email subject lines for increasing Open Rates. [online] Campaignmonitor.com. Available at: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2014/09/subject-line-formulas/ [Accessed 4 Apr. 2018].

Chittenden, L. and Rettie, R. (2003), “An evaluation of email marketing and factors affecting response”, Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing , Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 203-217.

Collis, M. (2014). 11 Remarkable Email Marketing Tips You Need to Implement Right Away. [online] Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-collis/11-remarkable-email-marke_1_b_5710091.html.

Gov.UK, (2018). Marketing and advertising: the law: Direct marketing – GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/marketing-advertising-law/direct-marketing.

Nelson, J. (2017) Majority Of Emails Read On Mobile Devices. [online] Available at: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/304735/majority-of-emails-read-on-mobile-devices.html.

Rampton, J. (2015). Tips For A Successful Email Campaign. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2015/05/07/tips-for-a-successful-email-campaign/#12f7071e326d [Accessed 4 Apr. 2018].

Reimers, V., Chao, C. and Gorman, S. (2016). Permission email marketing and its influence on online shopping. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 28(2), pp.308-322.

Talarico, D. (2016). From inbox to enroll: Email marketing tips. Recruiting & Retaining Adult Learners, 18(11), pp.1-3.

Yapp, W. (2015). Driving Better Results Through Email Marketing. Franchising world, 47(5), p.50.

In recent years, influencer marketing has undergone intense inflation, as progressively more brands leverage influencers as a tool to promote products/services and encourage word-of-mouth communication. Influencers’ can be recognised as “a third party who significantly influences consumers purchasing decisions” (Brown and Hayes, 2008), or more recently, as “individuals with a sizeable and engaged audience on social media.” (Rahim, 2017).

Mircroblogging platforms (e.g. Instagram/Twitter) have provided businesses’ with a new opportunity to communicate and engage their customers. Social media influencers (SMI’s) use these platforms to share posts about their lives and the product/services they recommend to their followers. SMI’s have similarities to the popular marketing tactic celebrity endorsement, but it can be argued that influencers have more credibility and authenticity. A report by Mediakix (2016) disclosed that consumers trust influencers more than celebrities, as 30% of respondents agreed that they were more likely to purchase a product/service that had been recommended by a non-celebrity influencer (Forbes, 2017). Additionally, a study by Djafarova and Rushworth (2017) found that although celebrity endorsement is still an effective marketing tool, influencers have more credibility as their posts resemble something the individuals aspire to, making them easier to relate to.

It is widely accepted that leveraging an influencer as part of your business’ marketing strategy can result in many positive outcomes, such as; building brand awareness, increasing social media following and, usewebsite traffic, user acquisition, purchase intent, downloads or direct sales (Forbes, 2017). However, as the popularity of influencer marketing continues to grow, questions have been raised regarding the effectiveness of this strategy, credibility, perceived believability to the consumer and the metrics used to define success.

Below are the answers to influencer marketings most frequently asked questions:

Influencer marketing FAQ

1.How do I find the right influencer?

Finding an influencer suitable for your business is the key to achieving effective results and a successful campaign. Metrics such as; number of followers, likes/shares on posts are a good starting point, but more importantly, understanding the influencers’ audience, what kind of content they create, and how your brand fits into the creators feed, is key to finding the correct influencer (Adweek, 2018). Using a social media or influencer management tool (such as Traakr or Brand Watch) can assist in the selection process, as they provide in-depth insights to influencers’ audiences, and analysis of influencer’s performance based on a variety of metrics such as; brand mentions, potential reach, engagements and engagement rate.

2. What type of influencer generates the best results?

Generally speaking, there are two main types of influencer – micro and macro. Macro influencers typically have tens of thousands to millions of followers, whilst macro influencers have much smaller audiences. Whilst macro influencers can achieve a much greater reach than micro influencers, it has been argued that micro influencers are better for achieving better engagement rates (Mediakix, 2017).

To further investigate micro vs macro Mediakix (2017) analyzed over 700 sponsored posts from 16 widely recognised brands that work concurrently with macro and micro influencers. The pros and cons are summarised in the infographic below:

3. How can I measure return on investment? 

1.Set clear goals and measurements

Make S.M.A.R.T – specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time based goals using the metrics you are aiming to achieve, such as; website views, referral visitors, social media reach or direct sales (Forbes, 2017).

For example; “increase following on Instagram by 20% in the next year”

2. Coupon codes

A great way of measuring return on investment of an influencer campaign is to give each influencer a specific coupon code, offering discount or promotional offers. Businesses’ can track how many have been submitted from each influencer and offer a percentage of each sale commission.

Example below:

3. Affiliate links

Affiliate Marketing is soley performance-based, allowing businesses’ to directly compensate their influencers for each sale or lead generated. This is usually practiced by using individual links for each influencer, which are shared via their online platform (e.g. YouTube). The link shared leads the user directly to the e-commerce site or product page.

Example below:

References

Adweek (2018). How Can Brands Effectively Use Influencers? This Marketing Company Explains Its Strategy. [online] Adweek.com. Available at: http://www.adweek.com/digital/how-can-brands-effectively-use-influencers-this-marketing-company-explains-its-strategy/ [Accessed 20 Feb. 2018].

Brown, D. and Hayes, N. (2008). Influencer marketing. 1st ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann.

Djafarova, E., & Rushworth, C. (2017). Exploring the credibility of online celebrities’ Instagram profiles in influencing the purchase decisions of young female users. Computers in Human Behaviour, 68, 1-7

Forbes.com. (2017). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/deeppatel/2017/04/21/how-to-measure-the-roi-of-an-influencer-marketing-campaign/#5d4ee3a66348 [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].

Freberg, K., Graham, K., McGaughey, K., & Freberg L. (2011). Who are the social media influencers? A study of public perceptions of personality. Public Relations Review, 37, 90-92.

Gillin, P. (2007). The new influencers. 1st ed. Sanger, CA: Quill Driver Books/Word Dancer Press.

Instagram. (2018). Jessica Rose on Instagram: “Loved this shoot with @boohooMANofficial and Dom 😘 Get 50% off boohooMAN.com with JESSSHEARS50”. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ben_mVIlLn8/?taken-by=jessica_rose_uk [Accessed 20 Feb. 2018].

Mediakix | Influencer Marketing Agency. (2017). Micro Influencers vs Macro Influencers: Who Wins? Case Study. [online] Available at: http://mediakix.com/2017/09/micro-influencers-vs-macro-brand-case-study/#gs.oeM62x0 [Accessed 20 Feb. 2018].

Mediakix (2016). 10 Biggest Influencer Marketing Statistics 2016 [Infographic]. [online] Mediakix | Influencer Marketing Agency. Available at: http://mediakix.com/2016/09/10-top-influencer-marketing-statistics-for-2016-infographic/#gs.dZ5AiPg [Accessed 20 Feb. 2018].

Rahim, H. (2017). How to use influencers in your next marketing campaign [online] The Telegraph. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connect/media-and-technology/how-to-use-influencers-in-your-marketing-campaign/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2018].

YouTube. (2018). L’Oreal Steampod 2.0 Review & Tutorial | Fashion Mumblr. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf73qc9zJaY [Accessed 20 Feb. 2018].