Email marketing is very much a channel that you should be investing in, particularly if you are focusing your strategy on retaining existing customers rather than gaining new ones. It is always much harder to attract new customers, so if you have a database of people who have already purchased your products or services, market to them!
While email marketing may seem like an old fashioned way to customer retention, it is a powerful tool that businesses of all sizes can use. It is not only an incredibly cost-effective way to keep customers engaged, it can also increase their lifetime value.
Benefits of Email Marketing For Customer Retention
Cost-effective
Compared to other marketing channels such as print or TV advertising, email marketing is fairly cheap – you just subscribe to email software that is large enough to hold your database of emails. They are also really easy to create using their drag and drop framework, so someone within your business should be able to design the campaigns. With reliable email marketing software, you will be able to create visually appealing emails, manage your subscribers and track the results of your campaigns all within a single dashboard.
Personalised campaigns
One of the huge benefits of email marketing for customer retention is that you can create personalised campaigns that increase customer engagement. Not only can you add the customer’s first name and last name within the email itself, but you can also send them targeted emails based on their purchase history. This can really help customers to feel like they are worthy and valued by a business. A simple ‘thank you’ email after completing a purchase can go a long way in retaining customers.
Increased customer loyalty
Building trust with customers is incredibly important, as when they trust a brand repeat purchases are more likely to happen. Regular email communication can help create this trust by keeping customers engaged and connected to the brand. By staying in touch with customers on a regular basis, this can remind them of the value of their relationship with the brand. These type of emails don’t have to be particularly sales focused either, a simple newsletter highlighting company updates or tips and advice are fine.
Segmentation & targeting
Segmentation is all about splitting your email database up into categories based on similar interests, demographics or past behaviour. These smaller groups can then be targeted with specific, personalised campaigns that appeal to their individual needs. By sending highly targeted emails to specific customers, the messaging is a lot more relevant and conversion rates will increase. Sending a generic email to an entire database of subscribers will result in a low click-through rate and probably a high level of unsubscribers too!
Building relationships
Storytelling is a great way to nurture customer relationships, as people are naturally drawn to stories. By telling stories that are aligned with a brand’s values, you can connect with customers on an emotional level, leading to increased loyalty and retention. Email marketing can be used as part of this storytelling process, particularly when explaining a brand’s history or values. You could also use customer stories to explain how your product or service has had a positive impact on someone’s life.
Tracking & Analysing Email Campaign Performance
In order to see whether your retention strategy is working, tracking and analysing your email campaign performance is crucial. You will be able to gain valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t with regards to retaining customers, allowing you to fine-tune future campaigns in the best possible way.
Some of the core metrics to analyse include open rates, click-through rates and conversion rates. A/B split testing is a great way to see if you can improve any of these metrics, by testing things such as different email subject lines and different call-to-action buttons.
Improving Customer Retention Using Email Marketing
Email marketing is an effective way to convert prospects into customers by creating content that they can resonate and engage with. We will leave you with some tips for increasing customer retention via email marketing:
- Use emails to send personalised messages to specific customers
- Send friendly email reminders
- Give customers control by allowing them to set their own preferences
- Use emails to send customer feedback surveys
- Create compelling content
If you would like some help transforming your email marketing strategy, get in touch with the experts at DBS Digital.
