Are you getting the biggest bang for your buck on your WordPress contact forms? Don't miss conversions because you don't setup automated email marketing.
Maybe you haven’t heard that the ROI (return on investment) on email marketing is positively steep. In 2015 it was reported that for every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38. For a marketing manager on a limited budget (as is the norm these days), spending money where the biggest bang for the buck resides is a no-brainer.
It’s not disputed that the benefit of automating your email marketing plan. Automation gives you the power to say “welcome” to your subscribers the moment they opt-in to your list via a WordPress form. It gives you the power to create email communication workflows to send targeted emails to your subscribers. Automation gives you the capability to connect immediately with customers, clients and prospects.
Automation can only happen if you are actively building your lists. That’s where Formidable Forms comes in to give you the power to create email opt-in forms that will give you a starting place for your lists. If you weren’t aware of the massive benefits of building and maintaining a solid email marketing list, we won’t hold that against you. But let’s agree to agree on the following 10 facts about automated email marketing:
10. Email gives you the ability to connect with desktop and mobile customers directly.
When was the last time you were able to hit one button and instantly have the potential of connecting directly with your entire customer or prospect email list? Seriously, to have the power to communicate directly with your list(s) at the touch of a button, who wouldn’t choose to do that?
9. Email marketing is inexpensive
For anywhere from FREE to $149 per month, you can subscribe to a platform for creating and sending professional-looking emails that is your ticket to generating leads and sales. A small business or non-profit can expect to pay an average of $20-$30 per month for an email marketing platform such as MailChimp. Larger businesses or businesses with more sophisticated sales, reporting and tracking needs can pay more like $150 - $200 per month.
To have the power of automation at your fingertips with MailChimp, you’ll need their monthly subscription service beyond the FREE version. Those plans start at around $10.00 per month.
Small businesses can’t afford to ignore the potential to generate an ROI of $38 per $1 spent on email marketing. If you spent $38 for email service one month and it generated $1444 in sales would you feel your advertising dollars had been well spent? We think so too.
8. Opt-in features keep your list healthy and ensures you are communicating with directly with the clients or customers who use your services or buy your products.
Platforms such as MailChimp allow you to choose between a single or a double opt-in. This essentially means the difference between allowing a subscriber to click once to subscribe to your email list or receive a confirmation email which needs to be opened and clicked through to confirm submission (hence, the DOUBLE opt-in.) The pros and cons of these two options are best reserved for their own post. Requiring confirmation of opt-in ensures the marketer will be connecting with the most highly motivated consumers who really want to receive the communication. This affects reporting numbers positively, while effectively keeping your list clean and leaner. Opt-out and unsubscribe links need to be utilized to give a customer a chance to opt-out while still keeping a positive attitude toward your company (read: don’t piss them off by continuing to send people emails who have unsubscribed!)
7. Email communications done right lend credibility to your business
Have you ever opted in to a company’s email list, only to never receive a single email? Or maybe you got a solicitation long down the road when your enthusiasm for the company or product had waned? What if, instead, you had received an immediate confirmation email inviting you to check out a product, resource, or sale with a coupon code or an incentive to act immediately? Would your trust and excitement in the company grow a little? We think so too.
6. Directly control where a customer lands from your email
A bus drives by with your ad on it. A consumer sees your commercial on TV or hears your company name on the radio. Are you able to control what happens next in the life of your client or prospective customer? Absolutely not. However, suppose a client opens your email communication and it contains a call to action with a sense of urgency. Right there is a big “click me” button. You think you might get some clicks, right? What if 10% of your clients clicked and purchased? Maybe 20% of them will click? Perhaps 5% of them will convert? Would you choose that medium over some other high dollar advertising medium that you couldn’t directly track conversions?
5. Generate leads
Every one of us has run across a product or service that someone we know could use. Some of us forward coupons or ideas to friends. Others share socially items that pique our interest or incentivize us to share (i.e. contest entries). If you could choose one marketing piece through which you could increase your reach through forwards and referrals, why not use it?
4. Nurture relationships
For successful businesses to grow, the key is relationships. Specifically client/ business relationships that thrive over time, engendering more customer loyalty and referrals. Email communications allow you to deepen relationships via content marketing and adding value to the customer/ business relationship.
3. Automated email marketing can be coordinated with any marketing campaign to Increase ROI
Do you have a marketing campaign running? Perhaps you have a specific phrase you are using? Brand your next email with this same campaign, and you’ve got an additional channel through which to increase conversion rates. Add an extra incentive for your loyal email subscriber and watch your stats grow.
2. Give your customers and prospects something to share
Well-timed email communications and promos with incentives to share, can greatly increase your customer’s feeling of goodwill to you. It will also broaden your reach through social media shares. (Reach can be described as the number of persons who have the potential to see your message.) Contest marketing that involves social media sharing will also have a big impact on your reach.
1. Get immediate results
There aren’t many advertising mediums that can boast an immediate response. Except perhaps a banner sign hanging outside the front doors of a pub. With automated email marketing, however, you can push the button and watch responses roll in. If that’s not enough reasons to build and maintain an email list, we don’t know what is.
BONUS
We have a BONUS reason for you to add MailChimp to your WordPress forms. That reason is conversion tracking. We mentioned it briefly above in number six, and it’s inherent in every reason above. Automated email marketing allows tracking of conversions and engagement via social media shares, clicks, opens, and forwards.
This ability to track conversions and engagement as well as the inexpensive and convenient nature of email marketing make it an obvious choice for the marketer at any skill level or stage of the game.
Download the MailChimp add-on for Formidable Forms now. Then sign up for a MailChimp account, and add in your MailChimp API key to Formidable. Set up an email capture form to pop up on your home pages, landing pages, or reside on your “Contact Us” page of your website. Not sure how to get started? Learn how to make a MailChimp contact form for WordPress
Read more: Using MailChimp with Formidable
Get on the path to more sales and leads today in just a matter of minutes. Now that you know these ten facts about automated email marketing, it’s up to you to make it happen. We here at Formidable Forms are rooting for you!
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