FROM DISCOVERY TO CONVERSION BY USING EMAIL MAKERTING STRATEGY
How to effectively build content into your email strategy in three steps: mapping the customer journey, collating the right content, and bringing the two together in an email programme.
Content continues to distinguish itself as a vital aspect of a marketing plan, for B2Cs and B2Bs alike. Companies that make it their business to generate and provide interesting, helpful content can keep their audience interested, acquire their trust, and position themselves as an expert in their sector.
According to Semrush’s 2022 State of Content Marketing Global Report, more than three-quarters (78%) of firms who accomplished their business objectives have a documented content marketing strategy, whereas 81% of organisations that did not meet their business objectives do not have one.
There is a purpose for content across the whole customer lifecycle, but it has the most impact when given at the appropriate time, which is where email comes in.
Matching the correct information with the proper moment in the customer journey and sending it through email may be incredibly successful. With constant distribution of high-quality, relevant, and valuable content, you obtain higher-quality leads and customers who are more likely to remain with you, as well as the chance to learn more about your audience and what they want, so perpetuating the circle of success.
In this post, we’ll examine how to properly integrate content into your email marketing strategy in three steps: mapping the customer journey, gathering the relevant content, and integrating the two into an email programme.
STEP 1: UNDERSTANDING THE CUSTOMER AND MAPPING THEIR JOURNEY
As is the case with any marketing campaigns, identifying your target is the best place to begin. As a first step, establish multiple personas based on your existing customers’ insights, and then map out their journey with you from awareness through conversion and beyond.
Consider the prospect’s requirements, obstacles, and concerns at each stage of the trip. Identify the points at which they will be most responsive to your material and select the format of that content.
Important to remember is that your email and content strategy must coincide with the company’s larger marketing objectives. The two main benefits of a defined content marketing strategy, according to a 2019 poll by the Content Marketing Institute, are uniting teams around similar objectives or goals and making it easier to choose which sorts of content to generate.
If your company objectives are clearly established, your content strategy objectives will automatically follow. It also means you are less likely to squander time and money on efforts that do not provide tangible outcomes for the business.
STEP 2: BRINGING TOGETHER THE RIGHT CONTENT
You should have a clear notion of the material you require at this stage, and thankfully, you may not need to generate anything from scratch. It may be far more economical to update or reuse material that already exists inside the organisation, which may be discovered through a content audit. Here is where you conduct an inventory of all the material on your website, such as blog posts, videos, tutorials, whitepapers, and survey findings, noting which information performs well or tends to elicit action.
If you must generate fresh content, be sure to consider your audience’s particular characteristics – where they work, their life stage, their issues, what they value, and where they receive their information – as well as where they are in the customer journey.
STEP 3: ALIGNING CONTENT WITH THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY
After you have a knowledge of the likely route a prospect will take with you and the material to which they will be most responsive, it is time to combine the two into your email marketing plan.
With a mass communication and marketing automation platform, such as Everlytic, it is able to configure automatic workflows that send emails in response to certain behaviours, ensuring that the prospect receives the appropriate material at the appropriate time. In addition, if you have segmentation in place, you may tailor the email’s content to the recipient’s profile, so increasing its value.
For instance, when the Independent Institute of Education (IIE), the largest private higher education institution in South Africa, wanted to convert prospective leads into applicants and eventually enrolled students, they used Everlytic to create a series of emails to nurture those interested in further study.
Over time, a series of emails and messages were sent to contacts in response to their actions. There were five modifications in the content of the messages based on the recipient’s position in the onboarding process. IIE attributed the 20% increase in student enrollment the next academic year to the promotion. This technique relieved some pressure from their sales and marketing departments.
One of the most helpful aspects of email is that it allows for two-way communication. Sure, you are giving the prospect the most appropriate material, but you also have the chance to learn more about them based on their behaviour — which emails they open and when, and which links they click – as well as what they tell you directly (via surveys, for example). Using these insights throughout the lifespan enables you to modify your plan as necessary.
Some examples of the sorts of content that perform best at each point of the customer journey are given below, having in mind that any successful campaign – content or otherwise – must balance the demands of the customer with those of the business.
The lead is now a paying client. Consider offering them further information on the product or service they just purchased and other goods they may find beneficial, so building the framework for another sale. You also have the option to learn more about the consumer and their experience, for instance by sending them a survey.
It is an ideal moment to reward the consumer for their patronage and display your gratitude by continuing to provide them with great material. From a commercial standpoint, another purpose may be to convert the consumer into an advocate, which could begin with an invitation to submit a review.
CONCLUSION
The effectiveness of such email marketing demands adopting the long view. This requires paying equal attention to what occurs after the sale as well as before. At Everlytic, we envision the digital marketing funnel as an hourglass, where pre-purchase phases, including engagement and research, represent the upper chamber, while post-purchase stages, including retention and advocacy, are at the bottom chamber.
How does this function in practise? One option is to employ communications to maintain client engagement and satisfaction long after the first purchase. For instance, when tyre retailer TiAuto Investments (Pty) Ltd sought to keep their customers engaged after they visited one of their service centres, they used Everlytic to create an automated workflow that would send messages requesting feedback on their experience or reminding them when it was time for another service.
By implementing the procedure, the company’s retail locations have witnessed an increase in service delivery. The strategy also helped them better manage their workload and understand how it may improve their experience.
Provided at the proper moment, content might be the essential ingredient that changes an indecisive lead into a pleased customer, or a one-time consumer into a regular client. With a responsive email strategy and delivery technology, these moments can be created at scale.
