According to recent findings from Litmus, email marketing offers an average return on investment (ROI) of $36 for every $1 spent.  That’s average! Some businesses, like retail and e-commerce, average around $45 for every $1 they spend on emails. How can your business tap into this potential? It’s much easier than you may think! In this article, you’ll learn what email marketing is and how it’s best applied by SMBs like you. Then, I’ll give you 4 tips to help you kickstart your SMB email marketing efforts. 

What is Email Marketing for SMBs?

Email marketing is a powerful digital marketing strategy that businesses of all sizes use to communicate directly with their target audience. For SMBs, it enables owners and managers to cultivate relationships, promote brand loyalty, and increase sales through personalized engagement. 

Email marketing is crucial in an SMB’s overall marketing strategy due to its cost-effectiveness and high return on investment. After all, you reach your customers directly in their inboxes, bypassing the noise of more crowded channels (and algorithms) like social media. Plus, it integrates easily with other marketing tactics. 

In a recent survey shared by Constant Contact, 90% of marketers agreed that email was important to their company’s overall success, and 79% of those respondents placed it in their Top 3 channels to promote their business. Why is it so popular with marketers? Because it’s popular with the public. 55% of consumers report that email is their preferred digital channel for business communication. 

Email Marketing vs Other Digital Strategies

Email marketing is just one of many digital marketing strategies available to SMBs. Social Media, SEO/SEM, PPC, and Content Marketing are some alternatives, to name a few. But what makes SMB email marketing different? 

Email marketing’s value lies in disability to create deep, personal connections with a segmented audience, foster loyalty, and drive conversions through tailored communications. SMB email marketing is particularly effective because you are closer to your audience and can tailor your communications more closely to fit their needs, resulting in higher ROI. Integrating email marketing with other marketing efforts provides a comprehensive approach to maximize outreach, engagement, conversion, and retention. 

So, how is email marketing different than other digital strategies?

1. Personalization and Segmentation—You can achieve deep personalization and segmentation that other digital channels find difficult to match, giving you more opportunities to foster stronger customer relationships and achieve higher engagement and conversion rates. 
2. Direct and Controlled Communication—Unlike social media, where the algorithm can affect the visibility of your content, or search engines, where rankings can fluctuate, email marketing gives businesses complete control over who receives their contact information and when. 
3. Cost-effectiveness & Measurable Outcomes—Whether looking at PPC, where you spend for everyone who deigns to click on your link, or organic social media, where you pray the algorithm likes your content that day, the relatively low upfront email costs just can’t be beaten. Every aspect of this campaign can be tracked and measured right down to the person who opened or clicked on a link in your email. 

Pro Tip #1: The Basics of SMB Email Marketing

Let’s break down the basic components of SMB email marketing. Understanding and effectively managing these components can significantly enhance your marketing strategy, increasing direct engagement and driving meaningful business outcomes. 

Lists

The reality of marketing today is that to be effective and generate higher ROI, businesses must build big, clean email lists to hit the mark. Your email list is the foundation of your SMB email marketing efforts. It consists of contact information for individuals who have expressed interest in receiving communications from your business. It may include existing customers, prospects, and others who have signed up through various channels. 

Building your list doesn’t have to be a big headache; depending on your business, you may already have some of the initial pieces to get started quickly. Focus on building a list organically through signups on your website, at events, on your social media, and at the point of sale (for you brick and mortar types), Just be sure to be compliant with global or local regulations that exist, such as GDPR or CAN-SPAM, or those that may come in the future, by obtaining explicit consent at the time of sign up. 

Once you’ve got your list, regularly update and “clean it” by removing inactive subscribers and bounced email addresses. This helps maintain a high-quality list, reduce bounce rates, and improve overall campaign effectiveness. It also helps keep your business off the naughty list with email providers such as Gmail and Outlook.com. 

Segments

The best lists focus on basics plus a little extra about your customer. So, not only will you want their names, email addresses, and birthdays, but you’ll want to capture things like special anniversaries, preferred items, and maybe even their favorite sports team, depending on your type of business. 

Campaigns

An email campaign is a series of emails designed to achieve a specific objective, such as promoting a product, announcing a sale, or nurturing customer relationships. Types of campaigns you could consider running are: 

• Promotional Campaigns aimed at driving sales or promoting special offers
• Informational Campaigns designed to educate your audience about your products or industry. 
• Re-engagement Campaigns targeted at reactivating subscribers who have become inactive 

Successful campaigns require compelling content, attractive design, and strong calls to action (CTAs). Like any other marketing effort, plan each campaign with a clear, SMART goal and a defined target audience in mind. Then, create your content with all your objectives in mind. 

Analytics

In email marketing, analytics involves tracking and analyzing the performance of your email campaigns to understand what resonates with your audience. Some key metrics to consider include open rates, click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates. These indicators help you assess your campaigns’ effectiveness and guide future strategies. 

Most email marketing platforms today can provide this information to you. 

Pro Tip #2 How to Evaluate & Select Your Email Marketing Platform

Choosing the right email marketing platform is a critical decision for any SMB. Your ideal platform should align with your marketing goals and budget and integrate with your existing systems. Chosen well, you could have a system that also keeps you prepared for future growth. Some good news is that various email marketing platforms are well-suited for SMBs. Here’s a structured approach to help you evaluate and select an email marketing platform: 

Evaluate Your Marketing Goals

• Identify Objectives: clearly define what you want to achieve with your email marketing efforts. Are you looking to increase sales, improve customer retention, enhance engagement… or all of the above? 
• Campaign Types: Consider the types of email campaigns you could execute and decide which you will pursue first. Newsletters, promotional emails, and automated sequences are popular options for many businesses. Some platforms are better at certain types of campaigns than others, which could aid your final decision. 

Assess Your Budget

• Cost Considerations: How much are you willing to spend on email marketing? Costs can vary significantly; some providers offer free tiers suitable for the smallest lists and premium tiers with advanced features for larger operations. 
• ROI Estimations: Evaluate your potential return on investment that various platforms may offer. A higher upfront cost might be justified if the platform delivers analytics you can act upon, superior deliverability (oof, I’ve had a tough time with that one before), and better customer service. 

Review Existing Systems

• Compatibility: Check how well potential email marketing platforms integrate with your existing tools and systems, such as CRM software, e-commerce platforms, or other customer databases. 
• Data Importation: Ensure that your chosen platform can easily import your existing customer data. The most popular platforms ensure this, but check for functionalities like CSV uploads or direct integrations anyway. 

Data Utilization & Integration

• Harvesting Data: Understand how the platform can leverage your existing data. This includes segmenting customers based on their purchase history, web behavior, or engagement with previous emails. 
• Automation Features: Look for platforms that offer marketing automation. This allows you to send triggered emails based on specific actions, such as cart abandonment or sign-up anniversary, should your existing systems have a direct connection. Automation can be highly effective in converting leads and retaining customers. 

Trial and Evaluation

• Free Trials: Most platforms offer a free trial period. Use this opportunity to test the platform’s ease of use, features, and compatibility with your needs.
• Feedback Loop: During the trial, if you have anyone on your team who will also be involved with email marketing, gather feedback from your team, particularly those who regularly use the platform. Ensure the interface is user-friendly and the features align with your operational workflows.

Final Decision

• Decision-Making: After trials and evaluations, compare your findings against your initial goals and budget. Consider both short-term benefits and long-term scalability.
• Implementation Plan: Once a platform is chosen, plan for a smooth implementation. Schedule training for your team and set up initial email campaigns to start leveraging your new tool effectively.

Pro Tip #3 Start Your Search With a Great Set of Email Marketing Platforms

Email marketing platforms abound for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and most of them have figured out the most important elements for SMBs: user-friendly interfaces, affordability, and robust feature sets. Here are some of the most popular platforms that cater well to the needs of SMBs:

Mailchimp

• Features: Mailchimp is known for its ease of use, comprehensive template library, and powerful automation capabilities. It also offers detailed analytics, A/B testing, and integration with many CRM systems and e-commerce platforms.
• Pricing: It has a free tier for basic needs and small lists, which is great for startups and small businesses. Paid plans offer more advanced features as businesses grow. Mailchimp has also begun to offer website development and hosting options, as well.

Constant Contact

• Features: Constant Contact stands out for its exceptional customer support and extensive library of email templates. It is user-friendly for beginners and provides functionalities like event management tools and social media integrations.
• Pricing: No free tier, but the starting plan offers a broad set of features suitable for most SMBs, with pricing based on the number of contacts.

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

• Features: Brevo offers a suite of services, including email marketing, SMS campaigns, and automated workflows. Its strong point is the ability to manage transactional emails alongside promotional campaigns, making it a versatile choice for e-commerce businesses.
• Pricing: Brevo’s pricing is based on the number of emails sent rather than the number of contacts, which can be cost-effective for businesses with large contact lists but low sending frequency. On the down side, Brevo makes you pay to remove their branding at every tier option. 

ActiveCampaign

• Features: Known for its advanced automation and CRM capabilities, ActiveCampaign suits SMBs looking for more than email marketing. It supports complex workflows, segmentation strategies, and multi-channel messaging so you can build an integrated campaign.
• Pricing: The platform is a bit more expensive than others, but its extensive features may justify the cost for businesses focused on detailed automation and sales funnels.

Campaign Monitor

• Features: Campaign Monitor is favored by businesses that prioritize branding and design because of its beautiful design capabilities and high deliverability rates. It also offers straightforward analytics tools and segmentation options.
• Pricing: Campaign Monitor offers several pricing tiers based on features and email volume, allowing businesses to scale their use of the platform as they grow.

Convertkit

• Features: Popular among small businesses, freelancers, and creators who focus on audience building, it provides tools for creating and managing sign-ups, landing pages, and popups and is prized for its affordability and simplicity.
• Pricing: ConvertKit offers a free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers, with more advanced features available on paid plans.

AWeber

• Features: AWeber provides a reliable set of email marketing tools, including autoresponders, segmentation, and analytics. It is known for its solid performance and ease of use, making it suitable for novices and experienced marketers.
• Pricing: It offers both free and paid plans, with the paid plans offering more sophisticated capabilities and larger subscriber allowances.

Mailerlite

• Features: MailerLite offers an intuitive user interface, robust automation tools, comprehensive segmentation and targeting, a drag-and-drop email builder, and A/B testing capabilities. It also includes features to create landing pages and pop-ups, enhancing lead generation efforts.
• Pricing: MailerLite provides a free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 monthly emails. Paid plans start at $10 per month for unlimited emails and additional features, with pricing increasing based on the number of subscribers.

GetResponse

• Features: GetResponse offers an all-in-one marketing platform with advanced automation tools, landing page creation, webinar hosting, CRM integration, and robust analytics. It also includes a drag-and-drop email builder, segmentation, A/B testing, and responsive design templates.
• Pricing: GetResponse’s pricing starts at $15 per month for up to 1,000 subscribers with basic features. Higher-tier plans offer more advanced features, such as marketing automation, webinar hosting, and additional integrations, with pricing scaling based on the number of subscribers.

Each platform has its strengths and specific features that suit different types of SMBs. When choosing an email marketing platform, it’s important to consider your specific needs, including your marketing strategies, the size of your email list, your budget, and any specific features you require. Remember that nearly every email marketing platform offers discounted pricing when you sign up for longer periods. Many also offer free trials so you can play around in their user environment before agreeing to any length of subscription.

Pro Tip #4 Create an Effective Email Campaign

Once you’ve picked out your platform, it’s time to start thinking about crafting email campaigns. Thinking of the possibilities is exciting but can feel daunting once you begin the process. However, with a structured approach and a clear understanding of the important bits, you, too, can create a compelling campaign to drive engagement and conversions and give value back to your customers and subscribers. Here are the essentials: 

1. Revisit your goals. What did you set out to achieve with email marketing to begin with? Ensure they align with the overall business objectives and double-check that they’re specific and measurable. 
2. Consider your audience & create content. Understanding your audience is the key to creating the best content. Tailor what you communicate to their needs and interests and match them to your goals. And don’t be afraid to mix it up! Consider a mix of content, from videos to promotional offers, educational content, and customer stories. 
3. Templates are your friends. If you’re just starting out, it’s a good idea to look at the templates available in your email platform to save you time and ensure a good, consistent look in your email design, no matter how your audience opens their email. Be sure to customize the template to reflect your brand’s colors, fonts, and overall style to increase recognition through consistency. 
4. Automation, personalization, and more. Set up automated workflows within your system to send timely and relevant emails based on your subscribers’ actions. Some common automations include welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, and post-purchase follow-ups. Personalize their messages by including the recipient’s name, recommending products based on their past purchases, or other types of preferences they may have. 
5. Track your performance (and get insightful). Track key performance metrics such as open rates, click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, bounce rates, and unsubscribe rates. Remain realistic in your results at this stage, and don’t get discouraged. Measuring and improving are the keys to understanding whether your emails are performing and improving them each time. Carefully analyze your campaign performance and adapt and refine your strategies for future or updated campaigns. 

Final thoughts. 

If you’re new to this, start simple and gradually incorporate advanced features as you become more experienced. Not to mention, quality trumps quantity any day. You’re better off sending fewer, high-quality emails than bombarding your subscribers with irrelevant spam. And remember, like everything else, email marketing is an ongoing process of learning and improving. Stay updated with industry trends, try new ideas, and refine them based on what’s working best for you and your audience. I’ll continue to bring content to help you build your most effective SMB email marketing campaigns. 

Now is the perfect time to harness the potential of email marketing for your SMB. It’s all within your reach–start now and watch your business grow.