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Are You Using Personal Emails To Drive Traffic To Your Website?

Personal emails can play an instrumental role in driving traffic to your website, but unfortunately it’s something that a lot of companies fail to leverage.

Photo: Lee Fuller, co-founder and CEO of Leeds-based digital agency, Flaunt Digital; Credit: © Flaunt Digital Studios

Email marketing has long been hailed as the marketing platform with the highest ROI, with several different studies highlighting just how effective it can be.

There’s no debating that using email marketing platforms such as Mailchimp or Dotmailer can be a great way to keep customers in the loop with company news, exclusive offers and fresh content.

But what about personal emails?

Are you using this channel to drive traffic to your website? If not, then you’re missing out. Just think about how many people you speak with over email every single day. What if you could get 5% of these people to visit your website after reading an email from you?

The great thing about using personal emails as a marketing channel is that it really doesn’t take long to implement. As you generally have a more personal relationship with your email contacts (when compared to other marketing channels), your click through rates tend to be higher.

Here’s a look at some of the different ways you can use personal emails to drive traffic to your website.

 

Email signatures

Do you have an event coming up? Did you recently upload a new video to YouTube? Maybe you’ve just published an exclusive white paper on new research? Make the most of your email signature to keep your contacts in the loop.

Whether you add an event banner in PNG format, a link back to the landing page or a combination of both, this can be a great way to make your content go a little bit further.

 

Photo: Christina Morillo, Pexels
Photo: Christina Morillo, YFS Magazine

One of the benefits of having an existing relationship with these people is that they’re more likely to click through to your website than a standard mailing list. It’s really important to make the call-to-action as obvious as possible without being too intrusive. For example, insert the image and CTA at the bottom of your email signature, this way the recipient will still be able to read the main email content uninterrupted.

Traditionally, email signatures would be fairly simple. Even just five years ago a typical “Kind regards, Lee Fuller, CEO, Flaunt Digital” would suffice. But nowadays you should include a lot more than this.

We include links to our social profiles, website, and a headshot of the relevant team member. Not only does this help drive traffic to our social platforms and website, but we find it also makes the email more personable.

 

Share with your inner circle

This quick win can be particularly effective when you publish new content. If you have personal contacts that also have a close relationship with you or your business, why not drop them an email and ask them to share your content?

Don’t send this request to the same contacts every single time you publish something new (that can be annoying). Instead, select a small number of contacts that may find that particular piece of content useful. Craft a quick message asking them to check it out and make sure to include some example social posts they can copy and paste to share with their network.

 

Second subject line

Whilst this may not directly drive traffic to your website it can be a great way to boost email open rates. If you make the most of your email signatures then improved open rates generally equate to a higher CTR (click through rate).

 

Source: YFS Magazine

The second subject line, sometimes referred to as preview text is simply the first line of copy in your email. In most email servers this actually shows up next to your subject line, as illustrated above.

Usually this would just read: “Hi James, I hope you’re having a great week…”, but you can create a custom message and really give your email open rates a boost. Use this in conjunction with your main subject line to draw the reader in and encourage them to open your email.

If your email provider allows you to do so then it could be wise to highlight the text in white and reduce the font size so it’s not visible in the main body of text, as this can look messy.

Of course, this strategy may not be entirely relevant for the majority of your personal emails. But for any contacts that have the tendency to scroll past your email this can be a really useful technique.

 

Don’t be shy

The difference between email and some of the more popular online marketing channels out there is that often you already have some form of relationship with your email contacts.

 

Photo: Mentatdgt, Pexels
Photo: Mentatdgt, YFS Magazine

Of course this isn’t always the case, but for any contacts that you do know personally you shouldn’t be scared to be a little cheeky. Why not add a quick line at the bottom of your email to directly promote a new offer, share your latest piece of content, or invite them to your upcoming event?

 

Test personalized email formats

Last but certainly not least–don’t forget to test your email tactics. Try different combinations of promotions when it comes to format, the call to action, or the actual email copy. Take note of your results: open rates, click through rates, response rates and so on.

From here, you’ll eventually get a clear picture of what works best with your email audience. You can use tools like Microsoft’s My Analytics to track email analytics.

 

Personalized emails are a powerful marketing tool

Personal emails can play an instrumental role in driving traffic to your website, but unfortunately it’s something that a lot of companies fail to leverage. Use your email signatures to highlight important content on your website and you could give your content a much-needed boost.

Did you know that the average person sends 40 business emails per day? That’s 40 potential website visits that you’re missing out on every single day – almost 15,000 visits a year! It really doesn’t take long to implement these changes, so why not get started now?

 

Lee Fuller is an enterprise level marketer and the co-founder and CEO of Leeds-based digital agency, Flaunt Digital. He’s worked with a range of global clients including organizations like The New York Times. Connect with @FlauntDigital on Twitter.

 

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