5+ years in email marketing. AMA!

Kisha Anderson
39 replies
I've worked on email marketing at Udemy, Sephora, a marketing agency, an insurtech startup, and as a freelancer. Ask me anything...

Replies

GAURAV KUMAR
Hi @kishaanderson, point me how to start email marketing, how to develop the content, what is the rate of success in general ? What are the free options for free email marketing tools ?
Kisha Anderson
@gauravkumar92 Developing content is going to depend on what you are marketing and who you are marketing it to. What is your product? Email marketing is known to have a very high ROI - the highest being $40 for $1 invested. What the ROI looks like for you is going to depend on your audience, your product and your strategy. Both Hubspot and Mailchimp have free tiers.
Steven Williams
Having spent five years in the dynamic world of email marketing, what's the most unexpected trend or change you've observed, and how have you adapted your strategies to keep pace with this evolution?
Kisha Anderson
@stevewill87 Privacy updates have affected email the most. From privacy changes that makr it difficult to know who's opening your emails to now the latest updates from Apple that may prevent tracking links in email. It's important to keep a pulse on the industry to keep up and adapt. I rely on research and collaboration to stay up to date on the latest strategies. I also use tools liie Validity to help monitor engagement.
amanah alfian
why most of email marketing high on unsubscribe user ?
Kisha Anderson
@ammanahalfian are you asking why your unsubscribe rate is high?
Neha
That's impressive Kisha Can you share some tips for crafting compelling subject lines?
Kisha Anderson
@neha_joshi8 use verbs to compel your reader to action. Test subject lines regularly using a/b or multivariate testing. Ask questions in your subject line. During holidays where other senders may be jumping on a particular trend, don't. Doing the opposite will help you stand out. Craft a complementary preheader.
Lavanya Snigdha
Hey Kisha! I wish I could pick your brain even outside of PH, but here are my questions as someone launching an email tool in the coming week: 1) How important is hyperpersonalisation for your email campaigns? 2) How do you maintain your domain ranking and what are the go-to technical tips for teams just starting off with email?
Kisha Anderson
@lavanya_snigdha 1. Depends in the audience and the product. Hyperpersonalization is overrated in some industries. Building an email tool, definitely offer the ability if your niche is wide. 2. Maintain your domain ranking by following best practices such as not spamming, monitoring engagement and being respinsive to what that engagement tells you. Technical tips: ensure SPF, DKIM, DMARC are all configured properly. Keep your list and data up to date. Establish systems and processes for consistency.
How do you curate your content and what is your favorite tool for automating your campaigns? What are your open rates and how do you incentivize users to open your mails?
Kisha Anderson
@johnberg The content process always starts with the recipient. What will my reader need to know? For instance, if this is a welcome email, my reader needs to know what to expect from me. I'm focused on building the relationship - the KLT - Know, Like, and Trust. I don't have a favorite tool. My choice of tool depends on the use case. Open rates vary by industry and type of email sent. Open rates are also now inflated due to proxy opens. I focus on building the relationship and communicating only with recipients who want to hear from me. The only incentive is "this is a brand you want to hear from", so to speak.
Sophia Adams
I am thrilled to hear about your extensive experience in email marketing! Could you share some unexpected challenges you faced in this domain over the years, and how they shaped your strategies and insights?
Kisha Anderson
@sophia_adams23 the only unexpected challenge is the internal opposition email teams face. The way this has shaped my career is to become an indie hacker and help people directly who understand the value of great email marketing and trust that a great email marketer can drive results. I recognize this is likely not the type of answer you may have been looking for. It's the only thing that has been unexpected in my 5+ years. I'm happy to answer any additional email questions as well.
Takeshi [ @Bootstraptor ]
that the best mass email marketing app you can recommend and why?
Kisha Anderson
@bootstraptor there really is no "best". It's more about what suits your needs. Tell me about your product and use case.
Takeshi [ @Bootstraptor ]
@kishaanderson i have 30000 email subs and send every-day lifetime deals from design.deals ( side project) . I use sendpulse cause unlimited emails (600000/month ++) for not so bad price , but maybe some better features out there πŸ™
Kisha Anderson
@bootstraptor What are your metrics like? Delivery rate, click-through rate, unsubscribe rate, spam rate?
Takeshi [ @Bootstraptor ]
@kishaanderson my metrics Delivery rate, click-through rate, what metrics you recommend for deals site case?
Kisha Anderson
@bootstraptor All of them. They will help you monitor your email performance. Do you know what your delivery rate is?
1) How many emails do you think is optimum to send per campaign and day? 2) What tools do you prefer for prospecting and why? 3) What tools do you prefer for sending emails and why? 4) If a product offers different use cases for a prospect, how to tackle them in the subject and body of the email? 5) If open rates are fine but the reply rates are low, what do you think should be updated? 6) When running several campaigns, how do you keep track of each and everything? I'd love to know how you plan your day. 7) Share any underrated/overlooked tips for bettering email campaigns. Thank you for your time! 😊
Kisha Anderson
@senthil99nathan Many of the answers to your questions are going to be subjective. 1. This is subjective. Retail for instance can send daily emails whereas SAAS would not. The frequency will also depend on the campaign itself and what the goal of that campaign is. 2. I don't use any prospecting tools 3. This is also subjective. Each tool serves a certain client well. My preference depends on the use case. 4. Personalize according to the use case. Send specific emails according to the prospect's use case. If there are multiple use cases per prospect, prioritize and send by what the prospect would get the most value out of. 5. Tell me more about this campaign. 6. Set up dashboards in your email tool to help keep track of all your campaigns. The first thing I do every day is check my dashboards. 7. Be customer-centric. Empathize with your customer. Don't send what you want them to know. Send what they want to know.
I have so many problems with Mailchimp. What did you use mainly?
Charlotte Chiang
@sandradjajic Came here just to ask this! Fighting with both Mailchimp and Sendgrid every day, and wondering how others manage and if there are better tools out there!
@charmandro omg the same and it’s really a pain for me at this point. Also Mailchimp customer support is really disappointing
Kisha Anderson
@sandradjajic I've used different tools depending on the situation. What problems are you having with Mailchimp?
Kisha Anderson
@charmandro There may be better tools for your use case. What problems are you having?
Clau Marin
I think my question, as others would resonate with me, is: What is the best tool to send emails? I'm a designer so I would love to be able to edit the email as much as I want (I gotta say I hate Hubspot) Mailchimp looks ok, but too complex, any help?
Kisha Anderson
@claumarin Is this for Festivawl? Tell me more about how you'll use an email tool. Hubspot is an all-in-one tool so there is a lot going on in Hubspot. It's a great tool IF it serves your needs. It sounds like it does not. Mailchimp has gotten more complex over the years as they have added more features. Sometimes, the tool's onboarding documentation can help with the learning curve. You'll get the most customization with HTML emails. Do you code as well?
Clau Marin
@kishaanderson thanks for replying! Actually, I would just like for it to be set up in case a marketing strategy comes into place. So right now I might say I'll use it just for updates, or interesting things to know about festivals, nothing really fancy! Yes I do know how to code and actually having an option to write html instead of "drag and drop" like Hubspot does that only limits me..
Kisha Anderson
@claumarin Mailchimp would actually be a good option for you. You'll need to be on the paid version to upload HTML. Another good option is Active Campaign. It was less complex than Mailchimp the last time I used it.
Takeshi [ @Bootstraptor ]
could you share your better email marketing setup and workflow? app & tools u use πŸ™
Kisha Anderson
@bootstraptor I use various tools depending on the sender. In my day job, I've used customer.io as well as Iterable. Because the audience is in the millions, I also use Validity deliverability tools. My workflow here is much more complex. Dashboards keep me up to speed, allowing me to monitor everything from a bird's eye view. For EmailArtisan.io, I am using Mailchimp. I am currently building out workflows since we are in pre-launch.
Peyt Spencer Dewar
Hi @kishaanderson 1. how do you get users to perform the call to action in the email? 2. are you familiar with SendGrid and if so, what one feature should founders take advantage of?
Kisha Anderson
@psd 1. Make the CTA more compelling. Focus on the benefit the customer will get. A/B test your CTAs. Are you getting opens but no clicks? 2. Yes, I'm familiar with SendGrid. Unless you have a need for API triggered emails, I would not suggest SendGrid. There are tools with more useful features for non-marketers especially.
Kisha Anderson
@johanka_kucerova Most of my goals have been revenue driven. I've worked on email campaigns that have generated $100k+ per email. The best conversion rates I've seen have been on emails I've sent shortly after a prospect abandons cart, so to speak. In sending emails for events, they have sold out within minutes of sending the email. I've worked on various successful campaigns as well as failed campaigns. I continue to learn a ton from both.