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6 Best Email Marketing Strategies for Startups in 2023

While startups often lack resources compared to their more established counterparts, they can compensate for this by being more resourceful. In other words, you don’t have to spend as much money on email marketing if you’re more efficient with the amount you’re already spending.

While social media marketing takes up a considerable portion of the digital marketing world, email marketing is still alive and kicking. If anything, its numbers are still quite impressive.

Now, they say that the ROI of email marketing moves in the ballpark of 4400% ROI. This means that you get $44 for every $1 you invest. However, what if we could make these numbers even better?

With these six incredible email marketing strategies, in 2023, you can do just that.

1.     Personalizing content

The recipient of an email has no way of knowing who sent the email. Even with personalized content, they might be suspicious of spam, but without it, chances are that they won’t even open your email.

So, how do you personalize this content?

First, you need to know who you’re addressing. Using data from the recent activities of users on your website or app will be a great start. This will help you understand what they’re looking for and what you can follow up with. You’ll have an easier time crafting unique offers and recommendations based on their interests.

 

User information from HubSpot and alternatives

Collecting user information is important, but it’s not easy. Having them register on your platform is the best way to get there, but some will not register. Shopping without registering is a rising trend in e-commerce (preferred by customers). Your best bet is to offer special loyalty programs and discounts for registered users.

Those using platforms like HubSpot may have an easy job of accessing all this information. However, you’re not restricted to this CRM platform since many great HubSpot alternatives exist. You can easily pick CRM to your liking with so many options available.

Also, partially automating your email marketing is more efficient (in terms of personalization). A template can save you a lot of time, but it needs to be (heavily) customized to check this box.

2.     Improve your email list

There’s a reason why buying email lists is no longer as big as it was in the past. An email list that is organically grown has a higher open and click-through rate while also having a significantly lower bounce rate.

Even with automation, it’s a waste of time to send emails to some parties. Before deleting anyone from the list, you should analyze why some parties are not responding. Chances are that these emails are no longer active.

Also, a spelling mistake is likely. This can happen to everyone, especially since marketers often copy-paste these emails from one list to another. Even if they copy them directly from the source, there’s no rule saying that the source email contact won’t contain a spelling mistake. You would be surprised how long it takes to notice something this critical.

There are a few tools to help you out with this. First of all, you need email validation and verification software. This way, you can recognize a lot of emails marked with bounce, which means that you can safely delete them from the list.

Still, if they’re just not responding because of a lack of interest, you should make one final effort. Do additional research and come up with a new approach to this problem.

According to some industry rules, you should clean up your email list bi-annually. Ideally, however, you should do this quarterly.

3.     Optimizing for mobile

The majority of emails are open on mobile devices. According to some sources, roughly 46% of all email opens occur on mobile devices. Even people who are primarily desktop-oriented might first open an email via their phone and then carefully read it once they get home. So, by optimizing your email for mobile, you’re in for a lot more efficient mailing strategy.

The first step is to switch to a more responsive design. In other words, you need resolutions that automatically fit the width of a smaller (smartphone and tablet) display. These designs are adjustable. This means that the resolution adjusts to the size of the screen.

Also, some fonts are easier to read on mobile devices. For instance:

  • Open Sans
  • Roboto
  • Lato
  • Monserrat
  • Verdana

These are just some of the options you have available. Since this is subjective and there’s no “best” answer, you can pick it based on your preferences.

One step that you cannot afford to skip is testing your emails. You have a mobile phone, so there’s no excuse for not doing so. It takes a few seconds. Also, test it on several different devices (different screen sizes). Also, check how easy they are to read and how easy it is to navigate them.

6 Best Email Marketing Strategies for Startups in 2023

4.     Use video content

Some estimates claim that attaching a video to an email may increase its CTR by 300%. The reason behind this is simple – a video humanizes the email experience. With text, you never know if it’s a template or an AI-written text. A video is a content format that has to be made by a human.

It’s also important to remember that desktop users mostly view emails in videos. Only 14% of people watch them on mobile devices for several reasons. First, a video often requires sound, which is not ideal for many people. Unless they have headphones, most people check their phones on mute. This is not just the case with emails but with social media.

Videos also help your branding. Namely, by using video content, you’re giving your brand a human face and voice. For most people, brands are faceless corporate entities designed to generate profit. Once they start seeing a brand through people who work there, they’re automatically warming up to your brand. This is the simplest and quickest way to humanize your business.

The fact that most of your competitors ignore this excellent opportunity is enough to give video marketing a chance. So, if you’re looking for a way to stand out, you should look no further.

Help with recruitment and onboarding

You will also use email marketing in the hiring process. So, with the right interview scheduling software, you can make your onboarding much faster. By sending potential applicants an instructional video, you can help prepare them for the interview. This way, you can streamline the whole process.

They say that one image is worth a thousand words. Well, it’s simpler to make a video showcasing a proper product use than to write a thousand-word essay explaining it. The majority of people are visual learners. A message you convey via an optical medium tends to be more impactful. This is not only true for videos but for images, as well.

5.     Improve your subject lines and CTAs

Even qualified leads don’t have much time to dedicate to your email. Most people who open your email are skimming to see what you are about. Moreover, if the subject line doesn’t seem like something that will interest them, they won’t even give it a chance. So, our advice is that you shouldn’t beat around the bush.

A good subject line is self-sufficient. At the very least, the recipient needs to understand what you want and what you are about. So, if they read your subject line and decide not to open it, chances are that they wouldn’t be interested even if they carefully read every word you wrote. You’ll never know if you fail with the subject line.

Also, some people like to use emojis in their subject lines. This is not a good idea. It makes you look goofy and unprofessional (and not in a good way). Informal and unprofessional are not the same, so never lose that from the mind.

Be honest about who you are and what you want. Start with a polite greeting, offer your name and a relevant personal link, and manage their expectations. They should be able to find all this information within the first 90 seconds.

6 Best Email Marketing Strategies for Startups in 2023

6.     Introduce automatic re-engagement emails

Re-engagement separates the most efficient digital marketers from their less successful counterparts. This is the equivalent of cross-selling and upselling in traditional retail.

The most important thing you need to remember is the so-called customer lifecycle. According to this theory, no lead starts as a customer. It takes them several interactions with your brand before they buy from you. They may first browse your offer, compare you to others, etc. Most importantly, it doesn’t end when they become customers either. Few select customers will eventually evolve into brand ambassadors, which is your end goal.

Proper tools (like HubSpot and the alternatives we’ve already mentioned) can help you further automate the process. For instance, you can set it up to send a follow-up email x days from when they opened your previous mail. This way, you can set the exact pace. You won’t bore them senseless but will stay on their mind.

Using strategy will make your email marketing more effective

Once you understand why some emails get clicked on and others don’t, you’ll know how to improve your email marketing metrics. Personalize your emails, use the right tools, and be as direct as possible. Other than this, test and measure your performance and improve things as you go.

By Srdjan Gombar

6 Best Email Marketing Strategies for Startups in 2023

Veteran content writer, published author, and amateur boxer. Srdjan is a Bachelor of Arts in English Language & Literature and is passionate about technology, pop culture, and self-improvement. His free time he spends reading, watching movies, and playing Super Mario Bros. with his son.