First, it’s important to have a baseline definition of growth hacking, which depending on who you ask is either a buzzword for common sense marketing on a limited budget (AKA marketing…), or it’s a magical skill that internet gurus have to turn the money in your couch cushions into millions of dollars in revenue. We’ll go with something like doing what you can to grow on a limited budget – and email is of course one channel to grow your business.
Dos and Don’ts – Email Marketing as Lead Generation Tool
The problem is, because of the low barrier to attempt it, it is treated more as a cash grab opportunity, and there are a ton of shortcuts taken to make a quick buck. If you do think email is an appropriate prospecting channel (notice the difference here between the terminology in prospecting and lead generation), make sure you’re not doing any of the following.
How do you personalize your email in order to increase opening rates?
Email personalization is about more than merging in the contacts first name into the salutation, or having dynamic images or text, it’s about building a reputation that your emails are interesting, relevant, and timely. To increase our open rates and engagement, we need to think bigger.
First Impressions, Your Email Subscribers, and Puppies
What’s glossed over in just about all of the advice out there is perhaps the most critical point to actually turn those emails into engaged subscribers. If you collect an email address, you want to be confident that you can actually leverage them to increase your future sales or conversions – and doing so starts right away.