According to MailChimp, the average email open rate across industries is below 25 percent, with a click rate of 2 to 3 percent. Essentially, this is saying that for every 100 emails you send, only two or three people are going to take any action whatsoever. With all of the time marketers spend crafting enticing emails and campaigns, it’s critical to know whether there’s any impact at all! Of course, working in this industry today means making blood sacrifices to overlord Google… or just using analytics. Today we’ll explore the basics of how to use AdWords for better email marketing success in 2018 and beyond!
So now you may be thinking — “we just finished planning our yearly email marketing strategies, now you’re telling me there’s something we missed?!”
Luckily, integrating Google’s AdWords into your existing strategies is more than possible by leverage the existing data you have on your subscribers. Still, there are some best practices when you choose to use AdWords for better email marketing:
Using AdWords for Better Email Marketing
1. Get Comfy with AdWord’s Customer Match
It can get overlooked at times, although Customer Match is one of the best ways to target or exclude current customers on Display, Google Search, or YouTube. All you need to do is upload your customer email list to AdWords and adjust your parameters accordingly. Using the latest version of Adwords’ dashboard, the basic steps are as follows:
- Select the “wrench” icon in the top right corner
- Click “Audience Manager” under “Shared Library”
- Select “Audience Lists” from the left-hand Page Menu
- Click the blue “+” icon to make a new audience list
- Choose “Customer List”
- Select the option to upload your plaintext data file or hashed data file
- Select your new file
- Check the box reading “this data was collected and is being shared with Google in compliance with Google’s policies”
- Determine a membership duration (depending on your specific customers)
- Finally, click “upload and create list”
2. Segmenting an Email List
So after you’ve taken the steps to familiarize yourself with Customer Match, it’s important to segment your email list. This will allow much better targeting in terms of your sales leads found on Adwords. Some of the most common audiences to target include:
- New email subscribers who haven’t yet become customers
- Subscribers who haven’t opened an email recently (many, many people)
- Current subscribers who might appreciate upgraded products or services
It’s understood that each of these different segments of your audience has a different relationship with your business. As such, they will need to be messaged differently. Using Customer Match is one way to use AdWords for better email marketing, especially when repurposing existing lists as new segments of subscribers.
3. Evolving your AdWords Strategy for Each Segment
So once you’ve got the proper segments in place, you’ll need to consider developing unique Adwords strategies for each segment. Ultimately, your goal is probably something along the lines of converting new and engaged email subscribers. If you have a new lead added to your system, consider jumping right into educating them about your product to quickly tell them what they want to know. The main struggle is converting unengaged email subscribers — they don’t respond to your messages so why would you want to bombard them with more?
When you segment your audiences and use Adwords for better email marketing, consider this approach:
- Determine which customers became unresponsive after 30 days.
- Create a Customer Match segment for “unengaged,” but prospective customers
- Organize a remarketing campaign to target this segment
- Tailor special offers to these customers for the last shot at their business
Although there’s no perfect way to go this, using Adwords for better email marketing is one way you can quantify your efforts and ensure you’re getting the best results possible!
What are your thoughts on email marketing and Google AdWords? Let us know in the comments below!
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