Crystal Media

Marketing Clarity.

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How to Get 50, 100, 1000 or More People Opening Your Emails!

Remember learning the importance of email marketing in a previous Crystal Media newsletter? If you missed it, click here to catch up via my blog post. It’s an important one.

Today, I want to give you one more essential email marketing tip. That is, to analyze your email open rates. Ok, I hear you… This is not a sexy or fun topic for most. But it’s critical in order to maximize your email marketing.

Let’s try this fun little analysis exercise (see what I did there? 😉):

  1. Review your last 10 emails and find the average open rate.
  2. Share your average open rate with me in a comment here on my blog post or DM us on Instagram. (If I get enough retailers to share their averages with me, I’ll share the average of the average on our social media for your reference. So PLEASE share your average with me!)
  3. Identify the emails with the highest and lowest open rates and try to determine WHY these were the best/worst.
    • Was there a clear reason?
    • Was the time or day you sent a factor?
    • Did one have a clear CTA (call to action) and one didn’t?
    • Did one have a more mysterious subject line than the other?
    • Were the lists (or audiences) used the same or different?

By spending a little time (aim for just 15-20 minutes) to understand what’s working or not in your email open rates, you can respond with more effective emails through better content, better subject lines, better audiences, and better-targeted timeliness. Getting my drift? An overall better marketing strategy.

Think about it.  If you could get an additional 50, 100, 1000 or more people to open your emails, wouldn’t that impact your bottom line? I bet it would.

So get to work, check out those last 10 emails, let me know your average, and analyze them to uncover what’s working and what isn’t. I promise it’ll help optimize your future sends.

And by the way! If you need more email marketing tips and strategies, I have great news!

May’s live training webinar for my Insider members is all about Email Marketing. If you’re not already an Insider, you can join for just $97/month and get in on this live training happening May 7th. You’ll get all the juicy benefits of being an Insider too!

Get the scoop on becoming an Insider by clicking here.

To the future,

Crystal

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One Tip to Increase Email Open Rates

On the blog, I’ve been talking lately a lot about Instagram. But today, I want to switch gears and talk about email marketing. (Yes, email marketing is still relevant, highly effective, and imperative to keep in your marketing arsenal.)

I recently read a post in a retail Facebook group where the retailer was really upset. Her March sales were terrible. Her April sales haven’t been trending any better. Social media posts? Not helping. Emails to her lists? Not sure who’s seeing them. She’s been throwing every marketing idea she can think of at the wall to see what will stick. I get it. It’s a frustrating place to be!

I started thinking about what could help her on the plane one day (I was headed to upstate New York for a surprise 50th birthday party!) and wondered if she had tried one of my favorite back-pocket ideas. An email resend to ‘none opens’.

You might be thinking… “a what???”

Let me explain. On average, about 15-24% of people open emails. That’s 76-85% of people NOT opening emails. Meaning, they’re not seeing what’s inside! So no matter what great discount, awesome promotion, or thoughtfully created message a retailer sends, the majority of people sent to are not seeing it. But fear not!

That’s where dropping an email resend comes in. Through email service providers like Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, Ontraport, etc., you can view all the people who did not open your email. And send a new email just to that list.

But here’s the best part. The only new thing about this email is the subject line. You’ll keep everything else the same. The reason you change only the email subject line is because they never opened the first one. All the content inside will be brand new to them!

So try a new subject line sent to that group and see who opens it. You’ll increase your original audience and ensure more people connect with your email’s message. Brilliant!

Next week, I’ll address the frequency of your email sends (a concern I hear a lot from retailers). Don’t miss it. Especially if you’re afraid to send more than one email every week. Spoiler alert: You’re leaving money on the table. Stay tuned!

I’ll “see you” next week!

To the future,

Crystal

P.S. Never miss a tip! Make sure you subscribe to my weekly newsletter to have a social media tip sent straight to your inbox every Monday.

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How to Optimize Your Instagram Bio for Your Business Profile

Pssst… I’m kind of bursting with excitement. I’ve created a super, user-friendly Instagram for Retailers training course and, in honor of the new course, I wanted to talk today about your Instagram Bio. Yes, the one you haven’t touched since you set up your account. 😉 I’ve got super simple optimization tips to ensure you stand out so more people find you on the ‘gram.

Enjoy this quick video I made for you to learn all the easy ways you can optimize. Also, I’ve listed these ways below in case you’re more of a reader than a watcher.

If you don’t currently follow us on Instagram yet, now is the time. You won’t want to miss the link to purchase the Instagram for Retailers course available now! Click here to follow us or search for @crystalmediaco within the App.

7 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Instagram Bio: 

  1. Use emojis to relate to the products that you sell/services you offer and add some color to help you stand out
  2. Make it authentic to you
    • Does it sound like you?
    • Is it in your tone?
    • Does it let people know who you are?
  3. Include a CTA (call-to-action)
    • Ask them to come in and shop
    • Fill out a form to earn a special discount
  4. Make your bio appear longer by adding spaces between each line of text
  5. Share your branded hashtag (if you’re using one)
  6. Include a website link (especially if you sell online!)
    • Use a tool like LinkTree to include multiple links so you’re not always having to switch out the bio link for each new post
    • Use Linkin.Bio by Later to add links or tag products in your Instagram posts to turn your feed into a clickable, optimized landing page.
  7. Add keywords to your profile name


If you want to receive weekly social media tips, make sure you subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!

To the future,
Crystal

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Easy Way to Use Email Marketing to Grow Facebook Likes or Instagram Followers

I have a quick question for you. Are you using email to market your store? Can you let me know with a simple yes or no over here on this Facebook page post?

Even though email open rates have decreased over the years (an average open rate today is about 15-18%; a good rate is considered 20-24%, but this can vary depending on your industry), showing up in your customers’ email inboxes is still an effective way to drive them into your store.

I recommend sending emails at least twice a month. Ideally more.

Think about it. Big boxes send emails DAILY. I don’t think independents should send daily unless there is a daily deal or special that customers have opted-in to receive. But I know that if someone opts-in to receive your emails, they want to hear from you!

Besides using email to drive traffic into your store (or to your website), using it to build your social media following and social engagement is a smart tactic, too.

Here’s an impactful tip worth trying to build your following:

Identify the platform you’re most active on (most likely Instagram or Facebook). Send an email in your own, personal tone asking your list to Like/Follow you. Something like, “Hey ya’ll! Let’s connect on Instagram!” or “We LOVE Facebook and go Live weekly to share new products with our followers. Do you like us? 👍🏼 “

Results are typically even better if your message is partnered with a contest or giveaway;  telling your email list to Like or Follow you for their chance to win something. 

Pretty darn simple, right?

Here are some awesome retailer examples of email/social media integration aimed at growing their social following to inspire you:

#1. Anthropologie

#2. New Look

#3. Habitat

If you’re not using email to market your business, your first step is to start collecting email addresses. Try MailChimp to get your feet wet; an easy-to-use, grow-with-you email service provider.

I hope I’ve inspired you to integrate your email with social to build a bigger following. If you’ve tackled this already, please share your results with me in a comment below. I’d love to hear from you!

To the future,

Crystal

P.S. My brand-new Instagram for Retailers Training Course is now available! 🎉 Click here to get it today for only $197! (Price goes up to $397 on April 18th).

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How to Schedule Instagram Posts (and Should You Schedule?)

If you’re looking for time-saving AND content consistency (ideally 4x/week to daily) benefits when posting to Instagram (IG), schedule them!

Currently, you cannot schedule posts directly through the Instagram app. However, there are a few easy-to-use scheduling tools available. My favorite is Later.

Using this tool, you can schedule your posts from the web (Later.com) or the mobile app by simply selecting a photo, writing your caption, and choosing the day and time you want your post to publish.

To have your created posts auto-publish (at a scheduled day/time) to your Instagram account, you must use a business profile. If you don’t have a business profile, you’ll receive a notification from Later when you hit “Publish”. But, I highly recommend using a business account if you’re marketing your store on Instagram.

You can efficiently time-block 30 minutes to a few hours (depending on the amount of content you create) to get your week’s or month’s content loaded. Phew. I now give you permission to be excited that you’re not winging it again this month and confident about allowing that daily Instagram-post weight on your shoulders to fall off with a thud. And what’s more, you did it all while using Later’s free version.

With the paid version, you can unlock features like analytics, scheduling to several profiles (if you have multiple store locations), scheduling videos, tagging Locations and Users (tagging your store and customers) in scheduled posts and getting Hashtag Suggestions.

As of today, you can’t fully schedule Instagram Stories, but you can get everything loaded and ready to go. Just select the time you want your story/stories to go live and you’ll receive a push notification beforehand to publish them. Hopefully soon, Later will allow you to automatically schedule stories just like you can with pictures/videos to your feed.

Want more Instagram training? I’ve got you covered! My brand-new Instagram for Retailers Training Course is now available! 🎉 Click here to get it today for only $197! (Price goes up to $397 on April 18th).

Have a question about Instagram? Leave a comment below. I’m happy to help!

To the future,

Crystal

P.S. Are you following us on Instagram? If not, what are you waiting for?! Click here to connect.