Introduction

It doesn’t matter if you are a solopreneur or a member of a large marketing organization, developing an effective email marketing plan is no longer a “nice-to-have”, it is a necessary part of any digital strategy. A solid and actionable email marketing plan has the potential to improve customer retention, increase engagement levels, and lead to higher conversions. This article will cover the steps you should take to develop an effective email marketing plan that meets Google’s standards for EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).

What is an Email Marketing Plan?

An email marketing plan is the structure to create, deliver and optimize your email campaigns to your audience. It is the documentation of the process to establish goals, identify the audience, choose tools, manage content, and evaluate indicators of success. It is a roadmap that provides consistency and ensures effectiveness because it allows businesses to engage a segmented audience with more targeted and personalized communication which leads to a higher ROI.

Why You Need an Email Marketing Plan

Having an email marketing plan provides more clarity around your campaigns, better audience segmentation, and ensures that your email campaigns are more cohesive and aligned with your larger business objectives. Not having a plan means you are trying to message into space without intention—hoping a message will stick. Email marketing is consistently one of the highest ROI channels when it is used correctly with an average return of $36 to $1 spent.

EEAT Framework and Email Marketing

Google is putting emphasis on content that shows Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, and your plan for email marketing should incorporate these aspects focused towards building authority.

Experience

Use stories, first-hand experience, use cases and behind-the-scenes content in your emails.

Expertise

Offer the best insights, guides, expert commentary and advice.

Authoritativeness

Offer credentials, testimonials, and social proof.

Trustworthiness

Use reputable data sources, clear privacy policies and consistency in branding.

Create SMART Goals for Your Email Marketing Plan

Once you’ve identified your strategies you’ll want to create Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound goals. Here are some examples:

• Increase open rates by 25% within 60 days.
• Increase email list by 1,000 in 3 months.
• Increase CTR by 15% with new placements for your CTA.

Identifying Your Target Audience

It goes without saying that knowing your audience is fundamental to any email marketing plan. You want to have a very clear buyer persona about your target audience, you can create personas that include:

• Demographics
• Behavior
• Pain points
• Preferred modes of communication

You would then segment your email lists according to those personas to provide even more relevant content.

Selecting the Right Email Marketing Software

Selecting the right software or tools is essential for executing your email marketing strategy successfully. You want software or tools that support:

• Automation
• A/B testing
• Personalization
• Analytics dashboards

The software can be: Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, or Klaviyo.

Building and Growing Your Email List

As a general rule, a quality email list is better than a bigger list of disengaged subscribers any day. There are many ways to build a quality email list, for example:

• Lead magnets (eBooks, checklists, webinars)
• Website pop-ups and slide-ins
• Landing pages with optimized opt-in forms
• Social media campaigns

Be sure to always be compliant with GDPR and CAN-SPAM.

Segmentation Strategy in Your Email Marketing Plan

Segmentation strategy should be set up to increase engagement because certain messages will resonate more than others. Segment your audience in accordance to:

• B2B or B2C focus
• Demographics
• Online or offline browsing behaviors

The more effective you can segment your email marketing plan, the more substantial increases to your open/engagement rates and click-through rates you’re likely to achieve.

Supplier-Focused Email Content

Your content should always have value for the reader. Consider the following when creating your email:

• Make clear and engaging subject lines
• Always personalize your greeting
• Personalize the email content
• Include a call-to-action (CTA)
• Your paragraphs should be short for mobile
• Utilize spam filters to eliminate spammy words, so you can avoid the junk folder

Easily Design-Focused Emails

Design is part of the engagement. You will want to think about how emails fit into your email marketing plan, and if you will use:

• A responsive web-based design
• A clean but interesting design
• A modern brand identity
• CTA buttons
• A sufficient amount of whitespace to guide your reader

You may want to consider tools such as Canva or BEE to access templates for email for easy design usage.

Email Automations

Automations make it easier to be consistent and timely. You can automate the following emails:

• Welcome email series
• Cart abandonment
• Birthday or anniversary email
• Re-engagement email

You may want to create the workflows as part of your email plan so you can track the potential performance.

Personalization Strategies

Using generic emails is not effective. Suggestions on personalization:

• Use the subscriber’s name
• Use product recommendations based on browsing history
• Personalize subject lines
• Have emails triggered by subscriber behaviour

An email marketing plan with personalization can considerably improve your ROI.

Timing and Frequency

The timing of your email has a large impact on your open rates. Test various days and times and see what works best using A/B testing. Avoid bombarding your subscribers with emails. Start with 1-2 emails per week, and increase/decrease the frequency of your emails based on subscriber engagement.

Tracking and Measurement: Essential Metrics to Track

• Open Rate
• Click Through Rate (CTR)
• Conversion Rate
• Bounce Rate
• Unsubscribe Rate

Use your email marketing platform’s analytics report to iterate and improve your email marketing plan going forward.

A/B Testing Must Be Part of Your Email Marketing Plan

A/B testing helps you to continue to iterate and improve your plan. You can A/B test:

• Subject lines
• Text versus image
• CTA button placement
• When you send your email

An ongoing file where you follow your findings and future A/B tests is important in your plan development as you will continue to optimize your email plan.

Keeping Your List Clean

List hygiene includes cleaning your list routinely. Cleaning includes:

• Removing non-active subscribers
• Correcting typos in their emails
• Segmenting by activity levels

This helps with sending deliverability and engagement.

Legal Compliance and Trust with Your Growing Audience

Ensure your emails are legal by complying with regulations such as GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CASL, by:

• Adding unsubscribe links clearly
• Providing company contact information in the footer
• Having permission-based opt-in

Legal compliance builds trust – which is part of EEAT now.

Re-Engaging Inactive Subscribers

You can get past inactive subscribers engaged again and provide value with:

• Special offers
• Personalized ‘check-ins’
• Requests for feedback

Make this part of your periodic review of your email marketing strategies.

Examples of Successful Email Campaigns

Learn from the best. Take notes on successful campaigns from companies like:

• Airbnb (personalization)
• Grammarly (value-fueled)
• Amazon (product recommendations)

Then, use those insights to inform your email marketing plans.

Utilizing User-Generated Content

Use testimonials, reviews from customers in your emails; or social media posts from customers. It enhances trust in your emails and provides greater authenticity—two important features for Google’s EEAT standards!

Using a Cohesive Email Marketing Strategy

Be sure your email marketing plan also works in alignment with:

• Social media campaigns
• Content marketing
• Paid advertising

You want to create a unified customer experience with as few disconnects as possible, which in turn also increases your return on investment.

Email Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses

If you’re a small business, consider:

• Cost-effective tools
• Personalized communication
• Building relationships, not just transactions

Your email marketing plan should match your scale and audience.

Email Marketing Strategy for E-Commerce

E-commerce brands are all about automation and personalization. Your e-commerce email marketing strategy may include:

• Abandoned cart emails
• Product recommendations
• Post-purchase follow-up

This will provide maximum customer lifetime value.

conclusion:

Final Thoughts
An effective email marketing strategy isn’t something you can just hit up one time. It takes intention, continuous testing, and research of your specific audience. If you follow Google’s EEAT principles, you will develop content that converts and builds trust over a period of time. Start your plan today—your email inbox could end up being the most profitable place for your brand.