Email Marketing Explained: Tips & Free Tools

Introduction

If you're a growing business unsure of where to start with email marketing, HubSpot has you covered with its free, conversion-driven email marketing tools. With access to HubSpot's free CRM and a variety of tools, you can easily launch successful email marketing campaigns. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to make the most of these features.

Get Started with Your CRM

The cornerstone of any successful email marketing campaign is a robust Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. HubSpot's CRM serves as the single source of truth for your sales and marketing team, giving you real-time access to all your customer data, such as who has opted in or out of your emails.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating an Email Campaign

1. Crafting Your Email

Pretend you're a B2B consulting firm looking to get people to subscribe to your podcast. Here’s how to do it:

• Navigate to the left-hand sidebar, click on Marketing, and then select Email.
• Choose Create Email and select Regular Email.
• You can either start with one of HubSpot's goal-based email templates or select from dozens of templates available in the marketplace.
• Use the drag-and-drop editor to customize the template. You can easily add, edit, and update content.
• Always give your email a distinct name, such as "Podcast Subscription 61224", to help you organize and locate it later.

2. Adding Buttons and Links

The goal of the email is to get people to subscribe:

• Drag and drop a button into the email.
• Edit the button text to say "Subscribe Today" and link it to the appropriate URL.
• You can also customize the button’s size and font.

3. Personalizing the Email

• Customize who the email comes from and the reply-to address.
• Use HubSpot’s AI to generate a subject line that will catch your audience's attention.
• Personalize the subject line by adding the recipient's first name to it.
• Generate preview text using HubSpot AI.

4. Adding the Email to a Campaign

• You can add the email to an existing campaign or create a new one with its own name, color, owner, start date, end date, and goals.

5. Sending and Scheduling Options

• You can choose to send the email immediately or schedule it for a later date and time.
• Select if it should be sent based on contact time zones.

6. Reviewing and Scheduling

• Check for any warnings or best practices tips to ensure your email is optimized.
• Create a simple automation to follow up with contacts who did not engage with the email initially.

7. Analyzing Results

• Navigate to Marketing Emails and select the email you want to review.
• Under the Performance tab, you can view:
  • Open Rate
  • Click Rate
  • Reply Rate
  • Delivery Rates (including bounces and spam reports)
  • HTML Click Map for visual tracking of clicks
  • Top Clicked Links
  • Top Engaged Contacts
  • Time Spent Viewing Email
  • Engagement Over Time

8. Monitoring Email Health

HubSpot offers tools to track your email marketing health, showing your overall score, open rates, click-through rates, and more. Recommendations to improve your score are also provided.

The Shared Inbox

A shared inbox is a valuable feature that allows for optimized team collaboration. Multiple team members can access emails, chats, and messaging in one place, ensuring timely responses to customer inquiries.

Conclusion

According to G2, HubSpot is the leading choice among small, midmarket, and enterprise businesses. You can start with HubSpot's free tools and scale as your business grows.

For more details and to get started, click the link in the description.

Keywords

• Email Marketing
• Conversion-Driven Tools
• HubSpot
• Free CRM
• Marketing Campaign
• B2B Consulting
• Subscription
• Templates
• Personalization
• Automation
• Email Health

FAQ

Q: What is the key to a successful email marketing campaign? A: The key to a successful email marketing campaign is having a robust CRM system that serves as a single source of truth for your sales and marketing team.

Q: How can I personalize my emails using HubSpot? A: You can personalize emails by modifying who the email comes from, customizing the subject line with the recipient’s first name, and generating preview text using HubSpot’s AI.

Q: How can I track the performance of my email campaigns? A: You can track the performance of your email campaigns by navigating to the Performance tab in your email analytics, which provides data on open rates, click rates, reply rates, delivery rates, and more.

Q: What is a shared inbox in HubSpot, and how can it help? A: A shared inbox is a feature that allows multiple team members to access emails, chats, and messaging in one place, ensuring timely responses and improved customer service.

Q: How does HubSpot help improve my email marketing health? A: HubSpot offers a tool that tracks your email marketing health, displaying your overall score, open rates, click-through rates, and providing recommendations to improve your email sending health.

Q: Can I automate follow-up emails in HubSpot? A: Yes, you can automate follow-up emails by creating simple workflows that trigger based on specific actions taken by the contacts.

Q: Is HubSpot suitable for businesses of all sizes? A: Yes, HubSpot is suitable for small, midmarket, and enterprise businesses, and it can scale as your business grows.