It’s hard to stay in contact with hundreds of clients and prospects through email. Are you frustrated with having to send out communication with your graphic design message?
The problem is that you don’t have a business-building communication strategy for your freelance business. You lack the resources to keep your audience informed and you’re struggling to get information out at the right time.
Start building a client and prospect email list now. To do this, you need to know which list building strategy and email marketing tool is the best solution for you.
Other graphic designers are doing it wrong. I’ll show you how to leverage email marketing.
Add email opt-in to your website
Build a list from your website by getting your visitors to opt-in. You can do this by adding a Splash Page to your homepage, a Welcome gate, a floating bar, or a header (to name a few).
Make use of the double opt-in method, as this way you’re sure that whoever is subscribing really wants to hear from you.
Design for accessibility
It’s so easy to forget that you have a diverse audience and to serve them you need to exceed simple personalization and segmentation. You need to make sure that your marketing messages are accessed easy.
Accessibility is a concern - not just for government and big businesses, but for any website owner. By catering to the needs of the visually impaired, you serve a wider audience.
There are ways to make your emails easier for them to access: Add ALT text to your images as people using screen readers can understand the content.
Adding a period after the image text allows the screen reader to pause - which makes reading the email easier.
Check the image contrast ratio to improve the readability of your email.
You’ll need to set the language attribute so that screen readers can pronounce the text in a certain way.
Add a “content-type”, as this code tells the email client what type of characters to expect and how to interpret it.
Other ways that you can optimize accessibility is by setting the title of the email, fixing your tables, and removing title attributes.
Segment your audience and see the 80/20 rule in action
Generating sales is easier when sending email campaigns instead of email blasts.
I find that segmenting your audience and sending personalized content sees higher click through rates than email blasts - although email blasts work from time to time.
Once the audience is segmented, you’ll see the Pareto rule working for you. 20% of your customers generate 80% of your sales revenue.
Identify the key segments to see how much revenue they’re generating. Target them with your freelance graphic design email campaigns separately.
Knowing your audience well makes this easier without having to do additional research.
Personalization in the email body has an 18% higher click-through rate than emails without.
Use welcome emails to build strong relationships and deliverability
Welcome emails have an average open rate above 80% and click-through rates are between 22 - 25%. (GetResponse)
Not only do they keep your list clean, but they also improve deliverability.
They reassure the email recipient that the signup worked and that the info they requested is on the way. And it helps you connect with your new subscriber.
This is your chance to offer something valuable about freelance graphic design.
Check out some examples of welcome emails.
Regularly communicate with your list through email
You want people to open your emails and sending them at the right time is important. The 2 timeslots that seem to be the best click-through rates are 9-11 am and 3-5 pm. There’s no specific day that is the best but do not schedule your emails for weekends.
You may like to use Perfect Timing to help pick the best time to send emails.
What to include in your email follow-ups and email content. 6 quick tips:
1. Share a helpful insight or hack.
Share information that your prospects & clients would be interested in. This shows that you’re an expert and they’ll trust you with their brand.
This is also a great way to show that you care about your customer’s business without expecting anything in return.
2. Talk about a recent client and the results that you’ve helped them achieve.
Showing your clients and prospects what you did for others is an easy way to show that you can solve their problems.
Clients relate to others who have the same problem as they do. Knowing that you helped someone with the same problem, sets their mind at ease that you’re capable of assisting them.
3. Talk about what is new and upcoming in your business.
Do you have any exciting news or offer coming up? Share this with your email list to get them more interested in your business.
4. Add a sense of exclusivity to your offer or urgency such as a time-limit.
People fear missing out and by adding these elements, their interest is piqued further.
5. Offer a special Q&A section for your customers. Answer their questions.
Take the opportunity to educate your prospects about freelancing or graphic design. It’s also a great way to get feedback.
This allows you to establish where you can improve and what their biggest concerns are.
Always include a call to action to contact you for a consultation.
6. Tell people to take action with every email that you send. This could be to contact you, share the email, connect on social media, etc.
Insert an optimized CTA in your emails by making using short text, large typography, bright colors, and create urgency.
It doesn’t have to be hard to communicate with your clients and prospects. Leveraging email marketing lets you take the first step to create a freelance business building communication strategy.
Building an email list is not easy but the ideas herein will help you get started. Get more list building ideas here.