An In-Depth Guide for Black Businesses to Utilize Email Marketing in 2023 and Beyond

So, you’re browsing these internet streets because you’ve heard how powerful email marketing is. It’s no secret that next to social media marketing, email has the power to bring your business into the next tax bracket.

We’re getting straight to the point on how your black-owned company can accelerate community, revenue, and impact by using simple email marketing best practices in 2023.

Using copywriting, deliverability best practices, and lots of creativity you too can create a business that makes you more revenue while you sleep.

Mind-Blowing Email Marketing Statistics in 2023:

Before I begin to teach on this subject and make my point, I want you to understand what is going on in the email marketing industry.

Here are a few statistics that even shocked me as an email marketer:

• Welcome Emails have an open rate of 68% while regular campaigns boast 19% (Oberlo)
• An email with personalized subject lines creates 50% higher open rates (Oberlo)
• Sending three abandoned cart emails results in 69% more orders placed (Oberlo)
•  B2B marketing emails see a 23% higher click-to-open ratio than B2C emails (OptinMonster)
• Email subscribers are 3.9x more likely to share your content on social media and 4.24% of visitors from email marketing buy something, compared to 2.49% of visitors from search engines and 0.59% from social media.(OptinMonster)

Keep these statistics in mind as we walk through this article on your email marketing strategy in 2023.

How to Create an Email Marketing Strategy in 2023

Similar to social media, proper email execution requires a damn good strategy.

Ask yourself the following questions before sending emails:

• Who is my target audience?
• What do they need to hear from me (not necessarily what I’d like to tell them)?
• What are their struggles right now around making a buying decision?
• How can I become more relatable instead of just selling them stuff?
• How often am I emailing this list?

With these foundational questions, you’ll be able to target a specific type of customer which makes your audience feel like you relate to them and empathize with their goals, pain, or aspirations.

Aside from that, you need to understand how often you’ll email this subscriber base too. As a rule of thumb emailing your list at least 4x per month is recommended if not 8x per month or twice a week (for larger segments of over 1 million you can email them 3-5x per week)

I know what you’re thinking…

“Isn’t that too much?”

No, it’s not and if someone took the time to see your ad or your free lead magnet, signed up, and is still on the list they’re expecting to hear from you – frequently.

Stack Your Story-Telling Prompts for Email Success

What is it that will make your emails worthwhile?

It’s time to identify some of your favorite brands. Pull up your email inbox, which brands are you still subscribed to after years?

I bet you’re enthralled with their content because they make you feel like you have a place in their community, they tell vivid stories, and it seems like they consistently put you first.

Now, how can you do that with your audience?

Market research and understanding what makes your buyer tick is the foundation of all good marketing and email is no different.

In fact, email makes you pull out the best golden nuggets you have because these are the people that are most loyal to your brand.

They deserve to be rewarded for this loyalty right?

Use industry statistics to back up your positioning, use as much creativity as possible, and provide actionable tips consistently and you’ll never lack within your email efforts.

Email Marketing Strategy 2023: Sequences/Flows 101

Now, this is where the real sleep coins come in. A flow or sequence of emails is literally a slew of emails (usually written with proper storylines, social proof, and statistics) that your audience receives automatically.

Once you create a flow you don’t have to create it again, it can run for the next year but you’ll probably want to update it once in a while with relevant links.

Here are a few standard sequences:

• Welcome Series (when someone first subscribes to your email list, the goal is to introduce your brand)
• Abandoned Cart/Application (think of this as a follow-up to a series of emails that go out on demand)
• Sales/Launch Sequences (only works if you have similar sales or launches each year – designed to make you coins ASAP!)

If you’re excited about this idea, but you’re not sure where to start I HIGHLY suggest creating a 5-10 email welcome sequence because that is going to move people from cold to hot in a matter of days or weeks.

From there, once you start collecting more revenue and learning how to email your community consistently you can tie in those advanced funnels like the abandoned cart/application and launch sequences (sometimes referred to as funnels)

Conclusion

If you want your business to have any sort of longevity email is critical to your marketing strategy.

When you receive highly personalized emails from your favorite business or even coach you’re not angry that they emailed you, nope quite on the contrary you’re excited to hear from them and thankful for the actionable advice, tips, and offers.

In 2023, you need to take email seriously or risk leaving multiple thousands if not millions of dollars on the table.

When the algorithms are acting up, or when social media begins to change again as it always does, your email list will still be there, ready to hear from you.

Not to mention your previous customers are ready to buy from you more frequently than new customers. Keep the folks in the loop and it will pay off big time, I promise.

Lead Image Source: S. Dahl