Photographers often underestimate the importance of newsletters in photography email marketing. Most prefer promoting their services via social media only. However, according to the research, people are 25X times more likely to buy from you through email rather than your promo on social media.
Email marketing tips for photographers
To create an effective email newsletter strategy for boosting engagement, analyze your target audience, segment it, and study its needs. Detailed information about your audience will help you increase your conversion rate.
Tip 1. Build your contact list
The first step to take is creating a database. Start by asking your clients to subscribe. You can do it by publishing a post on social networks, or do it offline during a personal meeting.
You can also add a sign-up form or a pop-up form on your website.
You can offer them a discount, free tutorial, or eBook as an incentive. It will motivate them to subscribe to your photography newsletter. Then, you will need to think about how to retain new subscribers.
(Source: Flothemes)
I recommend using the Double Opt-In option, which implies confirmation of the subscriber's email address. This is a must today according to the GDPR and CanSPAM regulations.
(Source: Email from Flothemes)
But how do you send these email confirmation and welcome emails? Right, through an ESP/CRM/CDP.
Tip 2. Choose a reliable tool to send email newsletters
Based on your needs, select the most suitable software for setting up your newsletters. Such platforms allow you to build or grow your contact list, send newsletters and analyze results.
In the post given below, we’ve surveyed the world's top 10 email service providers.
Tip 3. Set the purpose of your email campaigns
Now that you’ve chosen the right tools for your email marketing for photographers, you need to set goals for your campaigns: You might want to grow your audience, retain your customers, help beginner photographers master their skills, find corporate clients, or you want to notify clients about something.
Once you’ve done, you need to segment your subscribers into groups, and only then proceed to create engaging content tailored to their needs.
For instance, you might need to offer relevant content to people who are interested in your photography services. Among your subscribers, there might be other photographers who want to learn useful tricks that will help them advance their careers.
(Source: Really Good Emails)
If you specialize in various photography genres, you need to create relevant content for people who are interested in each of these genres. A couple might want to get information about love stories, while owners of eCommerce stores will benefit from product photography tips.
Tip 4. Use newsletter templates to build emails faster
To design emails more quickly, use prebuilt email templates. Once you’ve found the one you like, you will need to customize it so that the design styles, like fonts and colors, do match your website style. And of course, you will need to replace existing images with yours.
Tip 5. Work on your CTA buttons
You need to make all the buttons noticeable and easy to click. Your clients won’t perform the target action, no matter how informative and useful the email is if they need to put effort into finding a way to do it. This is why all the buttons should be clearly visible.
(Source: Really Good Emails)
Tip 6. Add the Unsubscribe option to your photography emails
It is crucial to let your contacts unsubscribe from your email at any time, because:
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it is required by the GDPR and CanSPAM rules;
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it is their right to do so;
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most ESPs won’t let you send a bulk email without the Unsubscribe option;
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it partially prevents your email from going to the “Spam” folder.
(Source: Email from Photobucket)
Important:
Once you’ve added the Unsubscribe option to your emails, be sure to add the Unsubscribe page where you notify clients that they will no longer receive emails from you.
In the “Unsubscribe Pages” blog post, we’re sharing the 10 best inspirational examples.
Tip 7. Write an engaging subject line
People never open all the emails in their inbox, which is why you need to write an attention-grabbing subject line to make a potential subscriber open your message. Most people decide whether an email is worth reading by taking a look at its subject line.
The subject line should be unique, eye-catching, and informative. You can make it similar to a heading of your email, use numbers and emojis in them.
(Source: Gmail, email from Photobucket)
When creating the subject line, take into account several things:
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its length should be no more than 34 symbols (in case clients check their emails on mobile screens);
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avoid CAPS LOCK;
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use creative phrasing.
Tip 8. Optimize images for different devices
It’s better to use your own photos when creating an email. If they have a professional look, a client might decide to order your photography or editing services. To save time, you can order professional photo retouching services to give your images a polished look.
Don’t use large images since they load slowly and might be displayed incorrectly. When creating a photography newsletter, don’t use photos that are larger than 10MB. Or if they are larger, be sure to compress them.
In the “30+ email marketing tools” we’ve shared some services that help you compress photos.
Tip 9. Use trigger emails
Trigger emails are meant to welcome your clients, notify them about changes, confirm their orders, confirm shipments and meetings, invoices, etc.
Tip 10. Avoid the “Spam” folder
It would be disappointing if you put a lot of effort into creating your newsletters, but your emails were delivered to the Spam folder. To avoid it, follow these steps when building a newsletter:
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ask subscribers for consent to send them newsletters — the confirmation email we talked about earlier;
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ask your readers to add your email to their contact list after receiving your first email;
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avoid email spam trigger words (for example, “100%,” “Click here,” “Free,” etc.) in the subject line;
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avoid using CAPS letters in the subject line;
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add an easy-to-notice Unsubscribe button;
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add alt-text to images.
Almost all of this you can do in Stripo, an email design platform.
Tip 11. Offer bonuses and discounts to loyal subscribers
Try to win the trust of your subscribers. You can offer them bonuses that aren’t available to other clients who haven’t subscribed to your newsletter.
(Source: Really Good Emails)
Provide them with an opportunity to be the first who learn about your offers, discounts, promo codes, etc. Make sure to take care of the technical side as well to ensure that your clients will be able to use a bonus.
Tip 12. Send series of promo emails
You may also know it as an email funnel. You need to set it up to send a series of messages to your subscribers. It will help you establish long-term relationships with your clients.
This would be a series of promo emails, an abandoned cart email (in case subscribers clicked a CTA button in your email, but did not buy from you yet).
(Source: Really Good Emails)
Tip 13. Select the optimal time for sending emails
By choosing the right time for sending your photography emails, you can improve the chances of your client opening and reading your email. According to research, it’s better to send emails at 10 am when people arrive at work or at 1 pm when their lunch break starts.
However, the send time may differ for your clients. You need to experiment with the timing to understand when your subscribers react better to your emails. Your ESP will be of great use here as they provide you with analytics, including a number of clicks in emails.
Tip 14. Stick to a schedule
One of the best photography promo ideas for launching a successful email marketing campaign is to follow a schedule when sending newsletters. Make sure not to disappear for a long time and avoid sending too many emails.
It’s better to send 1-2 emails a week. They should contain information that will be useful to your clients.
Tip 15. Analyze your campaigns
To evaluate whether your email marketing strategy was successful, use dedicated services and software for tracking stats. Normally, your ESP is capable of doing that.
Final thoughts
By using these email marketing tips for photographers, you will make it easier for a client to visually perceive the information in your newsletter.
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