Mastering the Art of Email Marketing for Woodworkers: Tips and Tricks for Targeted, Personalized, and Segmented Campaigns with A/B Testing

Email marketing is a powerful tool for small businesses, particularly those in the woodworking industry. Setting up an email campaign can help you reach new customers and keep current ones engaged with your business. In this article, we will go over the steps to setting up an effective email campaign for your woodworking business. So, let's dig right in:

1. Build a targeted email list The first step in setting up an email campaign is to build a targeted email list. This means gathering the contact information of individuals who are interested in your products or services. You can do this by having a sign-up form on your website, collecting business cards at trade shows or farmers markets, or purchasing a list from a reputable provider.

2. Personalize your emails Personalization is important when it comes to email marketing. People are more likely to open and engage with an email that addresses them by name and is tailored to their interests. Use their name in the subject line and throughout the body of the email. This can easily be done with merge fields on any Email Management Service - see our list below for our best picks 👇. You can also segment your list into groups based on their interests and tailor your content accordingly. By sending targeted and personalized emails, you increase the chances of your audience engaging with your content.

3. Segmentation Segmenting your email list allows you to target specific groups of people with specific messaging. For example, you can segment your list into different categories such as past customers, potential customers, and wholesale buyers. This will enable you to send targeted messages to each group, increasing the chances of them engaging with your email.

4. A/B testing A/B testing is a great way to see what works and what doesn’t in your email campaign. This involves sending two versions of the same email to two different groups of people and comparing the results. This can help you determine what subject lines, headlines, and call-to-action buttons are most effective and allows you to see which version of the email performed better in terms of open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. This is less tedious than most people think, and most Email Management Services have this built-in now. Based on these results, you can then optimize your emails for better performance.

5. Timing is key Timing is key when it comes to email marketing. The best time to send an email is when your audience is most likely to be checking their inbox. Every customer base will be different, but a good assumption is 9am & 12pm weekdays. Over time you will see when the most emails are opened and when they get neglected.

6. Measure and adjust Measuring the success of your email campaign is crucial to making adjustments and improvements. As mentioned, you should track your open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. Use this data to make adjustments to your subject lines, headlines, and call-to-action buttons to improve your overall email marketing strategy. Use this information to optimize your email campaigns and improve your ROI.

7. Create interesting content The content of your email is important. People are more likely to open an email if the subject line is interesting and relevant to them. There are a few key steps that need to be taken in order to ensure success. Identify interesting and current trends, write a 300-500 word piece about it (review, explanation, etc...), create the picture/art to grab the reader's eye. 

Now that you know what to do, you are probably asking, "Which Email Marketing Service should I use?" We have already gone through the lion's share of them and here is our vetted list of Email Management Services:

Systeme.io - Free plan available. Prices start at $27/month for up to 1,000 contacts. Features include email design templates, automation and segmentation, funnels, landing pages, blogs, analytics, webinars, and integrations with popular e-commerce platforms.

GetResponse - Prices start at $15/month for up to 1,000 contacts. Features include email design templates, automation and segmentation, analytics, webinars, and integrations with popular e-commerce platforms.
AWeber - Prices start at $19/month for up to 500 contacts. Features include email design templates, automation and segmentation, analytics, and integrations with popular e-commerce platforms.
SendInBlue - Free for up to 300 emails per day, paid plans start at $25/month for 40,000 emails. Unlimited contacts. Email marketing automation, SMS marketing, chat and CRM, A/B testing, real-time tracking and reporting, contact segmentation, and integration with popular apps and websites such as Shopify, WordPress, and Salesforce.
Email Octopus - Prices start at $9.99/month for up to 2,500 contacts. Features include email design templates, automation and segmentation, analytics, and integrations with popular e-commerce platforms.
Mailchimp - Prices start at $9.99/month for up to 500 contacts. Features include email design templates, automation and segmentation, analytics, and integrations with popular e-commerce platforms.

In conclusion, setting up an email campaign for a woodworking business requires a targeted email list, personalization, segmentation, A/B testing and tracking/analyzing results. By following these steps, you can create an effective email campaign that helps to grow your business and increase your bottom line.

You can do all of this yourself, it takes time, but can really pay off. If you know you need to do it, but you just can't find the time or force yourself to do it, contact us and let us know you want us to design a year's worth of emails for your business. Let's bring your customers back all year long.