Last month Jim Herbold provided a list of Top 10 Email Must-Dos. I can't resist adding them to this blog... and adding some of my two cents.
1. Get Relevant
Jim talks about using more personalization and segmentation. At Shop.org FirstLook, Forrester Research made the same recommendation and showed how the conversion rates increased as the emails became more targeted.
Of course, you need to take time into consideration. Time is money, so spend wisely. The testing I have done targeting gender or purchase habits does show good results, but was not worth the time needed to execute it properly. Many marketers will find an integrated approach will have the best affect - a portion of mass mailings and a portion of segmented emails. It's a matter of testing until the right balance is reached.
2. Deliverability and rendering
It's not just making sure your emails are received (and not sent to the junk folder), it is also making sure the email looks right when it gets there. Many times, fonts and formats change or the layout does not show up at all. Make sure to test the email first with many email clients and platforms first.
3. Preview panes and blocked images
Before someone clicks to open the email, they typically see it their preview pane first. The first quarter to a third of your email will dictate whether or not someone opens and reads the rest of your email.
How do you read email? Me, I receive a lot of newsletters, if the first three headlines shown in the preview pane are not interesting, the email is deleted. I just don't have time to open every single email.
4. First impressions are lasting impressions
Jim states that the most significant decline in email performance comes in the first two months. Make sure you engage your audience immediately. Send a Welcome email upon opt-in registration. Make sure you send relevant, timely emails frequently enough to keep their attention.
How often is appropriate? It all depends on your email. I have worked with Internet retailers that send an email out twice a week. Some retailers have daily alerts. Others just email during special holidays. It all depends on the audience and the email content.
5. Get on the permission train
Jim is right - someone who opts in to receive your emails tends to be more valauble then someone obtained through an opt out program.
As with email frequency though, not everyone can follow this rule of thumb. At a recent event, I spoke with a interactive marketer whose site targets kids. She found she needed to pre-check the opt-in box, because her audience did not understand how to opt-in to emails. The audience assumed by filling out the form, they were automatically opted in... It's also a yound audience who does not read directions. Yes, she had to comply with COPPA guidelines, but she found pre-checking the box was a lot more effective and generated less customer service inquiries.
6. Metrics that matter
Who has time to use all the metrics available to us? We can drown ourselves in data. Yes, focus on the metrics that matter. And don't forget, those metrics will change depending on where you are in the organization. Create an analytics strategy and determine the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each area of your organization.
7. Long-term subscribers
EmailLabs estimates 30 to 50% of a company's email list may be inactive and 2.5% of emails churn each month. Do not wait several years and then go back and try to reactivate them, create a program now and automate it through your email marketing system. Jim provides some great ideas - surveys, sweepstakes, special offers. You may want to try to go offline as well. Send a postcard to those hard bounce emails and the emails not responding to your campaigns.
8. Maximize your traffic
So many companies I have worked with stay focused on driving traffic to their site. As time goes by, these companies are driving the same traffic over and over again - and paying for that traffic over and over again. Give the traffic a reason to opt-in to future communications from you.
9. Test, test, test and improve
All of us "email experts" can tell you what works and what does not. In fact, I was on a call with a co-worker of mine and was surprised to discover how many times the results of her tests differed with my experience. Every company is different. Every message is different. Every target market is different. It's up to you to take the best practices and then tweak them until they work for you. That is the fun of direct marketing.
10. Create a plan and align your resources
Before you start collecting the very first email off your website, make sure you have the plan, money, and human resources to support it. I cannot begin to count the number of times I have provided my email address and then received nothing in return. By the time the company emails me, my email may be bad. I may not remember opting in and think they are spamming me. Or, the company may be blacklisted because of the extreme number of bad email addresses going to a single domain.
Please add some of your own tips.
