Tag: Email Marketing

Email Marketing: What’s in it for . . . Them?

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As a broad guideline, at least 50% of your email communications should have a clear benefit for your recipients.  A higher percentage is fine, a lower percentage will often result in list fatigue and opt outs.

This seems like a simple equation but it gets complicated when email marketers confuse what benefits them and what is a benefit to the recipients.  So here is a sample of “for them” and “for us”:

For Them:

  • Valuable information – This can be research papers, articles, audio or video tips, or directories to other information but it has to be quality content.
  • Product or service discounts – This can be a special offer to the recipient base or coupons but it has to be a legitimate offer that is simple to take advantage of without strings attached.
  • Request fulfillment – This should be a direct response to a request typically resulting from targeted list segmentation.  For example, if a person specifically asked to know when new items come out in a certain product line, then an email highlighting that item is for them.

For Us:

  • Product or service launches – These emails talk about us.  Of course they should be written to highlight the value to recipients, but it’s still about us.
  • Untargeted promotions – A store wide sale isn’t a specific offer to a select list.  Hopefully it will garner recipient’s interest but it’s an open promotion that recipients may or may not be interested in.
  • Events – Events are another step in engaging or closing prospects and benefits us.  Even if your event has valuable information or entertainment (which they all should) and is free, the event is more about us than recipients.
  • Surveys – Surveys are always asking for recipients’ time which is valuable.  We reap the benefit of their responses so unless there is an easily redeemed reward, a survey is for us.

As a general rule, if the email’s primary goal is about moving prospects further into a sales or marketing funnel, it’s about us.  Of course that is what almost every email campaign is about in one way or the other, but we need to provide a give and take.  It’s perfectly reasonable to promote your products, services, or events, just make sure that recipients don’t get flooded with too much about you and very little for them.

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Email and Internet Testing Needs Some Planning

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In a previous post, I said that email testing didn’t have to be a monumental task for smaller lists.  While that is true, the statement shouldn’t be taken to mean it is easy.  Detailed analysis is necessary to get a true picture of how your campaigns are running.  An integrated set of reports that takes all of your online initiatives into account is critical to make sound decisions on how to improve your metrics.

As a general rule a complete understanding of your online campaigns hinges on knowing how the numbers affect the bottom line.  Here is a real life example.

Company X was running an email campaign and were fairly diligent about reviewing their results.  Over the course of a few months they modified their emails and found that their open rate improved by 10% and their click rate improved by 2%.  They were thrilled with the results and made the changes permanent.

For about a year after making the changes they saw decreased conversions.  Fretting over the trend, they decided to go through a full campaign analysis.

I won’t describe the specific situation but as a generic idea, but here is a genericized comparison.  They sent an email to a list with a revised subject line that said fill out a simple form and get $100 (a great offer).  The copy was tweaked to make filling out the form a singular focus.  The email generated recipient interest and open and click rate sky rocket.  Then recipients were directed to  a form that said,  “Only available to 10-year-old’s from Peru” (It only applied to a small subset of their list).  The conversion rate plummeted because they were getting clicks but it was coming from poorly suited prospects.

The in depth analysis revealed that while the email numbers improved, the landing page conversion plummeted by 50%.  After understanding that their average lead was worth about four thousand dollars, they estimated that their “improvement” had cost almost one-hundred thousand dollars.

A big picture is critical while testing online campaigns.  Making decisions on segments of data might improve that area but could cost a lot overall.

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Email Marketing Strategy to Promote Events

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Promoting events through email marketing is very popular.  And why not?  It allows for a targeted audience to receive event information and provides a simple and immediate way to register for the event (or at least it should).  However, because it’s an ideal tool doesn’t mean a strategy doesn’t need worked out.  Plan your email marketing event promotion schedule and stick with it.

Here is an outline for a typical plan:

  1. Identify the Audience and Segment – Will there be a single invite or multiple invites for subsections of the audience?  For example can you send the invite to “Marketing Professionals”?  Or do you need subsets with different content for “Print Marketing”, “Online Marketing”, and “Social Marketing”?  Do those need broken into “Professional” and “Executive” categories?
  2. Account for Logistics – Your email marketing plan needs to adhere to logistic guidelines.  If registration closes a week before the event, sending a reminder on that day is pointless.
  3. Set a Schedule – A send schedule broken up into segments is critical. Setting a schedule really depends on the event. Is it a large event needing months of lead time?  If so, a save the date invite might be appropriate, followed by an invite a month away from the event, and a “last chance” invite a week before the event.  Is it a webinar?  An invite 2 weeks beforehand might suffice.
  4.  Craft the Email – Get all the content together.  Make sure it holds true to any other marketing materials (mailed invites, ads, etc.)  It  needs to have a clear next step which for event emails that is likely a link to more info or a registration page.
  5. Send the Emails – Follow the send schedule making sure that each audience segment receives the right information at the set time.
  6. Track the Results – You’re not going to have a perfect plan to promote your event through email right off the bat.  Track the results so you can tweak your strategy and implement it for the next event promotion.

This is general and can fluctuate from event to event.  However, it gives a good checklist.

The most important thing to keep in mind is to follow the plan.  You likely will be asked or be tempted to do an “on the fly” email for events, especially if attendance isn’t what the event coordinator hoped it would be.  These requests are invariably made right before the event.  If you’re forced into it, do the best you can but be aware that it’s rare to have an impromptu email sent have it be well received.  Successful event promotion from email happens when the email marketer is prepared, knows why and when they are sending invitations, and refines that strategy for future events.

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