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Get the most out of your email marketing campaigns in 2010

Email marketing clearly works and has been confirmed as an essential tool in any online marketing campaign: it offers a unique mix of reasonable costs, quick and measurable results and opportunities for one-to-one dialog with prospects and clients.
Start out the new year by setting goals that will help you exploit email marketing to the full!

1. Choose a reliable ESP and think partnership
With so many free software solutions available you might ask yourself why pay an email service provider (ESP), but choosing a reliable partner can really make the difference: first of all to make sure that your emails do reach recipient inboxes, but also to have access to advanced campaign statistics, and last but not least to get fast and high value consultancy on all email-related topics (privacy policies, best practices, html optimization, etc), to benefit from assistance, experience and the most updated technological solutions. Your ESP is not only a technological supplier but your strategic partner.

2. Focus on deliverability
Deliverability, the percentage of e-mails that actually reach their destination compared to the total number of messages sent, is increasingly a responsibility ESPs and brands share. On the one hand, ESPs must guarantee the technological solutions to obtain high deliverability, such as constant contact with ISPs, IP monitoring, DK/DKIM authentication, IP Throttling, feedback loop management and correct DNS set-up. On the other hand, brands have to follow best practices to build a good reputation and stimulate recipient engagement, not only through email content, but respecting users with a clear data collection policy, reasonable broadcast frequency, and easy unsubscription. This is an ongoing process, that should be monitored regularly so as to identify any issues quickly and take corrective measures where needed.

3. Manage your database
Collecting an email address is only the first step in creating dialog between a brand and a client or prospect. The amount of contacts in a database is not what counts, quality is: how many of those contacts actually react to your messages and result in a conversion? Database hygiene is one of the keys to your reputation. As a result, your database must be nurtured, stimulated and analyzed:

• Nurture it because it is subject to change (new contacts that sign up and others that unsubscribe) and attrition (remember to clean your database regularly and constantly monitor your inactive contacts)
• Stimulate it to maximize engagement and results
• Analyze its evolution to gain understanding on which contacts react to which contents

4. Build a message cycle for each contact
Forget batch and blast and broadcasting the same message to the entire database. In the battle for recipient attention, to stimulate contacts aim for relevant messages that reflect recency and level of interaction with the brand.
• Have they just signed up? Send a welcome series to tell recipients what they should expect from the messages that will follow: offers, tips & tricks, ideas, etc.
• Have they just made a purchase? Suggest complementary products, give advice on how to make the best out of the purchase, send a survey to assess their customer experience.
• Are they top buyers? Reward them with sneak previews and limited offers.
• Do they neither open nor click? Try to get them back with extra incentives or look into reducing broadcast frequency.
• Is it their birthday? Give them a present!

In 2010 do not reason in terms of sheer content planning but behavioural scenarios, considering each step in recipients’ interaction with your brand and what their expectations or needs could be in that moment. Relevant emails, that convey the right message to the right person at the right time, attract recipient attention, create brand loyalty and yield higher conversion rates.

5. Test, learn, optimize
In email marketing it is particularly easy to set up split testing programs designed to gain insight on how to optimize future campaigns and improve performance. So whether you are just starting out with email marketing or have extensive experience with it, go ahead and test the key “ingredients” in your messages. Create two versions of the same campaign changing only one element at a time: subject line (key driver for open rates), dimension and positioning of call-to-action buttons (triggers for conversions), the type of images used, broadcast days, landing page structure, etc. You will be surprised to find out that even minor fine-tuning can have great impact on campaign results.

6. Look beyond open and click-through rates: conversions and ROI
One of the key advantages of email marketing is that results are measurable. But how many indicators are you actually monitoring? How many of you know the ROI of each single email campaign? Data analysis too often stops at open and click-through rates, but these indicators fail to provide information on actual message conversions. What did your recipients do after opening and clicking? The key to completing the picture is the integration between your email broadcast software and web analytics solutions that allows you to follow user behaviour step by step from the moment they open you email to when they leave your website. Clearly some aspects, such as message impact on top-of-mind brand awareness or traffic generated offline, will not be measured , but certainly thorough conversion rate analysis will allow you to assess return on investment and understand how to optimize email messages and landing pages.

7. Adopt an integrated communication strategy
Efficiency and integration go together in a successful digital communication strategy. Pulling digital marketing levers such as surveys, sms, mini-sites, online sweepstakes and social media in conjunction with e-mail marketing will allow you to increase the number of touch points with your prospects and clients and at the same time strengthen brand presence on the web, thus increasing both visibility and engagement. Messages will have to be lever-appropriate, but also consistent, involving contacts in an integrated and strategic brand interaction cycle.

Happy e-mail marketing in 2010!