Similar to the idea that any time of day is a good time for pie, any time of year is a good time to refocus (or restart) your email marketing efforts. Here are five tips for kick-starting your email marketing…
1. Give yourself a check-up.
As you’re thinking about what’s next with your email marketing efforts, start by taking a look at where you’ve been. From your Response screen, you can compare up to five campaigns in a handy, easy-to-read Excel spreadsheet. And remember, those numbers are more than just raw data – they’re your audience telling you what piques their interest and, well, what doesn’t. Once you know what people like, crafting a newsletter to their liking will be even easier.
2. Create an automated welcome newsletter.
Folks are most likely to click, read, and respond when they first sign up to receive your emails. With that in mind, why not send welcome greetings with a special newsletter that’s automatically triggered when someone new joins your list? Compose the welcome campaign, perhaps with a special offer for newcomers, and set it up to be delivered within a few minutes or hours of someone subscribing.
3. Ask your audience for more information.
You’re getting ready to launch your long awaited “Congratulations, you’re from Ohio!” campaign when you realize that you’ve never bothered to ask just where your subscribers call home. It’s clear you need to find out a little bit more about your audience. After all, the savvy marketers out there send smaller, more targeted mailings based on interest, gender, location, and more – and in the end, they tend to boast higher click-through and open rates when they do. So, what’s the best way to get more information? Start by heading over to your signup screen and adding a few more fields that ask for the information you need – remember you’ve got five signup screens included with your account. Then, in your next campaign, include a personalized link that takes each person straight to his or her own profile to update those newly added fields.
4. Plan a targeted follow-up campaign.
If you’ve got a special event or sale this season, draft a second follow-up note that you can send to the most interested members of your audience – those folks who open your newsletter or click a particular link in it. Take advantage of our real-time response tracking that shows you just who clicked what and who opened when. It’s a wealth of information beyond a standard Outlook email, and we’ve made it easy to target that smaller group as your event or sale approaches.
5. Reach out to your inactive members.
Reality check: there are people lurking among your subscriber list who haven’t opened your emails in six months, a year, or (gasp) ever. It’s tough to admit, we know. It’s also tough to know just what to do next with those folks. The majority of marketers simply delete those members after they’ve found ’em. But before you join that crowd, reach out with a campaign specifically designed for those lurking people – lurkers, let’s call them. Maybe they’re waiting for that tempting offer in the subject line. Or perhaps the recent topics you’ve covered haven’t applied to their interests. By letting them know they may be removed from the list, you can extend the choice for people to renew their interest in your newsletter, instead of making the decision for them.