Traditionally Spring is the season of starting new projects and coming up with new ideas. Also a time to reflect on your email marketing performance, so you can introduce changes that will allow your business to grow faster than ever before. In order to help you start off, we have prepared a few tips based on our recent report.
Use a holistic approach to email marketing
In order to succeed in email marketing, you constantly need to grow your list. The size and quality of your database are major factors that determine the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Holistic email marketing is a comprehensive approach that widens the focus from email-only to all messaging sources, including:
- Search via PPC, SEO, and SEM
- Opt-in process with the aim of making it more prominent and friction-free
- Landing pages aligned more precisely with search results and email content
- Remarketing to reduce losses from browse and cart abandonment
For list growth, consider PPC and Facebook ads (the ads are wonderfully easy to test and optimize), start a referral program, and barter with other owners of email lists. Don’t forget about the good old offline methods like collecting email addresses at conferences and in-store at the end of the purchase – you can use our Forms on the Go app.
By taking the holistic approach, you ensure that your list grows as well as it can, which enables you to achieve your KPI’s more effectively.
Measure the metrics of success
Does the metric you measure or test match your campaign goal? Don’t assume that “maximum opens” equals maximum click-throughs, conversions, registrations, sales, downloads, or ROI.
Learn how to align KPIs with your business goals and understand the true meaning behind the numbers. Opens and click-throughs are just the basic measures that don’t necessary translate into business growth so it’s important spend some choosing the right metrics to follow.
Optimize the sending time frequency
Make sure you send frequently enough. Too little, and you leave money on the table. On the other hand sending too many emails might result in lower engagement and higher unsubscribe rates.
Delivery time is another import factor. Some time ago we were testing the Perfect Timing feature, our beta testers were able to optimize the send time of each individual email, so each subscriber would receive it in the exact time frame when they were most likely to interact with email. We’ve seen email median unique open rates improve by 23% and click rates by 20%!
Test and optimize continually
Testing and optimization is crucial, if you want to make smart decisions based on data rather than good instinct. In The State of Email Marketing by Industry 2016, Kath Pay suggests to bear these three rules in mind when testing:
1. Always develop a hypothesis.
This is your guess about what the results might be, such as, “An emotional subject line will lead to more conversions than a perfunctory one.” The hypothesis should suggest a question that can be answered with yes or no. This will help you structure your testing plan more effectively, especially if you use A/B split testing – the simplest tests to set up and run.
2. Measure the correct metric.
Don’t be lured into thinking that the most important metrics are the most obvious ones, such as opens and click-throughs. While these are helpful metrics that should be measured and can be indicators of success, ultimate decisions shouldn’t be based on them. For example, if your objective is to gain webinar registrations, then the number of registrations is the metric of success – not opens and not even click-throughs.
3. Look beyond one-off test results.
A one-time test shows what worked once. A longitudinal test, which you set up to run over a longer period of time, can give you more reliable results and remove potential anomalies.
Testing is like email. The more you automate it, the better your results will be over time. Build testing into your program from the very start, and your time, energy and resources will be rewarded with in-depth knowledge about what works and what doesn’t. And that knowledge can tie directly to revenue.
I hope you’ll find the above tips useful when analyzing and improving on your current email marketing strategy. That’s not all. Easter is coming, so we prepared an online marketing Easter egg hunt. Grab your basket, follow the clues and find a golden treat the Bunny has left for you.
What tips would you give to those who want to increase the efficiency of their email marketing?
The post The Marketing Easter Bunny Has Travelled Online #Infographic appeared first on GetResponse Blog - Email Marketing Tips.
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