This guest post was written by Danielle Theisen. To learn more about Danielle, visit her LinkedIn profile.
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Time and time again, email marketing is proven as one of the most effective means for marketing communications for businesses both big and small. But as one year ends and another starts, email marketing is often one of the first marketing channels that is put on the backburner in terms of new initiatives. One of the best things you can do for your overall marketing strategy is to create an effective email marketing program. Even though 2016 is well underway, it’s not too late! Here are 4 key pillars for your email marketing program that you can implement today.
1. Email design
We’ve all heard it, mobile is increasingly becoming the preferred device for reading email, and, depending on your audience, as many as half your email recipients will open your emails on a mobile device. Now is a great time to make sure all emails are optimized for mobile viewing. Use a service like Litmus or Email on Acid to test desktop and mobile versions of your email, ensuring proper rendering in different inboxes, on different devices and in different browsers all at once.
2. Segmentation
Sending out one-size-fits-all emails to your entire list will eventually result in unsubscribes, deleted emails and potentially land you in the spam folder. Effective email marketing utilizes a segmented email contact list. Create sub-lists of your main email file by segmenting your customers by purchase history, email or website engagement, personas or basic demographics. Sending an email with content tailored the recipient will not only save your email from being deleted, but will also result in a high engagement and email click-through rate.
3. Automation
Marketing automation is a buzzword that’s been around for a while, however that doesn’t make it irrelevant or passé. One of the easiest ways to incorporate marketing automation into your email marketing channel is to set up a triggered welcome series or post-transactional series. Once these email series are set up, most of them simply need a bit of tweaking and optimization throughout the year; this drives revenue while you focus on other priorities.
4. Analysis
It easy to lose focus on reporting for your email marketing channel as a whole. However, performing an analysis on a monthly basis can help determine trends and recognize opportunities for optimization. A few metrics and KPIs to monitor monthly are: click-through rate, bounce rate, list growth rate, unsubscribe rate and conversion rate. Compare your monthly email results to industry averages. This will help you to benchmark where your company is at and set future goals appropriately.
Even though you may be in the thick of your quarterly marketing initiatives already, take some time to analyze your email marketing program. Could the design stand a revamp? Is the list segmented properly or is some clean up needed? Could an automation program be put in place? What can be done better going forward? Before you go any further into this year, set aside some time to create the most effective email marketing program possible.
Need help with your email marketing efforts? Contact Milwaukee marketing agency, Accelity Marketing.
