Email Marketing: 101
In case you missed it, you can catch up on the first half of Email Marketing 101. Part 2 of email marketing is all about tracking. You need to know what worked, what didn’t, and how to adjust your strategy to ensure you will always be improving. This is made possible by the analytics provided by the email platform you use to send out your campaigns. The analytics show you the details of your email campaign success.
Tracking
So, how do we approach tracking? We start by covering the top six measurements that really matter.
- Opens – Open rate is a measure of how many people on an email list view an email campaign.
- Clicks – Measure of the effectiveness of an email campaign based on the number of users that clicked on a specific link in the email.
- Bounces – When an email message cannot be delivered to an email address.
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- Soft – a temporary delivery failure.
- Hard – when the recipient’s email address is invalid or no longer in use.
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- Unsubscribes – Individuals who cancel a subscription to an electronic mailing list or online service.
- Marked as Spam – When recipients mark emails they do not remember opting in for, or did not opt in for
as spam. - Shares – Recipients have the option to share with friends by forwarding the email or social sharing.
Lists
Having different email lists is important because often times you have multiple types of customers and need to customize content and subject lines to pop in their inbox. Think about it – if you own a bank, chances are you are trying to communicate with several different kinds of people. That which resonates with millennials may not have the same effect on baby boomers, or you want to only reach out to your business banking clients and the information does not pertain for personal banking clients. For that reason, creating lists will help you customize content for while keeping different groups in mind.
There are several best practices for creating and maintaining your email marketing lists. List management is critical. Go in every few months and clean up your lists to only contain active email addresses. As we mentioned earlier, customizing your content based on different lists is a strategic way to maintain strong, impactful relationships with your contacts. Finally, after a few months of trial and error, create a list growth strategy based on what you know resonates and reaches each individual group.
Features
Features are great because they are designed to make you look better. Offered features, while just engaging in general are very functional and help you run your email marketing campaign more efficiently without requiring too much more effort on your end. This includes things like sign up forms, which helps you to grow your list and increase your following. Another helpful features is branding your templates because this means you are constantly reinforcing your brand and credibility. Social sharing features help create a consistency across the board for all of the different platforms you engage on.
Email Marketing can be a very effective tool for connecting with your customer if you take the time to form a strategy and implement intentionally. The pace of a successful email marketing campaign is slow and steady, because it goes back to earning your readers trust. It’s your job to make people want to read your emails and by consistently developing your strategy, building your lists, and customizing your content, you will create a campaign that will be impactful and produce long-term results.
What the best subject line or email you’ve ever sent or received?
Rock Paper Scissors
