It’s a fact. There are three changes that you can make to improve email results by 20%. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Not to quote further statistics at you, but in our recent Email Maturity Benchmarking report, we found that only one 1% of brands are using email to its maximum potential.

So if you’re one of the 99% who aren’t making the most of their email marketing, we’re here to help you make a 20% improvement in your campaigns in just three simple steps.

Step 1: Automated emails based on customer behaviour

Stop trying to go-it-alone.

Automated emails can make your life so much easier by streamlining the process of engaging and converting customers, and will save you the emotional heartache of sending out a scattergun of generic, non-specific emails and wondering why you’re not seeing the ROI you’re seeking.

Only about 50% of companies send a welcome message to new signups, so that’s potentially 50% of your competitors who are missing out on a trick we’ve just given you. They’re missing out on the opportunity to engage with the customers, inform them about the value of their brand and build a stronger relationship, but you won’t be!

Utilise an automation platform like this that allows you to practice behavioural targeting and create beautiful, personalised campaigns for your customers and you’ll reap the benefits!

Step 2. Pre-emptive rather than reactive campaigns

The companies that utilise pre-emptive campaigns are amongst the big-hitters when it comes to campaign success.

Think of McDonalds “Our Food. Your Questions” YouTube video campaigns, which they brought out when they realised that one of the key questions their consumers wanted to know was how their products were made and where the ingredients (particularly the meat) came from. This was something other fast food chains had yet to do and, in the face of a public who are become increasingly more conscious of sustainable farming and the living conditions of livestock, helped instil a sense of trust in McDonalds products.

If there’s something special about the process that goes into creating your product, tell your customers about it, as this allows your consumers to identify your company with that process. Even if your company makes the exact same product as another in the exact same way, a successful pre-emptive campaign allows you to stake your claim on that process and, in doing so, precludes your competitors from doing the same. This ultimately gives you an edge in the market and is one of the key factors that spells success.

Step 3. More precise targeting based on better data use

At the pinnacle of our Email Maturity Model is ‘The Interactor’, who produces sophisticated, tailored emails that are targeted at the individual. It’s a level of email maturity that the many of us will struggle to achieve, be it due to limited time or resource, however there is no reason you cannot segment your data as effectively as you possibly can.

There’s a reason why quality wins over quantity every time, and it comes down to appeal. Messages that are tailored to an individual based on their own unique variables are always going to win over the spray-and-pray generic mass campaigns. Don’t waste your precious time with indiscriminate mass campaigns, and instead invest more wisely in creating segmented lists based on your customer intelligence.

Email is consistently ranked as a leading channel in delivering ROI, which is interesting in light of our benchmarking report findings, that indicated the majority of companies sit firmly in the mid-levels of email sophistication. What this tells us is that companies still see email as a worthwhile investment, even when used ineffectively.

Just imagine how good your ROI would be with a 20% improvement in your email campaigns! Once you’ve used our Email Maturity Model to identify your degree of sophistication, these three steps are a great starting point to guide you on the way to email success, and they’re a sensible, solid investment of your own precious time and limited resources.

 

If you would like more information, check out our Email Maturity Benchmarking Report for further help and guidance.