Like any marketing effort, email marketing campaigns require constant analysis and tweaking in order to maintain success. This doesn’t require a huge amount of effort or time though, so don’t panic – there are a few simple things you can do to continue improving your email marketing campaigns over the long term…
Check your delivery rates
It’s all very well sending out thousands of emails, but if they aren’t actually getting through to your recipients’ inboxes, then it’s a waste of time and money. Be sure to regularly check how many of your emails are being delivered and opened. If the rate is lower than you’d like, there are two key things you should consider. Firstly, are you sending the emails from an authenticated, genuine address? If not, your emails may be blocked by ISPs or inbox providers. Secondly, if the title uses well-known spam trigger words/phrases (which can include even the most innocent words, like ‘order’, ‘buy’ or ‘opportunity’) then the chances they’ll make it into the inbox are slim.
Re-assess the relevancy of your content
Are you sending the most relevant content possible to every single one of your recipients? If not, you should be. All it takes is one email with irrelevant, non-value-add content and you could lose a subscriber. Be sure to tailor your messages by demographic, by recipients’ stage in the buying cycle, by their location… Basically by as many filters as possible. That way, you can ensure your messages are relevant every time and improve your open/click-through rates. Ultimately, your conversions may also be positively impacted.
Optimise your emails for different devices
These days, you simply cannot rely upon everyone opening their email on a desktop or laptop computer. In fact, chances are they won’t – not with the proliferation of smartphones, tablets and netbooks. As such, you need to ensure your emails are optimised for all different devices. If you don’t do this, all it will take is one peeved-off iPad user to drop your subscriber rates. That way, you can reach all facets of your audience without worry; ensuring that the content displays in a way that’s right for them.
Clearly display your opt-out function
This one sounds a little counter-intuitive, but it will actually help your campaign in the long run. First of all, offering an opt-out is the law. You just have to do it. For those of you thinking you can just tuck a little link away at the bottom of your email, perhaps in font size six, don’t! No-one wants to lose subscribers, but you’re likely to annoy your recipients even more by making them hunt for the opt-out link. Make it easy for them and use it as a chance to gather invaluable data on what’s making your emails not so palatable for some. You never know – by making it easy and showing that you care about why they’re leaving, you may even win them back in the long run.
Include social sharing buttons in all emails
Don’t make your recipients have to keep your email open, create another browser tab, find their favourite social media site, log in and then be able to share your content. If you had to do that, would you share? Probably not. Make it easy as possible for them by including clear social sharing buttons on each of your emails. Doing this increases the likelihood that they’ll share your content, improving your audience reach and ultimately bolstering your chances of gaining even more subscribers/customers. Why wouldn’t you put in a few minutes’ effort to achieve this?!