Knowing your audience is critical to successful e-mail marketing. Smaller businesses that take the time to know who they're communicating with do better than those that quickly push out messages just because they can
E-mail marketing isn't new. We've all seen our in-boxes slammed with spam for a long time. But how can you actually be effective and get results?
Know Your Audience and Be Relevant
Knowing your audience and addressing them directly with relevant content is critical to successful e-mail marketing. Companies that take the time to know who they're communicating with do better than those that quickly push out messages just because they can. This is part of the change occurring as business moves to Web 2.0 -- pushing one message to the world just doesn't cut it anymore.
The more relevant your e-mail is, the more customers will respond. Be relevant. Don't market chainsaws to children. Make sure your content is pertinent, connected, and applicable. Relate it to the needs and wants of your customer. Here's a motivator: Lack of relevance means fewer opened e-mails.
Even with a high open rate, without relevance you're likely to find anemic click-through. The goal is not just to get a customer to read. It's to get him to act. Knowing your audience and providing what is relevant to them is the basis for prompting the behavior you want.
Start with fewer e-mails sent to a more targeted audience to build customer trust and referrals. Even companies that depend on list rental for larger operations will do themselves a favor by targeting tightly to achieve a higher response rate.
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Test and Experiment
The best e-mail marketing campaigns begin with experimentation. Take the time to construct multiple versions of the subject line, the e-mail body, and the landing page for the offer. Test on a small group and determine the open and click-through rates. Be willing to let go of your concepts and revise multiple times.
Trial and error may sound painful, but it produces campaigns that work. Treat the campaign as you would a product prototype.
The funnel illustration at left provides a conceptual view of what occurs in a campaign as customers see and click on the various parts of the e-mail. Keep in mind that 1% is a high rate of click-through.
What Drives Click-Through? Four Things
- Audience: Match your audience with the right offer. If the e-mail doesn't match the list demographics, you're wasting money and time. When buying a list, use as many points of selection as possible to get a close match to your target demographic.
- Offer: If the audience doesn't find the offer compelling, the response rate will reflect it. Test the offer itself along with the subject line, text, and offer landing page. Launch the campaign with the best combination of elements.
- List Quality: Cheap lists aren't likely to produce great results. Rent high quality, test first, and refine the list to get maximum click-through.
- Creativity: Great information and design are compelling. Develop them for the percentage who will take action, not those who won't. Make sure recipients have enough data (text and graphics) to decide to take the next step.
See more Strategy Matters columns by Nilofer Merchant
Next Page: Know Your Customer and How Not to Spam
