As 2017 draws to a close, it’s definitely time to finish up preparations to start the New Year on the right foot, which means getting back to the basics of email marketing, Site Impact’s specialty. It’s important to refresh on the fundamentals from time to time, to make sure that your efforts continue to give you a return; even with all of the shiny, new technological innovations and strategies that come down the line every month--almost every week--there are some things that remain true year after year, and the beginning of the year is a great time to do the hard work of digging in and getting down to the most important things.
The first place to audit your efforts is the content of your email messages. Not just the body content, but the subject lines are important; as we’ve mentioned before, studies show that a good subject line can make all the difference in open rates--and subscribers who don’t open your email are ones who aren’t going to get to see your message. Look over successful and unsuccessful campaigns alike, and look at what the subject lines have in common. A simple tactic to encourage opens is to limit your email subject lines to no more than 75 characters--it’s surprisingly tough, but it gives your subject line the punch you’re looking for, to keep it short. Of course, even if the subject line is alluring, the body content can make someone decide not to click through. Use direct, active content that conveys a sense of urgency; short time frames, fast sales and promotions, limited quantities and more are ways to enhance subscribers’ sense of need.
Another place to dig in is in testing and metrics. Something Site Impact recommends, A/B testing is the bread and butter of email marketing, and heading into a new year is a good time to see what works and what doesn’t, to start off new campaigns and efforts on the right foot. Simple A/B testing is beyond easy: send two different versions of your message to a small portion of your overall audience--like, say, 5-10% of the overall list. Now for the important part: let the test run long enough to collect solid results. Many marketers wait 12-24 hours, but it takes up to 48 hours to gather the kind of in-depth data that drives the best decisions. Test every aspect of your content and design: subject lines, email body, font, layout, color, offers, frequency of messages and more, and when you know what works, send that out to everyone.
Finally, look at your goals. If you don’t have specific goals heading into a new year of email campaigns, then you are going to end up wasting a great deal of time and money chasing elusive ideas. Spend the last week of the year setting up specific goals and breaking them down into smaller initiatives, and take that list into planning and developing efforts. Know what it will take to achieve the goals you’re interested in making happen in 2018, and how your budget and development efforts will play into that.
Getting back to basics when it comes to email marketing may seem a bit silly, but heading into the new year of marketing efforts invites us all to re-evaluate and audit the efforts from the year, and starting from fundamental premises provides an excellent springboard from which to launch your brand into a high-momentum, high-return year of campaigns.
Call Site Impact today to work with our industry leading marketing experts to launch your next email marketing and digital advertising campaign! (954-982-7900, info@siteimpact.com)
As 2017 draws to a close, it’s definitely time to finish up preparations to start the New Year on the right foot, which means getting back to the basics of email marketing, Site Impact’s specialty. It’s important to refresh on the fundamentals from time to time, to make sure that your efforts continue to give you a return; even with all of the shiny, new technological innovations and strategies that come down the line every month--almost every week--there are some things that remain true year after year, and the beginning of the year is a great time to do the hard work of digging in and getting down to the most important things.
The first place to audit your efforts is the content of your email messages. Not just the body content, but the subject lines are important; as we’ve mentioned before, studies show that a good subject line can make all the difference in open rates--and subscribers who don’t open your email are ones who aren’t going to get to see your message. Look over successful and unsuccessful campaigns alike, and look at what the subject lines have in common. A simple tactic to encourage opens is to limit your email subject lines to no more than 75 characters--it’s surprisingly tough, but it gives your subject line the punch you’re looking for, to keep it short. Of course, even if the subject line is alluring, the body content can make someone decide not to click through. Use direct, active content that conveys a sense of urgency; short time frames, fast sales and promotions, limited quantities and more are ways to enhance subscribers’ sense of need.
Another place to dig in is in testing and metrics. Something Site Impact recommends, A/B testing is the bread and butter of email marketing, and heading into a new year is a good time to see what works and what doesn’t, to start off new campaigns and efforts on the right foot. Simple A/B testing is beyond easy: send two different versions of your message to a small portion of your overall audience--like, say, 5-10% of the overall list. Now for the important part: let the test run long enough to collect solid results. Many marketers wait 12-24 hours, but it takes up to 48 hours to gather the kind of in-depth data that drives the best decisions. Test every aspect of your content and design: subject lines, email body, font, layout, color, offers, frequency of messages and more, and when you know what works, send that out to everyone.
Finally, look at your goals. If you don’t have specific goals heading into a new year of email campaigns, then you are going to end up wasting a great deal of time and money chasing elusive ideas. Spend the last week of the year setting up specific goals and breaking them down into smaller initiatives, and take that list into planning and developing efforts. Know what it will take to achieve the goals you’re interested in making happen in 2018, and how your budget and development efforts will play into that.
Getting back to basics when it comes to email marketing may seem a bit silly, but heading into the new year of marketing efforts invites us all to re-evaluate and audit the efforts from the year, and starting from fundamental premises provides an excellent springboard from which to launch your brand into a high-momentum, high-return year of campaigns.
Call Site Impact today to work with our industry leading marketing experts to launch your next email marketing and digital advertising campaign! (954-982-7900, info@siteimpact.com)