Are You Sending Too Many of the Wrong Emails? June 22, 2018, | Posted by erin

A recurring issue for many brands and email marketers is evaluating the usefulness of the types of emails they send out--whether those are automated emails, or individual, targeted ones. At Site Impact, we’re constantly working to understand what consumers respond to, and taking inventory of the best practices in the industry--as well as the worst ones. And a recurring problem that bogs down not only budgets but also overall campaign strategy efforts is sending too many of the wrong types of emails. It may seem like an obvious observation to make, but what actually counts as the wrong type may occasionally surprise marketers and brands alike; it’s amazing what inertia and the sense of something that a brand has always done will do to weigh campaigns down. With that in mind, there are a few examples we want to highlight, to consider removing from your repertoire.

First to look at is the unsubscribe email. These are those automatic emails that brands send to recipients who have opted to unsubscribe/opt out of their lists; either through Gmail’s in-platform feature or going to the site directly. These emails are a leftover from another era in email marketing, when there really was a need to confirm to recipients that they had successfully been unsubscribed from the list. At the very best, it’s an obsolete feature--most consumers will inherently assume that their action taken has removed them from the list and future emails sent to the members of that list. It also skirts a violation of regulations like CAN-SPAM, and even worse: it increases the recipient’s apathy--or may even bump it up into antipathy--towards the brand. When someone asks to receive no more emails, it is safest to assume that they do not want any more emails.

In general, brands should try and cut as many unnecessary “confirmation” emails as possible, because these messages are not just a relic of a bygone era in email marketing: they’re actively annoying for recipients to receive. Of course, there is always--and will always be--a place for certain kinds of very necessary confirmation emails; but there are many types of confirmation that consumers simply don’t need anymore, that serve no purpose other than to junk up their inbox. Confirming someone has subscribed to your list--without any kind of offer, just a straight confirmation--falls under this category. If your brand has a value-add for subscription (for example, a discount on a first purchase, a free download, etc), sending that along to the email recipient is, itself, a confirmation of their successful signup. While there are legalities to consider, brands should look into cutting the fat where they can, and confirming things that your recipients will already know to be true is the biggest area to make those trims.

There is always room to make an email campaign or an overall strategy leaner, meaner, and more efficient. By eliminating the chaff from your repertoire of automated emails, your brand can focus more fully on those emails that actually bring value and provide a return on the investment--whether that’s in conversions, customer engagement, or retention. Contact Site Impact today to find out what we can do to help you audit your email types and get things down to a volume that makes more sense.