Our team recently attended a wonderful event held by the AMA Baltimore Chapter on March 7th, 2012. The presentation was led by Amy Holloman, Senior Strategic Account manager at WhatCounts, Inc., an email marketing service provider dedicated to helping clients find and grow their email marketing ROI. We gained invaluable insight into successful email marketing and have formulated our Top 5 Do’s of implementing an email campaign. Enjoy!
The 5 Do’s of Email Marketing:
1.Integrate Social Media and Email
With the emergence of various social media platforms, why not build your presence through email? It’s a two-way street; not only can social media generate interest in your company, such as through content sharing, but your company can also use social awareness email campaigns to educate your audience on your social media presence.
2.Targeted Messaging
Don’t let your messaging efforts go by the wayside. By segmenting your audience, you can increase your open and click performance by re-engaging your current audience or attracting potential customers. Two main components of targeted messaging include personalization, by speaking directly to your subscribers to build a relationship, and landing pages, which send users to a customized page based on their actions.
3.Automated Sending
Two effective types of automated sending include action-based campaigns and time-based campaigns. Action-based can be a welcome email that is sent when a customer simply visits your site and subscribes or submits their information. This helps reinforce your brand and message. Time-based can be used to offer incentives, follow-up notifications, discounts, reminders, you name it. This gentle reminder keeps your audience engaged with your company.
4.Test Your Effectiveness
How do you know if what your sending via email is working? Test your efforts using an A/B Split Test, which evaluates the effectiveness of various components of your email content. Whether you’re testing the text format, subject links, graphics or simply looking to ensure all email creatives render properly, the A/B Split Test is the best tool to optimize your email campaign.
5. Planning and Analytics
Now more than ever, it is important to set attainable goals for your company. The last step to creating a successful email campaign is to establish your objectives and measure your diagnostics, such as open rates, click-through rates, and complaint rates, using the A/B Split Test. Every company wants to increase new sales and broaden its audience base; gaining concrete data of your efforts will allow your company to take progressive steps towards an integrated email campaign.
Final Tips:
- Avoid all CAPITAL LETTERED WORDS!
- Defer from using words such as free.
- No deceiving subject lines.
- Quarterly list-cleanings allow you to have constantly updated lists and continue audience engagement.
- Be open to creative critique from your customer base, whether through your website, emails or newsletters.
We hope that our 5 Do’s and quick tips will help you accomplish your email campaign goals! For more information about the AMA Baltimore and upcoming events in your area, please visit their website at: http://www.amabaltimore.com.
By Kathryn Fox and Rachel Ballatori
Jess Watson is the CEO & Creative Director of Points North Studio. She's the co-organizer of Baltimore Womxn in Tech, a big believer in Baltimore city, and a pioneer of working remotely while traveling the globe.
