Lets be honest, if your email campaign never gets opened, that qualifies as an instant fail.
Tracking the percentage of subscribers who open specific email initiatives gives marketers insight on overall campaign effectiveness. But tracking a number is just an “FYI”, the next step is understanding why the percentage is what it is and then mapping out the steps to increase the percentage of email open rates.
You could possibly have the greatest promotion ever to offer your customers, you then launch your monthly newsletter, and wait for the revenue to pile up. A few weeks go by and your open rates are flat. You are just left to wonder WHY a large percentage of your subscriber base is not opening your emails.
Every business is unique, so there isn’t one magical solution to crafting the perfect email marketing strategy. But, I will share which strategies do not work across the board.
Certain to FAIL:
- Ignoring email subject lines
- Sending Batch & Blast campaigns
Why are these specific two factors so important? Let’s explore why and how both problematic areas tie together.
The Gateway: Email Subject Lines
If you go to your inbox right now, you will find yourself quickly scanning the numerous subject lines. You aren’t really reading every subject line one by one, instead, you are actively looking for something that is relevant to your interests at the moment.
Chances are very high that a lot of your email will remain unread, the same rings true with your customers. Just like you, they are skimming subject lines waiting for a carefully crafted subject line to incite engagement.
So how do you start writing subject lines that guide your audience to take action?
ME ME ME Mindset
The key is creating value for the recipient by offering a quality takeaway or something of perceived value within the email subject line. Retailers make the mistaken perception that their products are so amazing that all they have to do is talk about how fantastic their company is and sales will just come pouring in. The reality is, consumers are self-centered and they are only interested in what your business will do for them.
The key here is to make your subjects lines about your customers and clearly indicate what you are offering such how your products solve a common problem.
The Art of Soft Selling
From a psychological standpoint, customers understand that you want to sell them products
but are empowered by knowing they are in control of where to spend their hard earned dollars. Smart marketers will strategically cater to the buyers ego to restore balance in the retailers favor.
By offering product related content such as user guides, product updates, related product promotions, , you offer customers something of value that relates to your company.
Lose subject line shame
Automated subject line ideas for customers who purchase these example products:
Running shoes: “Your New Running Shoes: Maximize Performance”
Email Content: Tips for runners. Product recommendations for socks, shoe laces, gel pads and sneaker cleaner.
HDTV: “Getting Started with your HDTV”
Email Content: An informative guide for setting up devices, how to optimize viewing in different spaces and configuring sound and audio. Include related HDTV accessories, gaming systems and surround sound devices.
Of course, it would be ridiculous to send the “Getting Started with your HDTV” guide to customers who just purchased running shoes and vice versa. Great marketing starts with segmenting your customers broad transactional data into actionable metrics which can be used to create targeted email campaigns.
How to even begin to tackle the process of unraveling your customer data is understandably overwhelming. On the flip side, not segmenting this data creates the second source of low email open rates: Batch and Blast Email Campaigns.
Batch & Blast FAIL
If your marketer is sending batch & blast email campaigns to your subscriber base they are tainting your brands reputation. I’m not tell you what to do, but standing up and firing him/her right this very second would garner a stern nod of approval.
Don’t bother to calculate your email marketing ROI if your customers are only offered bulk promotions. Each of your customers has a different lifetime value, buying pattern and purchase history therefore, retailers need to target buyers with relevant campaigns.
Your most loyal customers and most frequent buyers would find a subject line which read: “Save 10% online” as off-putting. In contrast, sending your entire list, including subscribers who haven’t purchased yet, the subject line: “Thank you, here’s a $25 Reward” would quickly bankrupt a business.
But, by knowing which customer’s spend the most and which haven’t made a purchase yet, it’s simple to send targeted email promotions without the worry.
On a more simple level, if you have a B&M and online store: Why send your online customers promotions to your local store? In this perspective, it just doesn’t make good business sense. Creating a simple customer segment separating your B&M and online shoppers then, sending targeted campaigns to these groups will help foster engagement with your campaigns.
Because the cost of new customer acquisition is so high retailers need to reward their best customers, attempting to recapture churning customers and to overall, offer quality, engaging content to increase loyalty and retention within email marketing campaigns.
Takeaway: A good marketer understands that by making customer data actionable with segmentation and then sending targeted campaigns to their subscriber base is the key behind a successful email marketing strategy.
Don’t miss our FREE Valentine’s Day Toolkit for Marketers which includes:
- Valentine’s Day email campaign schedule & calendar
- Analysis of successful Valentine’s Day emails
- 100 email subject lines for Valentine’s Day
- Guide to mapping subject lines to relevant content
- Strategies for personalization & customer segmentation
- Commentary on Valentine’s Day email designs
Feel free to shoot me an email with insights or questions, just make sure your subject line doesn’t suck. ;)
Why Your Email Campaign Open Rate Sucks
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