Email is an important tool to an overall marketing strategy and can still be highly effective if implemented properly. Email is no longer just a numbers game. Detailed personalization, eye-catching subject lines and valuable content are all necessary ingredients to an effective email campaign. When looking at your email strategy as a whole, there are ten questions to consider.
How Many Companies Are In Your Target Market?
Having a good idea of what your total universe looks like will let you know whether or not your current data needs to be bolstered. It can also tell you whether or not your product has enough of a market to be successful. Email marketing allows you to reach a wide audience at a relatively low cost and few resources. Knowing how many companies reside in your target market is an important first step in your audit.
How Many Companies Are In Your Prospect Database?
Out of your total target market, how many are you currently reaching out to? It is possible your audience is too small and you need to broaden your demographics. In other cases, it may be necessary to narrow your niche to ensure you’re reaching out to truly qualified targets. You’ll also want to take a look at the last time your database was updated. Lists decay rapidly and it can harm your reputation if you blast to universe of bad email addresses.
How Are Your Contacts Segmented?
Contact list segmentation allows you to reach out with more relevant content that is refined to a particular buyer persona. Segments can be made using both demographic and psychographic data. This makes your campaigns more effective and will cut down on unsubscribes. It can also give you insights into which segments help you garner the most business, allowing you to focus your resources where they will be most effective.
How Many Touches Are Your Contacts Receiving Per Month?
While the proper volume of emails being sent to your database can be debatable, reaching out to them once a week will ensure your company stays at the top of their minds. Each email should include fresh content that is relevant to that particular segment. While content and service offers can be reused across different campaigns, updating your CTAs and landing pages can make them appear less repetitive.
What Are Your Top Performing Campaigns?
What worked in the past may work again. As your contact database evolves you will want to look back on previous campaigns and reach out to members of your new audience with the ones that were most effective. It’s also a good idea to change up your subject lines and incorporate those who did not click or open during the previous campaign. Perhaps an offer made to one segment may be effective for another one. This highlights the importance of having access to in-depth email analytics.
What Are Your Top Performing Subject Lines?
Subject lines are what gets your recipients excited about opening your email. They also communicate the purpose of your email. Take a look back into your previous sends to identify your highest performing subject lines. What do they have in common? How can they be reused? Brainstorming new email subject lines should begin with looking at what performed best in the past.
What Is Your Open Rate?
While open rates can be a bit misleading due to a number of a variables, it is still a strong indicator of the effectiveness of your subject lines and segmentation strategy. Research what the average open rates are in your industry and then compare those with your own. If you’re coming up short, it may be time to brainstorm some fresh subject lines and readdress your contact segmentation.
What Is Your Click Through Rate?
Your click rate gives insight into the relevance of your content and the value of your offer. If your open rates are acceptable but you’re not receiving your desired number of clicks, you may want to review your copy and your premium offers. Your copy should be clear and concise with a singular offer being presented. The design of your email can also affect your click rate. Be sure you don’t have too many images and that you’re including enough white space to break up your copy.
What Is Your Conversion Rate?
Once someone clicks on your offer, are they converting into a lead? This number will tell you if your landing pages are effective and whether or not you’re targeting the right audience with the right content and offer. Increasing conversion rates is among the top priorities of email marketers and it takes analyzing every aspect of your campaigns to identify areas with room for improvement.
How Many Customers Have Your Gained From Email Marketing?
The true measure of any marketing campaign is the number of customers you acquire through your efforts. Does your strategy just need a bit of fine tuning or do you need a complete overhaul? Email can be an extremely efficient tool to build brand awareness, nurture leads and generate leads, but as with every other aspect of your marketing strategy, it should be audited periodically to maintain its effectiveness.
Social media, email, paid advertising, blogging, and website strategies should all be audited periodically to ensure you’re getting the most out of each channel. This guide will walk you through many of the questions you need to ask when auditing your digital marketing strategy.
