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I´m an admitted email junkie. It´s a dangerous
combination—part pack rat, part exterminator. Lately, it seems like
I´m spending more and more time determining what to save and what to
delete from the 80 to 100 emails and e-newsletters I receive every
day.
Email has become a part of the way we do business, communicate and
keep up with current events. With more than a billion messages
transmitted daily, email has become a great medium for marketers, as
my example shows.
By eliminating the cost of ink, paper and postage, email provides a
cheaper, more efficient alternative to traditional direct mail. But,
for some, the ease and low cost of email have eclipsed the need to
uphold traditional marketing standards. What these marketers forget is
that if done incorrectly, email can be just a cheap way to send the
wrong message to the wrong target audience.
What are the critical elements of a successful email program? We
believe there are three: the quality of the database, the quality of
the message and the quality of the implementation and follow-through.
WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?
Many marketing campaigns have failed despite being highly creative.
Even the best email campaign in the world won´t accomplish anything if
you don´t reach the right people, which is why your database is
critical to the success of your program.
Don´t assume just because your audience is computer savvy that they
will respond to email marketing. In fact, people who receive hundreds
of emails a day (e.g., business owners, IT professionals or
journalists) may be more inclined to delete unsolicited messages or to
simply forward the messages to their assistants.
If you are starting from scratch, you´ll probably start by purchasing
an existing database. For B2B marketers, trade magazines are usually a
reliable source for purchasing a database. However, not all
publications will make these lists directly available. If ultimately
your database will only include several hundred or thousand names, you
may find building it from scratch is your best bet. If you do decide
to purchase your database from an outside source, make sure to
understand its pedigree. More importantly, single opt in and double
opt in databases are generally more valuable to marketers and will
generate more return on your investment.
If you are unsure about the quality of a purchased database, you might
want to test the error rate by sending your campaign to a random
sample from your database. While testing your error rate, you will
also get an early indication of how your audience will respond to your
message. Based on that response, you can revise the message before
sending it to your entire database.
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
Email is a tool that moves customers through the sales process, so
grab your audience´s attention, provide them with the most important
information and include an incentive or a call-to-action with a link
to additional information.
The subject line may be the most critical element of your email
message. Remember, the folks on your database may be receiving dozens
or hundreds of messages a day. As with traditional direct mailing, the
first challenge in email marketing is getting people to "open" your
message.
The subject line is equivalent to the teaser line of a flat or
dimensional direct mail piece. Like an effective teaser, an effective
subject line can prevent your email from joining the majority of
messages that end up in the garbage unread.
I recently heard from a reporter who was frustrated with the number of
emails she receives daily. She encourages people writing to her to put
her name in all capital letters in the subject line, to alert her that
it´s a message she needs to read. This brings up an interesting point.
As our consumers have become inundated with email, they, too, are no
longer quick to open every message they receive.
Whether you choose to personalize the subject line or to simply use
something catchy, it should be limited to four to six words and should
engage the recipient to open your message. If you go into eight to ten
words, some words—maybe the whole gist of your message—will be lost.
Once a recipient opens your email message, you have a very short
amount of time to engage them before they delete the message. So keep
your email as short as possible. If you haven´t enticed your audience
in the first few sentences, they won´t bother to scroll down.
Limit the copy to your key messages and a link to more information.
Think of email as a tool to move interested customers to more
information. Your email should motivate potential customers to pursue
additional information.
The following is an example of an email message that our firm created
to draw traffic to a microsite we created for our client Telution.
How do you make a tradeshow splash? Just ask the folks at Telution,
a leading software development firm for the telecommunications
industry and one of Chicago´s fastest-growing companies. Last
February, they turned heads at OSS 2001 with bold exhibit graphics and
a strategic marketing blitz developed by Slack Barshinger & Partners.
The result? Better exhibit traffic and a bucketful of qualified
business leads. See the whole story at http://www.slackbarshinger.com/telution.
Finally, always give recipients the opportunity to remove themselves
from your mailing list.
WHO SHOULD SAY IT?
Because email has become a casual communication tool among colleagues,
friends and family, many marketers approach email marketing casually
as well. For that reason, we approach email marketing as we would
approach a print ad—we use a professional copywriter. A good
copywriter can portray that message in a most compelling way, using as
few words as possible. Why some firms don´t have their emails written
by professionals is a mystery.
Additionally, how your email looks is equally important as the
message. If you choose to use any kind of design, be sure to include a
creative team. Most importantly, know your audience´s capabilities.
Don´t craft an HTML email if your audience can´t open it. When in
doubt, use a text message.
DID ANYONE HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID?
While there´s never a guarantee any marketing campaign will be a
success, there are ways to test your email campaign for an indication
of its effectiveness.
Test panels that parallel the demographics of your database can
provide insight into your final results. Focus groups and one-on-one
interviews are useful for determining tactics that are effective
within your target market. You can provide sample subject lines and
body copy to measure what motivates this group. You can also recruit
current customers, alert them about the mailing and test your email on
them to measure their response.
In fact, email marketing can actually be used as a tool as a cost
efficient research tool. For an upcoming project, we used email to
determine the key messages for our target audience. By crafting a
creative email message and using a clean database we obtained from a
reliable source, we were able arrange 72 hour-long interviews. In most
cases, the recipients responded within the first 24 hours. The
responses we received from these interviews provided us with insight
into future marketing to this group.
The most important thing to remember is that email is a sales tool.
And like any tool, you have to know how to use it effectively.
Identifying your audience and giving them the information and the
resources to learn more in a creative and easy-to-use format increases
your chances for executing a successful marketing program.
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