Email marketing has received some very unfair press lately! Reading forums and articles about the conversion of only 2% of each campaign. We are company made up of both developers and marketeers and the purpose of this blog is to look for the reasons surrounding the low conversation rate.
We already know email marketing is both easy and affordable! so why do we make a mess of it?
In a study done only last year the faults lay with both the coding and content displayed. Here are just 6 key points you must add to each newsletter.
1. Include a link to your blog in the email content
2. Include a forward to friend link - think about it! they forward it on that person clicks on a link and we capture that information perfect our mailing list has now got bigger. Statistics claim that 50% of emails sent last year did not include "a forward to friend" link in the email. (Guilty as charged!)
3. Personalising the email. So the email reads 'Dear Sean' rather than 'Hi', 'You might be interested in...' But how about the Sign off? 'Yours truely, Sean Sale'. Remember there are complicated email spam algorithms just waiting to sniff your emails out and send them to spam; regardless of whether you have emailed the customer in the past! Remember many automated tools do not sit on your email server so effectively although you have permission it will not recognise you as an existing mailer.
4. Gathering up data from 'click-throughs' or asking key target questions for your next mailshot. For example: A DVD customer of ours would be interested in what Genre a customer prefers so key target emails can be sent.
5. All emails should contain the legal registered company name, address and registration number.
6. With the introduction of smart phones we need to test our templates on these devices. Again guilty as charged and we will be checking newsletters to ensure the content is visible on a mobile screen. Especially as this is the new technology on the block.
Researchers have concluded 19% of recipients will not read an email if they believe its spam i.e. if the email is blank as images are switched off. If none of the main content is renderable and of course if they don't recognise the sender.
A lot of the issues are down to poor coding and real-estate issues of how the content is laid in the email. As marketeers we need to think about what we are asking the receiver to do! Is there a clear click-through to action. For example: This weeks Blu-Ray recommendation: purchase The Rocky 5 Boxset.
So in conclusion the main reasons for unsuccessful campaigns is down to lazy programmers and simple actions above that need to be included. If you want more help do contact us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)