Testing different versions of the same email can lead to large gains in sales and/or click-throughs to your site.
Bob Frady at Direct Marketing Central mentions a statistic showing that only 54% of email marketers actually split-test their emails. This can be a competitive opportunity for you. If your competitors aren’t testing and you are, you will have an advantage over them in the long run.
Bob mentions these seven reasons why some email marketers do not properly use split-testing, avoid them if you can:
- The people running email marketing programs are not direct marketers.
- Tests are too different from the current best version of the email.
- Know-it-all executives.
- Tests are designed badly.
- Tests are too big.
- When a test is successful, they push the “GO” button too fast.
- Email software doesn’t make it easy to measure tests.
For more analysis of each of the seven points above, check out the full article at Direct Marketing Central.
Vertical Response, an email marketing service, recently released a PDF outlining several ways to boost business through your email marketing campaigns. You can find the PDF here and I’ve also outlined some of the information below:
1) Generate Word of Mouth
- Ask customers to spread the word.
- Give people something to talk about.
- Make it easy.
- Make your network work for you.
2) Offer Financial Incentives
- Straight discount
- Package deals
- Shipping deals
3) Create A Buy One, Get One Offer
read more…
Elena Hekimian at the Blue Sky Factory Blog outlines some things to remember when you’re sending your subscribers a thank you email after an event.
Here are three key points:
1) Make Sure Your Thank You Email Is Timely
While you don’t want to send an email immediately after the event, you also shouldn’t wait until weeks later. Give people some time to let things sink in (at least a day) and then send them the thank you email.
2) Get Feedback From Subscribers
The thank you email is a great time to ask subscribers how you can improve or get them to mention things that they particularly enjoyed. You may be able to get some useful testimonials by simply asking the right questions.
3) Point Them To Additional Resources
Assuming they enjoyed the event, your subscribers will likely never be more primed to receive additional information on the topics covered. Link to further resources on your site to take advantage of their heightened interest.
To see Elena’s take on these three suggestions and more, click through to her article on the Blue Sky Factory Blog
A recent post on Listrak’s blog outlines an often overlooked aspect of email split testing. Split testing is a way to test different email copy, subject lines, and even from lines to see which version of an email performs the best.
Statistical significance is a way of ensuring that your test results actually have meaning. If the sample sizes are too small, there’s a good chance that any measurable difference in click-through rates between the two emails is simply random chance. Obviously, you don’t want to base any decision on results that can’t be trusted.
read more…
Even the best email marketers are going to get a few spam complaints from time to time. Some readers won’t bother to unsubscribe and will instead simply mark an email as spam when they’re no longer interested in your content.
This is why it’s important to follow up on spam complaints and try to remove the person from your list who marked your email spam. Otherwise you may end up getting a new spam complaint with each email you send out and your deliverability will suffer.
Recent delivery rate benchmarks (link and link) released by eMarketer showed that the average is somewhere between 94% and 99%.
ExactTarget writes that 99% seems too high for an average and that 94% seems to low. They suggest that anything below 96% should be investigated further because:
“Permission-based email marketers who send on a regular schedule do not tend to fall below the 96% threshold on a consistent basis.”
The quality of your email list is important. The more targeted your list is, the more happy your subscribers will be. And ultimately it’s better to have 1,000 happy subscribers than it is to have 5,000 subscribers who may or may not find your content useful.
Jake at Succeed At Email Marketing outlines a strategy that uses subscriber satisfaction surveys to make sure that you’re creating the kind of content that your subscribers are looking for.
This strategy will lead to a smaller list, but a more-targeted one. One that costs less money, but has a higher conversion rate.
Here’s how to get started:
read more…
Sometimes it can be frustrating when someone signs up for your email list, but never clicks the confirmation link. It almost seems like you’ve created an extra hurdle for interested readers to jump over before they can get you content. However, requiring readers to confirm their subscription has its benefits.
ISIPP offers this argument in favor of a double opt-in strategy:
“[W]hy should you go that extra step, and require confirmation? Here’s why: It’s the only way to prove your innocence to a claim that you spammed someone – it’s the only way to prove it to the ISPs and spam filters who will have to look at your word versus the the word of their own user who claimed that you spammed them.”
The article also includes three examples of how not using double opt-in can get email marketers in serious trouble.
Loren McDonald at EmailInsider has put together a list of things that email marketers should know if they want to be successful.
Here’s a quick summary:
1) Email Strategy
Knowing how to create a marketing plan that maximizes the effectiveness of your resources.
2) List Building/Acquisition
Knowing how to grow a list through tactics like list rental, POP displays, co-registration, Web site, landing page and form optimization.
3) Email Design
The ability to design specifically for email, which is substantially different from web design.
4) Deliverability
An understanding of how to get your emails delivered, including things like authentication, list hygiene, frequency, relevance, content filtering and adherence to ISP email practices.
5) Copywriting
The ability to write in a way that convinces readers to take action.
6) Database Marketing
An understanding of how to use customer data, segmentation, personalization, and testing.
7) Legal Issues
A working knowledge of your country’s laws regulating commercial email.
8) Email Trends & Best Practices
A desire to keep up with the latest trends in email marketing, which is a dynamic industry.
A more in-depth discussion of each of these points is available at EmailInsider.
The from line in an email has a huge impact on whether or not it will be opened by readers. While it’s tempting to experiment with new strategies, it’s important not to get too clever with your from line.
Stick with the most recognizable version of your name. That may be your own name or, more likely, your company name.
