How to Develop an Email Contact Strategy
- ARTICLES |
Online marketers know what a delicate balance they have to strike when they approaching when and how often to contact the subscribers on their email opt-in lists. In a previous post we talked about the importance of segmenting your email list in an effort to both serve them better, and improve response rates. In this article, we're going to move one more step ahead and look at how to go about developing an email contact strategy that works for your specific subscriber list.
Let's begin by revealing the secret to making all of this work especially well for your list and that is testing. What works for one marketer's list may not work for yours. You are in a particular industry, your subscribers have their own idiosyncrasies, and your relationship or level of rapport with your subscribers also factors into this equation. So, test and track everything in order to discover what will work for you.
James Bunting, in part 5 of his email course, Developing an Email Marketing Strategy, recommends that you begin by giving some thought to what kind of communications you will send to each of your audience groups such as:
Ozur Dogan, of the Chief Marketer blog, suggests these variables when you are developing your email contact strategy:
So now let's recap. You have segmented your opt-in list, you have come up with a set of objectives for what you think they want from you, and what you hope to gain by developing a rapport with them. Now you can develop your contact strategy by testing the above mentioned variables.
Create a spreadsheet where you can track the analytics for each campaign. Test the various elements and track your results.
It may be helpful for you to compare your numbers to industry averages. MailerMailer.com offers an Email Marketing Metrics Report, which shows industry benchmarks, trends and email marketing statistics. Here's how they describe the 2011 report, which is their 11th email metrics report:
"Using data compiled from over 977 million opt-in email newsletters from a sampling of over 1,600 customers, this interactive online report provides benchmark statistics on click rates, open rates, even best days to send, among other vital metrics."
Source: mailermailer.com/resources/metrics/index.rwp
As you continue to send emails, segment your list and track your results and then compare them to industry averages you'll get a better idea of how well you are doing and which areas could use improvement.
Email marketing is far from dead, however, with the increasing competition for your subscriber's attention, you will have to work harder as an email marketer to remain relevant, useful and top-of-mind with your audience or they will simply ignore your emails.
Once you get the formula right for your audience, email marketing can be an effective way to build and grow your audience online. For more tips and strategies for online business visit http://mcreasite.com/blog today.
Let's begin by revealing the secret to making all of this work especially well for your list and that is testing. What works for one marketer's list may not work for yours. You are in a particular industry, your subscribers have their own idiosyncrasies, and your relationship or level of rapport with your subscribers also factors into this equation. So, test and track everything in order to discover what will work for you.
James Bunting, in part 5 of his email course, Developing an Email Marketing Strategy, recommends that you begin by giving some thought to what kind of communications you will send to each of your audience groups such as:
- Prospects
- Customers
- Lapsed customers
- Advocates
Ozur Dogan, of the Chief Marketer blog, suggests these variables when you are developing your email contact strategy:
- Contact frequency
- Contract recency and resting period
- Creative and offer rotation
So now let's recap. You have segmented your opt-in list, you have come up with a set of objectives for what you think they want from you, and what you hope to gain by developing a rapport with them. Now you can develop your contact strategy by testing the above mentioned variables.
Create a spreadsheet where you can track the analytics for each campaign. Test the various elements and track your results.
It may be helpful for you to compare your numbers to industry averages. MailerMailer.com offers an Email Marketing Metrics Report, which shows industry benchmarks, trends and email marketing statistics. Here's how they describe the 2011 report, which is their 11th email metrics report:
"Using data compiled from over 977 million opt-in email newsletters from a sampling of over 1,600 customers, this interactive online report provides benchmark statistics on click rates, open rates, even best days to send, among other vital metrics."
Source: mailermailer.com/resources/metrics/index.rwp
As you continue to send emails, segment your list and track your results and then compare them to industry averages you'll get a better idea of how well you are doing and which areas could use improvement.
Email marketing is far from dead, however, with the increasing competition for your subscriber's attention, you will have to work harder as an email marketer to remain relevant, useful and top-of-mind with your audience or they will simply ignore your emails.
Once you get the formula right for your audience, email marketing can be an effective way to build and grow your audience online. For more tips and strategies for online business visit http://mcreasite.com/blog today.