Email marketing is as strong as ever, with 85% of executives agreeing that email marketing performance is increasing. This is according to a Nov 2017 report by Return Path in partnership with Ascend2. Of those surveyed, 58% said that email performance is increasing significantly.
Executives believe that email performance is on the rise as well as a successful channel for achieving objectives. Over 90 percent of executives surveyed believe their email marketing strategy is successful in achieving important objectives, with six out of ten describing their success as best in class.
When asked about the most important objectives of an email marketing program, respondent stated the following:
- 51% – increasing ROI
- 44% – increasing conversions
- 44% – increasing list growth
Conversions are the most important metrics of success, with two-thirds of the executives surveyed stating that conversions are the most useful metric for measuring email marketing performance, followed by ROI (44 percent) and click throughs (41 percent).
The most effective email tactics include personalization, social sharing capabilities, and a meaningful call-to-action.
The most difficult techniques to execute include list segmentation (42%), testing and optimization (38%), and message personalization (35%).
Email marketing continues to evolve but one thing remains constant – its success continues to trend upwards. To take your email success to the next level, make sure you have some of the basics in place:
Segment Your Email List
When it comes to sending more effective email campaigns and boosting email open rates, list segmentation has been the best strategy that’s helped businesses generate more than 14% email opens and get 100.95% clicks from email campaigns.
List segmentation is all about creating personalized emails. The segments can be as large or as small as you want, but the more targeted the segment the more it will resonate with your customers. Email segmentation doesn’t need to be a daunting task either – simply starting with when a purchase was last made is a start. But the larger your database and the more varied your product portfolio, the more sophisticated your techniques should become.
The most successful email marketers understand the importance of using data to drive focused campaigns. Data about each of your customer interactions must be combined into one consolidated customer view. Any number of segmentation strategies can then be applied to create hyper-targeted lists.
For example, a clothing retailer may consider creating segments for females between the ages of 28-34 with a combined household income of $150,000 and who have indicated interests in fashion. These consumers have made new item purchases within the last 4 weeks totaling over $150 and are ideal candidates for accessory purchases. Armed with these insights into demographics and purchase history, a marketer can deploy emails with personalized offers such as “Hello Mary. Thank you for your recent purchase from our summer dress line. We thought these accessories would go great with your new dress.” Your customer will appreciate the personalized recommendation as you happily cross-sell her additional products.
Design For Mobile – Always
First and foremost, if you aren’t designing your emails for mobile devices, chances are that your message is not getting the attention it deserves. Mobile-friendly design is the most crucial component for successful mobile email marketing. In fact, 80% of users will delete an email if it does not look good on their mobile devices, according to Blue Hornet. So for those who say that email marketing is dead, they are probably not using responsive design!
Pay attention to your copy. A great subject line can boost your email open rates but a good rule of thumb is to keep it below 50 characters. Your opening line must be relevant and compelling since this is what will appear in the preview window on mobile devices.
The body copy should also be easy to read on any size device. Use subheadings, short paragraphs, and plenty of line breaks. Also avoid content that requires too much clicking or scrolling. There are plenty of email guides and best practicing on how to incorporate a mobile-friendly design into your email so be sure to do your research and implement mobile-first design best practices.
For email marketers, getting through to your email’s inbox is only half the battle. Capturing your customer’s attention is the true testament to a well-crafted email based on targeted communications and an integrated database.
Download our Email Marketing Kit for Success for more great tips and tactics to boost your email marketing success.
