So what is the most important strategy to get right with email? One way of looking at this is how much extra response something is likely to generate. I’ve taken statistics from our friends in the email marketing industry to give you a flavour of what different strategies could mean for your emailing.
1. Changing the From line
“55.9% of respondents cited knowing and trusting the sender as the primary reason for opening an email” – Return Path
We talk all the time about why the from name is more important than the subject line for getting a customer to open your email. This report from Return Path shows this with the from name being by far the most important factor.
2. You can send more than you think…
“Email frequency send sweet spot is 6.21 emails per week.”
Respected UK Email Marketing Consultant Tim Watson recently published his own research into sending frequency in relation to performance. I wholeheartedly agree and while 6.21 is an average, and averages, in reality, don’t work for any individual it does highlight it’s probably a number higher than you are currently sending.
3. Personalization
“Personalized promotional emails sent during 2013 had 26% higher unique open rates and 41% higher unique click rates than non-personalized mailings.” – Experian “2013 Email Market Study” (2014)
I could pick out numerous studies here but this one summarises the benefits of personalization. What I mean by personalization is where content is unique to the individual, not simply a handful of segmented versions. While that will outperform generic mailings it will only truly become relevant for all when proper personalization and not segmentation is put in place.
4. Pro-active website campaigns drive list growth
“Retailers with a registration model see annual list growth of 47.87% on average” – Listrak 2015
Subscription rates to email generally average between 1% to 3% for most websites without campaigns to acquire more. And knowing that most visitors leave without buying, there is a second opportunity to gather data from those that don’t buy. Using modal lightboxes to popup messages asking for an email address at the opportune time will lead to dramatic list growth.
5. Send time:
“Thursday was the top day for all metrics: percentage sent, open rates and CTR” – Email on Acid “Open Rate Optimization: Is There a ‘Perfect’ Time to Send Your Email?” (2014)
OK, so this final point I don’t necessarily agree with. There isn’t a perfect time to send for everyone but, after all these years it’s still the most popular question we get. In reality, you need to test what works best for you, but don’t focus too much on an optimum time, this is insignificant compared to the quality, relevancy, and value of the content you send.
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