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Seven (7) Email Marketing Resolutions For 2017

 In Email Marketing, Optimization

It’s 2017 and you wonder if there are still some simple things you can do to increase your email marketing performance this year. Here are 7 practical tips on getting more out of your email campaigns in 2017.

#1: Send More

Businesses are concerned about sending too many emails, but how many is too many? You should send more relevant emails as long as your unsubscribe or complaint rate doesn’t increase above the baseline you had before you increased the frequency. If you send a monthly newsletter with four articles, try a biweekly with two articles, and then move to weekly. Don’t be concerned that the open rates and click-through percentages are lower; what counts is how many actual people opened, clicked and engaged. If the number is higher and the unsubscribe rate is the same, stay the course (learn more on email KPIs)

#2: Short is Better

We live in the age of quick soundbites and social media blurbs. So, get with it and keep it concise. Given that >50% of emails are read on a mobile device keep the subject line short but don’t forget to add a “read more” and link to your blog as well as big and chunky “Calls To Action” that can be clicked with “fat fingers”.

#3: Remail Works

Remailing is an easy strategy that is guaranteed to increase your open rates, engagement and conversions. Simply segment those that did not open your email in the past 48-72 hours and “remail” the same campaign to the non-openers with a difference subject line. We typically see a 25%-50% lift in campaign results. If you use the OpenMoves platform, we automated this feature for you (Learn More).

#4: Mobile FirstDesign for Mobile

Do you know that reading email remains the #1 activity on smartphones? Given the continuous increase in mobile readership it’s imperative that your readers will have a great experience reading your email campaigns on their smartphones without the need to continuously pinch in all directions as this reflects poorly on your brand and conversions. For 2017 PLEASE convert your old email templates to a mobile friendly responsive design that will change the layout of the template based on the size of the reader’s screen. You are guaranteed to see your engagement and conversions increase!

#5: Automate (or Work Harder)

Automated emails are the most effective strategies to improve ROI as they work while you sleep. Spend a little time upfront to create a “what-if-then” strategy for your email campaigns, it’s well worth the effort.

If you have a Lead Generation business, consider creating automation drips for welcome series, lead nurturing after someone filled a form, or behavioral emails based on lack of activity (did not open in 6 moths).

If you run an e-commerce business, a welcome email with a coupon will increase your sales at first touch, a birthday anniversary will make your client happy, while cart, browse and replenishment emails will increase your sales by >10%. Many of our e-commerce clients get >30% of their email revenue from these automated campaigns that generate money while you sleep (see automation examples).

#6: Batch and Blast – or NOT

Don’t “batch and blast” and treat all your email recipients the same. Segment your recipients based on purchase history (can be automated with most e-commerce sites) and send them relevant offers with product recommendations and promotions that relate to their past purchases. Build a “personal connection” and provide content that’s engaging and informative and carries the same voice across your social media and blogs. Newsletters should be full of case studies, best practices, industry updates and so on. If the CTAs lead to a landing page, make sure the page is “sticky” and concise with an easy-to-fill-out form.

#7: Leverage via AdWords and Facebookfacebook-google

Did you know you can leverage your emails lists in multi-channel marketing efforts? You can upload your emails lists (clients or prospects) to Google AdWords (called Customer Match) or Facebook and then remarket to them with branding banners. This feature allows you to remarket to people that have not been to your site! Another very effective method is to load the lists to Facebook or AdWords and use them to find “similar audiences” or “lookalikes” and then advertise to those that have similar interests to your email subscribers (good to segment VIP clients vs prospects).

With these (7) email marketing resolutions your 2017 email marketing results will be stellar.

If you need any help with your email marketing, SEO or SEM  give us a holler.

 

 

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