10/17/2014
Email marketing can offer you an affordable and effective way to increase exposure for your brand and earn new customers. However, it's shocking how many business owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs are working off of a mediocre email marketing list (or even worse--no list at all).
There could be several reasons why your list is not helping to drive conversions, and outlined below are three of the most common reasons why your list quite frankly, *ahem*, sucks:
You're Lacking Data
Don't make the mistake of collecting just an email address for your marketing lists. Yes, while an email address can help you to get your foot in the door, you can be so much more effective if you are armed with more subscriber data. The more information that you know about your subscribers, the more personal you can make your email marketing campaigns feel. This can help to strengthen the relationship between you and your customer, making him or her more likely to buy from you in the future.
To help improve the quality of data that you are collecting, consider asking for some more contact information. For example, asking for a name, location, and email address can substantially benefit your targeted email marketing efforts and shouldn't make subscribers feel uncomfortable. But don't try and get everything all at once! As a rule of thumb, you will want to keep the number of fields on your contact form between three and five.
Your Subscribers Haven't Opted-In
Occasionally, business owners and marketers can become confused about the difference between fans that choose to follow them on social media and subscribers that have opted-in to receive marketing emails.
Compiling a list of emails that include those that have opted-in and those that have not and occasionally sending out marketing email blasts can hurt your reputation with existing and prospective customers. This can cause you to come across as "spammy" to your audience, making you appear as if you don't care about their privacy.
Taking the time to build an email marketing list that strictly includes customers that have opted-in to receive your emails can help you to build more successful email marketing campaigns that yield higher open rates.
You Have No Idea Who's Doing What, When They're Doing It, or Why
Believe it or not, many businesses will send email marketing campaigns and do very little to measure the success rate. There are a number of metrics that you should be looking at in regards to determining the effectiveness of your email campaign, and here are a few:
If your email marketing strategy needs some improvement, send us a note, our team can help you to build a more successful email marketing strategy.
You're Lacking Data
Don't make the mistake of collecting just an email address for your marketing lists. Yes, while an email address can help you to get your foot in the door, you can be so much more effective if you are armed with more subscriber data. The more information that you know about your subscribers, the more personal you can make your email marketing campaigns feel. This can help to strengthen the relationship between you and your customer, making him or her more likely to buy from you in the future.
To help improve the quality of data that you are collecting, consider asking for some more contact information. For example, asking for a name, location, and email address can substantially benefit your targeted email marketing efforts and shouldn't make subscribers feel uncomfortable. But don't try and get everything all at once! As a rule of thumb, you will want to keep the number of fields on your contact form between three and five.
Your Subscribers Haven't Opted-In
Occasionally, business owners and marketers can become confused about the difference between fans that choose to follow them on social media and subscribers that have opted-in to receive marketing emails.
Compiling a list of emails that include those that have opted-in and those that have not and occasionally sending out marketing email blasts can hurt your reputation with existing and prospective customers. This can cause you to come across as "spammy" to your audience, making you appear as if you don't care about their privacy.
Taking the time to build an email marketing list that strictly includes customers that have opted-in to receive your emails can help you to build more successful email marketing campaigns that yield higher open rates.
You Have No Idea Who's Doing What, When They're Doing It, or Why
Believe it or not, many businesses will send email marketing campaigns and do very little to measure the success rate. There are a number of metrics that you should be looking at in regards to determining the effectiveness of your email campaign, and here are a few:
- Open rate: The percentage of recipients that opened your email campaign
- Click-through rate: The percentage of recipients that clicked on one or more links in your email campaign
- Conversion rate: The percentage of recipients that clicked on a link in the email and took some type of desired action on your website, such as downloading an ebook
If your email marketing strategy needs some improvement, send us a note, our team can help you to build a more successful email marketing strategy.
