Email Marketing Results
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
A couple of weeks ago we sent out the latest edition of our "Walkin' the Talk" newsletter. The results are in and I'm happy to share them with you now. They're pretty hot and you might think that this is just a brag, but no, it's not! It's to show the kind of readership rates that can be achieved when you set about doing email marketing the right way.
What do I mean by that?
- Tidy Lists - a couple of weeks before we send an email out, we take a look at the bouncebacks and non responders from the previous mailing. Usually we can spot a few typos in the bouncebacks that can be addressed. Often, we would know the person and are aware that they have moved on to a new email address. For the non responders, these are the people who we're not sure if they got the email or not - they could have got it and read it through the preview panel of their email client. Or (more likely) they didn't get the email as it got stuck in spam. It's important to work on this non responders list to get your email onto their favourites. What I do is have a print out of the non responders beside me on the desk, so when I'm on the phone I'll have a glance at it and see if the person I'm speaking to got the email or not. As a result of our attention to lists, our average bounceback rate is just 4%. This is something to be proud of, as we regularly see bounceback rates of around 20%.
- Targeted Content - the key! We did 5 versions of the last mailing. While this takes a little more time in the preparation and testing mode, it translates into extremely high readership rates. Our average open rate is 51.4%, reaching as high as 59% on one of the lists. This means that over half of our list felt the content was relevant to them and chose to open the email and read it. Considering that our list is made up of people from vastly different industries and roles, it proves that targeted content works! If you are in charge of an email marketing campaign, try it on your next mailing - then sit back and bask in the higher than usual results!
- Content that is written for web - try and keep it short and to the point. Use headlines to make it scannable, plenty of active verbs and don't be afraid of a bit of humour. Developing a writing style for web is important because when you've gone to the trouble to getting your people to open your email, it's equally as important that they read what you give them. If you're unsure about your writing style and whether it works online, you can learn the tips in just 1 day. Find out more about that now!
- Lastly, and we can't really get over this, given that the recent mailing was sent in the so called 'quiet holiday month' of August, our average clickthrough rate was 69.5%, reaching 85.7% and 74.2% on those who know us best. . If you would like to engage your contacts through email, and you'd like some advice on how, then contact us and we'll be delighted to share our experience with you.