5 questions to ask when starting out with email marketing
When I was learning to play poker, I remember reading an insight which really resonated with me. The basic premise is this: you can’t teach a poker player the right action in every circumstance. There are just too many hands, too many situations, too many opponents. But, you can teach them what to consider when making the decision. By equipping others with the tools to think critically about any given scenario, you can set them up for success.
We think about marketing automation in the same way. How can you equip your new team members with the tools to come to the right conclusions?
Since we recently onboarded some employees that did not come from an email marketing background, we had to really consider the above question. We took it as an opportunity to articulate and codify exactly how we approach email marketing and marketing automation in general.
So, what dictates whether we send one email or ten? Whether we put in a lot of time into a piece of communication or a little? And what should the main call-to-action be? We started to really examine a process that in the past, that primarily existed in our heads. Here are the results.
1. Who is the recipient, and what is their expectation?
What does the customer need? What do they expect? And what would delight them? You can’t always deliver incredible experiences, but by putting yourselves in the customer’s shoes you will step out of any prior “tunnel vision” and think about what’s best for the customer. For example, if you just gave an email address to a retail store to be sent your receipt electronically, would a person reasonably expect, and be happy, to receive marketing emails as well? Would you? Sometimes it brings out the hard truth that the email or communication has no reason to exist.
2. How many recipients are there?
Often we’ve found ourselves getting deep into a strategy, or even a build, only to run the segment and find we are only talking to 100 people in total. Hmm. Maybe we should have known that before we spent 10 hours on it.
It seems like a no-brainer, but is this worth the effort? Are there more efficient and productive things you could be doing instead? Can you delight 10,000 customers instead of simply this 100? Maybe with a few small tweaks, it could be an email you could use over and over again, instead of once.
3. How much time do you have? Where does this project fall in the priority list?
The reality is that if you have 15 emails to build before tomorrow then you simply can’t spend time customizing the elements within. Sometimes you just need to execute, and that’s fine. So if this project simply isn’t that important compared to others, based on your team and company goals, then get it done and move on.
4. Are there recipients in very different situations?
If you have the time, check: do you have recipients who are already customers of yours mixed in with some who have never heard of you before? Or are they evenly split between those under thirty years old, and those over seventy? This might mean they have different levels of education around your product, and therefore, different expectations. You don’t want to talk to a loyal customer as you talk to a new one if you have the time to vary the message.
5. Can it be tested? Would a test make a difference?
Perhaps you have the time to write two different headlines and run an A/B test. Fantastic. But if the second headline is against your brand guidelines, and you could never use it again, then there’s not really any point in testing it, is there?
It’s important to note that testing is most effective when it’s not “on the fly” but instead, part of a strategic plan to improve.
By asking yourself these questions, you should have a better idea of what the outcome should be based on the return you will get on your efforts. The beauty of email marketing is that there are just so many solutions to a problem. But the art is finding the best one, consistently.
