Don’t Blame the List:
5 Ways to Improve Email Marketing ROI
If you want your email marketing campaign to be successful, the place to start is with a list targeted to the people who are interested in your products or services. Studies show that in any direct marketing efforts, a good list will increase response by 10:1.
So if you don’t get a the response you’re expecting from your email marketing, should you blame the list? Not necessarily. While the list is the most important factor in your campaign’s success, it is not the only factor. Adestra, a global email marketing firm, recently conducted an email marketing census with Econsultancy. Here are the top five considerations they found for email marketing ROI (and only one of them is about the list).
1. Make it Personal
According to Aberdeen Research, personalizing emails can improve click-through rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%. Show your prospects you know who they are and what they want. At a minimum, use their name in the email—it will make them want to read more.
2. Test those Subject Lines
Adestra is a believer in subject line A/B testing. With most email tools, it’s really very easy to do and will ultimately improve your open rates by showing you what people will actually open—and what they won’t.
3. Segment Your List
Picking up the theme of personalization, segmenting your lists will help you send offers to the people who want them—or could at least potentially be in the market. You can segment by interest, purchase history, gender, age, location—whatever data you have. Don’t be like one yoga studio we know about that sends deals for pre-natal yoga classes to all the men on their list!
4. Clean Your Database List
According to Circle Research, your email marketing will be 38% more effective when your database is accurate. List hygiene ensures your messages get delivered to real people and provides a true understanding of your ROI. At a minimum, remove hard bounces—it makes no sense to send campaigns to bad email addresses and too many hard bounces can impact your email reputation. (Soft bounces, such as “Out of Office” messages, are okay, and hopefully your email provider can distinguish between hard and soft bounces.)
5. Optimize for Mobile Devices
Today, more people are accessing their email from tablets and smartphones than from desktops. Don’t miss out on reaching these people because your email isn’t formatted properly. Make sure you design your campaigns to be read on any device.
Refresh Your List
If you’ve followed these five tips and you still aren’t getting the response you want, then it’s time to take a look at your list. Finding new data sources to augment your list is a great way to bump up the ROI of your email acquisition campaigns. Learn more about our email list services and talk to a list broker to see how you can improve your email ROI.