Maximizing Your E-mail Marketing Campaigns

A recent e-Marketer study proclaims that e-mail marketing has generated ROI for companies to the point where approximately 51 percent of survey respondents intend to keep e-blasting their targets in future quarters.

What this means is that the current global economic state is causing marketers to recognize the importance of digital marketing techniques, and more marketers than ever are amping up their e-mail campaigns. As a result, your business’s target audience is likely to be the recipient of many e-mail blasts, especially from your competitors.

eROI conducted a recent study that indicates that nearly 20% of e-marketers do not have time, resources or knowledge to effectively track their e-mail marketing campaigns. And while they can manually track conversion rates, they still have no way of knowing exactly which of their recipients opened, clicked and unsubscribed to their blast.

To provide a sound analysis on an e-mail campaign, one must have the appropriate technological applications that monitor the campaign’s success by tracking open rates, bounces, unsubscribes and conversions. Acquiring this information can pinpoint the techniques that work so that ROI can continually increase for future blasts.

With the influx of e-mails in your consumers’ inboxes, how do you ensure that your e-mail campaign is compelling enough to be well-received by your audience and generate ROI for your company? As far as creating a successful design that encourages opens, adhering to the following rules can really maximize your e-mail marketing campaigns:

1. Use images strategically.Recipients on a list prefer e-mails with clear visuals that allow them to relate to the sender’s logo or the business’s bottom line.Images should display as icons that attract clicks, allowing the recipient to continue his / her e-marketing experience by linking to applicable websites. In fact, the main reason why HTML e-blasts have taken such a monumental precedence over plain text is because images within an e-blast generate much higher levels of opens and clicks.

   Designers should be aware, however, that too many images can come across as unprofessional or confusing, and that any image, logo or font within is compliant with the brand.

2. Use Simple Coding.The most effective type of coding used for blasts is simple HTML with web-safe colors. JavaScript, Flash, and AJAX should be left to the software engineers to use when building websites, rather than e-mail body. Since the sender virtually has no way of knowing which e-mail program each recipient has, it is best to keep the code simple so that it displays universally for all e-mail applications.As a result, the most effective way to convey a message is using HTML codes that are comprised of basic tables, font tags and inline CSS.
3. Personalize Your E-mails.A recipient is more inclined to open up an e-mail if he / she finds it appealing, and personalizing the e-mail is a sure method of enhancing appeal. It also provides for a more interactive relationship between the brand and the recipient during the open, read and click-through session.
4. Provide Compelling Content.E-blasts are meant to involve and inform- which means, the content provided should benefit the recipient. Some examples of good content are customer success stories, trends, case studies, statistics, entertainment, humor and helpful tips.

For more e-marketing ideas, or to learn more about using analytics to track your campaigns, contact Michelle Collins at mcollins@sharedmarketing.com.