Prioritize, Organize, and Optimize
by Lauren Amundsen
Now that we're two months into 2010, it's easier to see how the year will shape up for e-marketers. How can you optimize your email campaign - and maximize your ROI? Here are four common conundrums and some quick fixes.
1. Mobile matters in 2010. Need to boost your clickthrough rate? Remember that many of your readers will be checking email on mobile devices. If they can't open the images and rich media in your emails, they won't bother opening it. They are also unlikely to click through if they are reading it on a mobile device, but if you have interested readers who can view the entire message, there's a strong chance they will return to the message later to click through. Ensure that all images are properly formatted and viewable on mobile devices.
2. Change it up, live a little! Is your open rate lower than you'd like it to be? Use different templates for your emails to keep your readers visually interested. If the February 14th email is heavy with cute heart graphics for Valentine's Day, try doing a cleaner, more spare, text-based email on the 28th. Switching things up is an easy way to keep emails interesting, since readers never know what to expect. They are more likely to open your email if they can't predict exactly what it will offer.
3. Be creative and reap the rewards. Segmentation can be a dull game, but are you really making the most of your knowledge of your customers? One motorcycle retailer found that his customers essentially consisted of five groups; Dirt Bikers, Sport Bikers, Cruisers, ATV Riders, and Scooter Riders. Sub-segmenting his already-segmented customer base brought about an "average increase of over 25% [in clickthroughs] per email directly related to these additional dynamic merchandising segments."
4. Come on, get over yourself. We know, your company is fabulously successful and the best in the business, but your newsletter should be focused on the reader. Too many companies make the mistake of including irrelevant company updates in their emails; unless the change will improve something for the customer, leave it out or make it a sidebar. And to further improve your readers' experience, include a table of contents for longer newsletters.
