Tip #2009.015 – Bring the conversation full circle when soliciting reader input.
The Email Advisor
As marketers, we do a pretty good job of asking questions at all levels. We ask questions of our producers, our management team, our recipient base and of ourselves to find out what we need to do to accomplish all of the goals and objectives placed upon us. But how good are we at summarizing the responses and putting it back out there for all to share? Some folks do a terrific job, for the rest of us, we need to get better at it.
Email once was a channel that allowed us to talk "at" our email recipients – why not, we were in control of the communication channel and could communicate the information we (or our management team) wanted. That isn't the case any longer. The consumer/recipient now dictates the relationship and as such, has explicit expectations on the information we share with them.
Which is why, this week, we will be answering the most frequently asked questions posed to us from our recent survey. If you are seeking the answers to additional questions, shoot them our way and we will be sure to include our answers in the coming weeks.
Question. Being part of a small business, my boss likes me to do everything myself and for practically no cost. My expertise and time is limited. What do you recommend for a DIYer like me to best focus on and/or can you recommend a low cost service company to help me out?
Answer. It can be difficult to get an email program up and running for a small business – and maintaining your efforts and analyzing the results can be even more difficult given everything else you have to do. Here is a nine week series we wrote with Premiere Global Services that will provide some tips and tricks for the Small Business Email DIYer ranging from choosing an ESP to testing and acquisition strategies.
Question. In order of importance, what are the top 10 items that affect your mailing reputation?
Answer. According to a trusted friend and colleague (not to mention a darn smart Deliverability guy) Spencer Kollas, Director of Deliverability Services with StrongMail, says these are the critical points to ponder (in this order): complaints, complaints, user unknowns, complaints, bounce processing, feedback loop set up, authentication, partner reputation, list hygiene and proper throttling – oh, and did we mention complaints? For solid deliverability advice, you should check out his blog.
Question. Are you seeing a lot in the way of HTML transactional emails – are people moving away from basic text only emails for purposes of shopping receipts, account reminders, etc?
Answer. Yes, yes and yes. More than ever before, transactional type messaging is focusing on the branding and the recipient experience made possible by messages crafted in HTML. Also, many retailers are incorporating "enhanced" dynamic messaging components like "did you forget…" a complimentary product or "others that ordered this came back later for…" to reach the recipient while they are in a "buying state of mind." If you have not started migrating your transactional based messages to HTML you should. It is a reflection of your brand and designing these types of messages in HTML will enhance your consumers' experience with your online store front as well as the purchasing process.
Question. What are the best strategies for list acquisition?
Answer. I find this to be a commonly asked question, yet a controversial topic amongst the email experts. I will warn though, most marketers don't like my answer. The best strategy for growing your database is organically. It takes a while longer to get to the numbers you may like, but the quality of your database is substantially better than if you purchased, rented or otherwise borrowed email addresses elsewhere. Remember, it really is quality not quantity.
Question. What are the best metrics to measure the success of your email program?
Answer. I was hoping to get through the QA without tossing out this phrase…but here it goes, it depends. Success metrics are going to vary with the objective or goal of the communication. For example, our Tip of the Week doesn't really drive recipients to click – we try to provide all the content within the message – so click activity isn't a great measure for us. We've also designed the message to be completely sensible without images – so open activity isn't a great measure for us either. We follow and measure consistent behavior and engagement with the message as our success measure. How you define your success may be very, very different.
Last 5 posts by Kara Trivunovic
- Advise Me: Tip of The Week - May 8th, 2009
- Advise Me: Tip of the Week - April 24th, 2009
- Advise Me: Tip of the Week - March 31st, 2009
- Advise Me: Tip of the Week - March 25th, 2009
- Advise Me: Tip of the WeekTip - March 13th, 2009
LOL