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Do you ever get that nervous feeling when you click to launch your email marketing campaign? You do it, but then you might quickly cancel it
because you need to take just one more look at your content.
It's ok, I'm talking you off the ledge. It happens to me and the team here all the time. You need to make sure you've selected the proper list to mail it to and you need to make sure your copy and images are correct. You have to make sure your anchor tags really work and you don't really remember if you've enabled forward-to-a-friend. Maybe you copied your campaign but never changed the subject line from a previous mailing! So you resend yourself the test of the campaign that you really need to get out the door now. It's MADDENING!
So here it is again, your checklist for clicking the "Launch" button, without being scared.
Well, it's the end of the year and you're not only sending a ton of email but you're getting it too, right? Retailers are going nuts trying to get as much as they can out of the short season. I'm seeing an email every 30 seconds pop into my inbox and I'm sure many of you have it just the same. Bloomie's and Nieman Marcus are up to 2-3 mailings a DAY right now, but they mail every day anyway, so that's not completely out of the ordinary. On top of that, the businesses who market to businesses are feeling the end-of-year crunch so they're having fire sales for their goods and services too.
What really got me this year was the sheer number of retailers I've purchased from last year, that didn't send me one email until November. Now by inbox runneth over with emails from them.
Where's the Respect?
Bounce rates are likely to be higher due to the amount of people that had a change of email address. Think of the many people who've unfortunately lost their jobs this past year. If you're not giving them something of value and keeping in touch with them throughout the year, they probably won't give you their updated email addresses.
Response rates might be lower because it's been so long since recipients have been communicated to. In fact, like me, recipients might feel "used and abused" because businesses are only giving them great deals when THEY need them the most, not when recipients need the deals most. Remember, it's a two way street. You both are giving and taking.
On top of response rates being low unsubscribe rates could soar. If recipients are all of a sudden getting slammed by your emails when they've not heard from you, they're more likely to unsubscribe.
So here's to 2009, we all need to look at our marketing dollars under a microscope. The people that are going to get you through any tough times are your customers. So make sure you don't abuse them, and make sure you build a lasting relationship with them all year long.
You know the feeling, that great feeling you get after you send your email marketing campaign
out? POOF! Stuff happens instantly. Whether it starts your phone ringing, or it gets people to your site, it's a great feeling. Let me read you a page of a diary from a VR customer, Donna (the name has been changed to protect the innocent.) She sells facial products online.
Two days ago: Donna sent me a test email campaign. "How does it look?" she asked. I said "Looks great!" It's a huge step for Donna to send her 2nd email campaign out.
9:47 AM Saturday - Donna says "I haven't sent it out yet, maybe Monday morning?"
10:12 AM - We say: "Send it today!"
10:30 AM - Donna launches her campaign, "OK, I did it. It's in pending approval for 11am. Hope it works!"
11:08 AM - Donna: "I did it!!!!"
12:30 PM - Donna: "$400 so far!!!! 1hr and 30 min!!!!! YAY VR!!!!!
I think "YAY Donna". There you have it. Gotta love email.
I ran across this nice idea from a local salon that any services business could really use. On my way out the door, I was given two business cards that had offers
printed on them with a Happy Holidays message. One was for a discount on the next haircut or color, and the other was a free treatment with the next appointment. Those are great offers.
What was really interesting to me was that it was good for January - February of next year. What a great idea for them to get business back in the door in the season that might not be so busy.
These are also pretty cheap to create. It looked like they bought business card stock from Avery, then laid out and printed them right on their business printer.
If you're doing some interesting marketing for your service business let us know what it is!
Since Thanksgiving came a week later than last year, it's got both businesses and consumers flustered. Not only is there a week of less sellin' there's a week of less buyin'!
For those of you who aren't retailers this might even be the end of your fiscal year. Couple that with the economy and everyone is freaking out!
So what do you do? Sit down for a moment, relax and let's think about things. How will you treat this short season?
1. Get your email marketing ducks in a row - Because email is so quick, there doesn't have to be a big lead time and a lot of moving parts. However, you need to devote an hour, where you sit down and calendar out your campaigns. Then create them all at once and schedule them out. If you do this now, you can get at least 4 emails out to customers before it's too late.
2. Email your non-responders - If you've sent an email in one week, and you see that 60% of your list have not opened your email nor clicked any links, chances are they probably won't. Create a list of Non-Responders in the Download List section, copy the previous campaign, change the subject line and shoot it out again. It should take you no more than 5 minutes. You'd be surprised at the lift you get on this single campaign.
3. Expiration/Order-by dates - If you're shipping a product, make sure you're very clear about the date someone can order by, to get their gifts to the destination before the holidays. If there is an expiration date on your offer make sure you're clear about that as well.
4. Be honest - The holiday season is normally riddled with flaws. Things don't always ship on time or you might be out of stock on a product. The best thing you can do it to be honest with your customers and do it fast! No one likes to give bad news, but if you tell your customers of an issue, it gives them time to re-adjust if they want. That's superb customer service even if you're telling them something they don't want to hear. I just purchased an in-stock car seat from Target for a couple who are having a baby SOON, Target told me it shipped, however the very next day they told me there were problems and it won't ship for another week. For a big company that's pretty fast.
5. Smile - Sounds cheezy huh? But it isn't! If you have a retail location and it's really busy, great! So you have to work a bit harder, it's better than you being bored sitting around an empty place. Smile and think "How lucky am I?" If you have to deal with an influx of customers calling you around the holidays your customers can tell if you're smiling on the other end of the phone, trust me. It could even turn a bad situation into a good one.
Any other holiday suggestions? Comment!
When you send out an email marketing campaign, you probably get a spike in sales, so you
think it worked right? Right! BUT, wouldn't it be great to track the sale directly from those who clicked on your links in your email campaign?
We use our own feature for Click-to-Conversion tracking here and we love it, it can really be valuable.
If you've got a confirmation page, you can either use the VerticalResponse Click-to-Conversion tracker, OR you can use your free Google Analytics account. Here's how to use the VerticalResponse feature:
Log in > Account > Analytics Settings > Click-to-Conversion
The text for PURCHASE_AMOUNT is provided as a placeholder only in the ROI Calculator code snippet. This will need to be replaced with the actual purchase amount of the sale, as captured from your website, and must be specially coded by you or your website designer.
Let us know how this tool is working for you!
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