One of my favorite things about coming to Texas has been discovering that hamburgers aren't just meant for speed and ease of consumption. Sure we'll always have the Arches and Jack to give us those things, but my first visit to Keller's was an eye opener. After that week-end, my wife and I started trying out the local burger places more often. Places like Burger House, Jakk's, Twisted Root, Kincaid's and Fat Daddy's. We even gave Scotty P's a shot and I found out sweet potato fries are a good thing! I'm getting hungry just thinking about them....
You know, they're all basically selling the same thing: meat, bread, toppings, and fries. From a distance you could say that not much separates them, but when you've tasted a great one, you
know there's a difference.
Those of you that have read my blogs are now wondering where I'm going. So here it is: All too often we view our e-mail marketing like we do a cheap fast-food hamburger. Blast 'em out, and quantity rules over quality. While in the past, this may have been true, people are getting smarter and so are spam filters. So here's a few tips to help you move from cheap and easy to the quality people want more of.
1. Make sure you have a good list. In marketing and advertising, 40% of your success hinges on the quality of your list. Take the time to target the people you really want to reach. Yes, it's cheap to blast out messages, but if you do it to the wrong person at the wrong time they can block you. That means when you have the right offer for them you won't be able to reach them.
2. What's in it for them? Make sure you provide a clear call to action and let them know exactly what you have for them and why they need it. this will account for another 40% of the success of your campaign. Think benefit statements. Think offers. Even if you are creating a newsletter, make sure that the content is worth your audience's time. Remember, they won't take the time to read the next one you send if this one doesn't speak to them
3. And finally, the last 20% of your success comes from the creative. Interestingly enough, I find that all too often I receive e-mail marketing that is poorly designed with too many images. Sometimes, less is more. Make sure that you test your layout with your e-mail campaign's html turned off. It should still be readable and you should still be able to understand the offer, even without the images showing.
One last note here, if you know your target audience and have spoken to them personally, try and send them a plain text e-mail with a few variable fields. Oftentimes, you can greatly lift your response rate with a more personal sounding e-mail that looks like it was written casually to a friend.
If you want to get started, but aren't sure how then give us a call. We can help you make sure that your e-mail campaign gets noticed. Now if you will all excuse me, I'm off to Burger House...or maybe Scotty P's. Decisions, decisions....