November Event Recap: Email Marketing

Email is one of those tactics that few of us truly specialize in, but one almost every one of us who works in digital marketing touches on a regular basis. And it’s a key tactic, too. According to research, email conversion rates are up to four times higher than social and almost double search.

For November’s monthly event, we brought in Sara Chapman, director of email and mobile communication at Life Time Fitness, and Katie Seegers, email marketing manager at Select Comfort, to walk us through email campaigns, programs, and best practices in a “Tactics in Twenty” style. Here are the main takeaways.

Why Use Email?

• Email isn’t dead. In fact, nearly everyone has an email address, and it serves as the original web ID. It’s what allows you to access almost everything online. It’s the mainstay for us in marketing.

• Email outperforms other channels in terms of ROI.

• 72% of consumers prefer email communication from companies over direct mail, TV, and social.

• 81% of shoppers are more likely to make additional purchases based email.

Email Campaigns and Programs

• Welcome Campaigns — a welcome email is your number one touch point for a customer no matter what they’re looking to do. Plus, welcome campaigns have one of the highest open rates. But remember: timing is everything. You need to have a welcome campaign in real time while they’re still focused on you. The longer you wait to engage, the less time you have to hold onto them.

• Abandoned Cart Campaigns — convert high purchase intent customers and recover lost revenue with abandoned cart emails by providing more information, asking if they need help, providing a discount, or creating inventory demand. Nearly half of cart abandonment campaigns are opened, and 42% of abandoned carts are a result of people needing more information. These types of campaigns also help you uncover friction points with your customers and usability issues with your website.

• Win Back Program — nurture customers showing abnormal periods of inactivity. If your customer hasn’t opened an email in 90 days, find out why.  Use disengagement metrics to know how to get your customers engaged again, and give them options of how they can engage with you. Prescreen centers give you the opportunity to have your customers simply opt-down with communication instead of completely unsubscribing.

• Data Driven Programs — personalized emails improve click-through rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%. Implement data driven programs in phases. Phase 1) use one single data point and see what type of email campaigns you can send out based on that. Phase 2) bring in multiple data points to personalize your message even more. Phase 3) personalize your email based on behavior, purchase history, and analytics for a completely custom email.

Best Practices

• Data and metrics should drive every email that goes out.

• Test. Optimize. Repeat. Your email program is ever-evolving. Always make sure to first test, optimize for better results in the future, and repeat the cycle.

• Always remember: a simple thank you note goes a long way.

• Make sure your emails are responsive so consumers can engage regardless of which device they’re on.

• Use email automation based on customer decisions. Follow the customer journey and send automated emails based on their behaviors.

• Personalize your emails as much as possible. Email frequency should be based on user engagement with your emails and your company as a whole.

• Integrate your email messaging with other channels. Your customer moves seamlessly across channels and they expect you to be there with consistent messages.