Email is one of the most widely-used marketing channels that gives businesses big and small a chance to connect with their customers. However, while there are numerous email marketing software options designed to help you craft the perfect-looking campaign, it comes down to the strategies you enlist that will ultimately determine the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
Our team recently reviewed a blog from Campaign Monitor (an email marketing software) that gave us some exciting and relevant email metrics from the past year. Here are some of the biggest insights we pulled and how they could potentially change the landscape of not only our team’s efforts, but other businesses’ and agencies’, too!
DOES TUESDAY STILL REIGN SUPREME?
If there was ever a motto or phrase that could perfectly sum up the term “email marketing,” we’d say it boils down to: “We’ll send your emails out on a Tuesday!”
While this statement still holds true for many email marketing strategies, we’re starting to see some favorable data that suggests Fridays may perform just as well, if not better. Looking at metrics from Campaign Monitor across all industries, we see that open rates went up by almost a full percent (18.0% vs 18.9%) when sent on a Friday compared to the traditional Tuesday send. This equates to about 100 more people opening the email based on a list size of 10,000 subscribers. As for click-through rates, we also saw about a .20% increase in the number of people clicking on an image, button, or link (2.70% vs 2.50%). These numbers are great to keep in mind as you consider your next email campaign. Whether you notice 100 more people opened your email, or you achieve a slightly higher click-through rate, it’s still more customers in front of your products and services and potentially more sales…all by moving your email by a couple of days!
Data like this can certainly change our perspective on how and when we choose to send emails. The market is always changing and it’s our customers who will ultimately define these trends. Considering the past year, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing new trends. COVID-19 has changed how we go about doing things and when we choose to do them. Even through the uncertainty of a pandemic, it’s important to stay on top of how your customers are responding to your marketing efforts. In doing so, you can keep your email lists happy, healthy, and generating more biz. Remember, it’s all about meeting them where they’re at.
DOES YOUR EMAIL CAMPAIGN CONSIDER MOBILE VIEWERS?
One of the most effective ways to increase your click-to-open rate is by ensuring your customers can view your email on both desktop and mobile screens. Gone are the days where people could only check their email at work on a stationary computer.
If the email campaigns you send are only showing up well on a desktop screen, you’re killing your click-through rate and losing customers. In addition to making your emails mobile-friendly, don’t forget to A/B test and offer clear call-to-actions, too. A/B testing is our best friend and it should be yours, too. It helps you hone in on the best strategies that your audience is most receptive to while increasing your click-through rate. We can only see A/B testing becoming more and more specific and helpful as time goes on.
LIMIT BOUNCE RATES
Remember, your email is only effective if it successfully reaches your audience’s inbox. A high bounce rate is certainly a cause for concern and you should take precautions to limit it as much as possible. If you’re already running emails through a spam test before sending them out, great! If not, a high bounce rate means you need to start. Consider looking at the features of your own email marketing software. They might just offer a quick built-in spam test to see if your campaign is in the clear. We know ours does! However, there are other spam tests that can be found online that are just as helpful. Email services like Gmail and Yahoo are made to detect spam via subject lines and in the content of your email, and there are lots of things they’re looking for that you need to be aware of. Make sure you’re in the clear with a spam test before every email you send.
CONCLUSION
It’s always good practice to be aware of the trends in your market. However, these stats don’t just apply to email marketing. There is always information out there that can help you define or re-shape your market efforts whether you’re running digital ads or managing social media campaigns. Always find ways to increase your knowledge of your niche and remember that the solutions for today’s problems may not be the solutions for tomorrow’s. Learn. Adapt. And always consider your customers first.
