It is fair to say that the majority of us when opening our emails are confronted with an array of messages that we didn’t necessarily ask for. Instantly we are asked by a number of organisations if we would like to purchase their new products or try out their new services. But how can an organisation stand out from the rest and engage the targeted consumer?
With digital marketing becoming increasingly apparent in recent years it is vital that businesses utilise their marketing tools to the best of their ability. From an organisations point of view the benefits from an email campaign are vast. Bill Nussey (2004) states that beyond cost, email has several unique characteristics that set it apart from traditional marketing mediums:
- Allows for greater personalisation
- Provides greater insight into the readers actions through measurable events such as message opens, hyperlinks clicked, and messages forwarded
- Easy to test the success of promotions
- Enable mass customisation so that the timing and content of each message is unique to each recipient
So we understand the benefits from an email campaign, but what can an organisation do to stand out from the rest?
- Recognise your target audience – this will allow you to design an appropriate email to encourage engagement and response
- Subject line – personalising the subject line to the recipient and including your company name works well to encourage high open rates
- Short and sweet – ensure the email is full of purposeful content so the receiver understands the purpose of the campaign. Too much information will be overwhelming and undesirable
- Provide a purpose – for example discount codes that a customer can use in store or hyperlinks that lead the receiver to exclusive deals. This will provide a sense of achievement to the receiver and encourage engagement during future email campaigns.
What is interesting for me, when assessing an email marketing campaign is the ability for an organisation to analyse its success. This means that if a campaign has its faults then the organisation can quickly address the problem and look to manage its design features. On the other hand, if a particular design feature is seen as a success then the organisation can look to utilise this, for example a discount code.
Dave Chaffey (2014) has provided a detailed report of email marketing statistics in 2015 and can be found by following this link http://www.smartinsights.com/email-marketing/email-communications-strategy/statistics-sources-for-email-marketing/. This report supports the thought that the ability to run a successful email marketing campaign is very much available to organisations. By simply recognising the amount of people that have access to emails as well as open and explore them, a digital marketer can be confident that with an articulate email campaign there is an opportunity to be efficient and effective.
References
Chaffey, D. (2015) ‘Email marketing statistics 2015 compilation.’ Smart Insights. Available at: http://www.smartinsights.com/email-marketing/email-communications-strategy/statistics-sources-for-email-marketing/ (Accessed: 15 April 2015).
Marketing, D. (2014) How to Create an Effective Email Campaign. Available at: http://directmarketing.thomsonlocal.com/News-Advice/Email-Marketing/Create-an-Effective-Email-Campaign/ (Accessed: 15 April 2015).
Nussey, B. (2004) The Quiet Revolution in Email Marketing. United States: iUniverse.
Todd, J. (no date) A Complete Guideline on Strategic Online Selling: ‘Email Marketing Dynamo’. eBook. Edited by Jason. Jason Todd.