6 Fast Tips for Increasing Email Campaign Success

Late last year I wrote a blog post highlighting a number of top email statistics, addressing how businesses can learn from them to improve their email campaign results. After the positive feedback that came in, I thought I’d follow-up with six more statistics to consider for fueling further email campaign success:

 

1. 69% of email recipients report messages as spam based solely on the subject line. These days, most everyone familiar with email is proficient at very quickly identifying spam. In fact, if emails with vague, generic subject lines such as “Hello,” “Just Following Up,” “Can we talk?” “Last chance” or “Didn’t hear back” even make their way into recipients’ inboxes anymore I’d be surprised – spam filters are better than ever at identifying and filtering out spam. Instead, marketers need to offer real value, using an approach that’s clever and intriguing, and with as few characters as possible. Without carefully planning your subject lines, your messages could be reported as spam to ISPs (internet service providers), which will then damage your sender reputation and create further email marketing trouble for you in the future. (See my blog post on how to create the best subject lines.)

 

2. Tuesday is the best day of the week to send emails. Tuesday is usually the busiest, most productive day of the week, and often when people may be more open to new ways to improve their productivity. The next best days are Wednesdays and Thursdays. This may seem intuitive, as professionals may be grumpy and less open to new ideas on Mondays, and hurriedly trying to get everything done by the end of the day on Fridays to enjoy their weekends.

 

3. Every field you add to your sign-up form will cause the conversion rate to drop by 25%. Do create a specific, dedicated, trackable landing page for prospects to come to view your interesting, valuable call-to-action (e.g. report, video, webinar, etc.). And while it’s OK (and even expected) that you will collect a bit of data in exchange for your insightful guidance, don’t make the form so long that you’ll scare off prospects from filling it out at all. Instead, ask for just a few fields that you will actually use in the near term (you can always ask for more information later). Also: show all the fields you will be asking for – don’t make the form several pages or ask your prospects to go through a hidden process.

 

4. Transactional (or triggered) emails have 8 times more opens than regular emails. Recipients of transactional messages are (presumably) familiar with your brand, so use the opportunity for cross- or upselling, or for communicating upcoming training or events. Be sure to welcome all your new customers to the family and suggest they sign up for your company newsletter. Use cart-abandonment emails to remind your customers of the products they still need to purchase – perhaps providing an additional, limited time incentive to do so. (See my previous blog post on automated email campaigns.)

 

5. 86% of consumers say personalization plays a role in their purchase decisions. Personalization is more than merely including a recipient’s name in the subject line or salutation. Personalization can and should extend throughout the message as well; the copy, images and type of content that is the best match for the prospect. Collected data, such as subscriber preferences, previous content viewed, purchase history or abandoned carts can be used to create specific, hyper-relevant messages. When done well, personalization will have your audience believing that you’re paying attention to their desires and anticipating their needs. (See my previous blog post on personalization for more insight.)

 

6. Email has a median ROI of 122%. Email ROI is four times higher than other marketing mediums, such as social media, direct mail and paid search. In short, email always delivers, so marketers can rely on it to deliver incremental revenues to their companies.

 

Got a favorite email statistic that drives your activities? Let me know!

 

Outward Media’s accurate, targeted email data can help you achieve better email marketing ROI by targeting your best prospects and, ultimately, converting more prospects into customers. Take a look at our case studies to find out more.