Coping with the email marketing future: principles + practicalities

I’m terrified.

And I’ve been terrified for 12 years, ever since I built my first website and sent my first marketing email.

Why?

Because out there on the Interweb are a heap of people working away to develop new tools and technologies and applications and algorithms and channels and content and devices and designs and software and sites and things we’ve never heard of yet.

Any one of which might be the one that turns an existing business, business model or online approach into an overnight anachronism.

You scared, too?

It’s not as bad as it seems (we’re still here) but the future is a place of both potential and pain. How do you move forward confidently in an era of constant change?

Email marketing, for example, has been hanging under its own Damocles Sword of change ever since someone realized that “email is dead” makes a superb headline. Adapt or die. We adapt, and email continues to flourish.

Yet the “new” email success models presented so well by vendors, blogs and other media leave many of us standing at the shop window like a Victorian orphan, wistfully imagining a world where we, too, could get our hands on all those wonderful toys.

So how do you do cope with change when you have limited time and/or funds?

I have my own blueprint for survival which I’d like to share with you.

Don’t panic and keep a sense of perspective

Few information sources are interested in the success of your business. They’re interested in the success of their own business. And the two are not always aligned.

Compare, for example, Google Trends data for Facebook and Twitter.

The news reference volume suggests each gets comparable press coverage. Yet the search volume favors Facebook by a ratio of 37:1. And sources suggest Facebook has over 20 times as many active users as Twitter.

It’s not that Twitter is unimportant, just that its importance is disproportionate to the media coverage.

And Facebook itself? More than 400 million active users. Or less than 25% of the number of email users.

The importance or relevance of a tactic or trend is rarely proportional to the coverage it gets, which is driven by what’s new and by vested interests. Even if it is important or relevant in a broad sense, it may still not be relevant to your situation.

A sense of perspective is a must to survive the onslaught of new information.

But panic enough to keep you on your toes

Perspective is, however, no excuse for complacency. Change is real.

The fact that email is not dead, for example, is only part-consolation to email marketers. Writing is not dead, either, but the Shakespearian approach to copywriting would struggle to drive conversions.

The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now?–
What, will these hands ne’er be clean?–No more o’
that, my lord, no more o’ that: hasten to click
for soap shall ye buy.

The question is not whether email will survive, but how email is changing and how your email marketing needs to change with it. A big, big question. (Here’s one set of answers based on the rise of the social inbox.)

How do you monitor and interpret change?

I rely on a few trustworthy sites and the twin filters of experience and intimate knowledge of my own business and audience. For email marketing, a good time saver is the daily buzz from The eMail Guide or any of these resources. Also keep an eye on studies of consumer behavior and habits.

Start by revisiting the basics

As mentioned earlier, many of us are intimidated by all those blogs and websites showcasing best practices and clever campaigns that seem out of reach of our capabilities.

The good news is that those campaigns are the minority and the vast majority of email marketing is neither cutting edge, nor necessarily even good.

Even the heroes of the twenty-first century marketing generation can get things wrong: consider this critique of Apple’s email efforts by Marc Munier.

So taking your email marketing forward begins with revisiting some of the basics. Three areas that are often under-optimized are:

1. Sign-up

• When people interact with your organization (website, point of sale, trade shows etc.) do you give them a clear opportunity to sign-up for emails?
• Does the language you use in sign-up collateral make it clear what they need to do, why they should do it and what they can expect to happen as a result?

2. Recognition elements

• When your email arrives in the recipient’s inbox, is it easily seen and recognized for what it is?
• Does it communicate the value of giving more than a moment’s attention to the contents?

Key points here are the sender name, subject line, preheader and preview pane.

3. Appearance

• Does your design and layout account for all the different places people view emails online?

Use one of the various low-cost design preview tools out there to test the consistency and viewability of your design in multiple software, webmail, browser and mobile environments, with images turned on and off. Then adapt as necessary.

Review your effort in terms of wider subscriber needs

Another approach is to think in broader terms of what people (subscribers) need in a changing online world and then work towards addressing those needs through your (email) marketing. Some suggestions:

1. Simplicity

If you’re comfortable using the web and associated technologies, you might want to look over the shoulder of someone who is not. See how they click around a website. Now expect them to master a “fully-integrated communication console”.

Review, particularly, the words, instructions and workflows associated with the administrative messages encountered by those on your list (preference centers, confirmation messages, unsubscribe processes, etc.) Are they user-friendly?

2. Value

Well, obviously.

But how does the value you offer differ from that of the competition? If it doesn’t, where’s the true incentive to give your emails attention and ignore everything else? Where’s the incentive to keep getting and reading your emails when so many online alternatives are available?

3. Trustworthiness

Again, obviously.

With so much choice and with PR folk, affiliate marketers and others blurring the lines between content and advertising, we gravitate to those sources we can truly trust. Do your emails build trust?

4. Meaning, humanity, uniqueness

We were social animals before someone discovered fire. The social web just gives us a networked outlet to address the need for meaningful interaction.

How does your email work at an emotional level? Is there anything about your emails that makes them unique and personable? Do you give people something they’d miss if you weren’t there?

Step gingerly towards more use of data and automation

The future is data, which brings forth intimidating, expensive words like “web analytics and database integration” and other concepts outlined in, for example, the excellent Successful e-mail marketing strategies: from hunting to farming.

For those of us at the cheaper end of the marketing spectrum, this is no excuse to ignore the power of data.

It begins with a willingness to develop a greater understanding of your subscribers and their actions, then a willingness to turn that understanding into changes.

• Have you considered all the insights that emerge from a simple review of the standard campaign reports provided by your email marketing service or software?
• Are you conducting simple A/B tests to your list? Most good ESPs now have testing functionality built into their service. Test, particularly, calls to action and subject lines to get quick response boosts.
• Are you looking at ways to collect more information on your existing subscribers?
• What about simple autoresponder programs, such as birthday mails?

Explore social media, but tread carefully

Some trends are fads. Some are driven by vested interests. And some reflect real changes in the marketing landscape. Social media has elements of all three.

But it does seem to be the most important of all the developments allegedly due to impact email marketers (along with the rise of mobile email marketing).

Back in 2009, we all got particularly excited at the prospect of integrating social and email marketing. Very excited indeed.

In the rush to add “share this on Twitter” links to emails, and newsletter sign-up forms to Facebook pages, few stopped to question the whys, whats and hows of such integration. After all, what’s not to like about integration?

The potential is still clear, the practice (still) isn’t, though we’re learning. A year ago, I suggested 20 questions you might ask before pursuing such integration. In 2010, are you any nearer to finding answers as you build out a social presence online?

A key tenet to keep in mind is one suggested by Kevin Hillstrom in a provocative post:

“All channels have strengths, and all channels have weaknesses. Leverage e-mail based on what it is best at, leverage social media based on what it is best at…”

Don’t integrate for the sake of it, but (obviously) because it makes sense for your organization and audience.

…and finally

Change is in the nature of things. But don’t worry: the future of email is in safe hands.

Find related articles:

• Channel: Email marketing strategy

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