Issue 13
An Email Marketer's New Year Resolutions
1. When the client assures us that his house list is "100% opt-in" I will always probe further.
Buying in an email list, even if the seller assures you that it is '100% opt-in', is a risky undertaking. There are so many variables: What exactly did the people on the list opt in to receive? How was permission obtained? And when? Email lists deteriorate notoriously quickly. Can the seller provide proof of opt-in for each individual address? If not, you may find yourself being labelled a spammer.
Although not a single prosecution under the Privacy and Electronic Communications regulations has yet been made in the UK, both email and SMS spammers have been named as falling foul of the ASA's CAP Code. For an example of how tortuous the various recommendations can be, see this exchange of letters between the ASA and an aggrieved party.
2. I will always ensure that unsubscribe requests are honoured promptly, and certainly before the next mailing.
The lesson here is not to rely on electronic unsubscribe mechanisms. Many people believe that to click on an unsubscribe link will result in 100 million porn emails landing in their inbox the next day. It's likely they will try to email you their unsubscribe request - by hitting 'reply'. So make sure your 'from' address can also receive incoming email and that someone your end will actually read it. Whoever that person is needs to get the complainant off your list, pronto, and apologise to the customer. Hell hath no fury like a spammee ignored.
3. I will not take Subject lines for granted.
Email has at least two levels of filters to overcome - the electronic, which spammers take extremely seriously, and the human. Although any legitimate marketer is unlikely to go to the same lengths as the spammers to bypass ISP and network filters, it is only common sense to avoid the obvious trigger words.
Even if the email actually arrives, the hardest filter of all remains. With hundreds of emails to scan through each day, recipients will delete within seconds on the basis of 1) whether they recognise the sender and 2) what the subject line says. Subject lines must be the right length, relevant, compelling... they require the same skill and attention of any direct mail headline. But do companies spend time crafting and testing subject lines? Do they, heck.
4. I will practice good list hygiene and continue to tell clients that quality is more important than quantity.
As someone once said, I would rather send email to 5 people who were looking forward to it than to 5,000 who were not. Clients like to see their list growing, and not without reason. An opt-in, home grown house list has significant value not only in terms of potential advertising revenue but also as a generator of goodwill and word-of-mouth referral.
But lists go stale, and the longer ago the sign up the more likely they have stopped opening or changed email addresses. Clearing out dead addresses should be a regular task - remembering to log any unsubscribes for audit purposes. More controversial is asking recipients to reconfirm. You could end up with a decimated list. But, as someone once said, I would rather send email to 5 people...
5. I will always double check for typos, apostrophes in the wrong place and 'broken' formatting
Now don't get me started. We all make mistakes occasionally (ahem!) but just what does a poorly-presented email message say about a company? That details aren't important to them? That they are incapable of doing a professional job? That they don't care what people think?
6. I will learn from the statistics and use them to improve results going forward
Marketers are regularly accused of not being too bothered with the numbers. At least with email marketing there are so many numbers available you don't have to work too hard to find a chart with an upward line. The key is to determine which stats are the most meaningful and focusing on improving those.
Some claim that open rates are the strongest indicator of success. Others that the percent CTR is key. The hardliner will say that it's all irrelevant if no actual sales are generated from the clickthroughs. So who is right? The answer depends on the objective of the email and how it was executed. Is it first 'teaser' in a series leading up to an offer? A one-off sales campaign for a single product? A monthly newsletter with few actual calls to action? The targets for each will be different, as will the results.
With email it is important to decide which are the meaningful stats, track them over time, and analyse and interpret what the numbers mean. That way you can learn from previous campaigns and apply the knowledge to improving future ones.
7. I will never forget that the 'recipient' is a person too
We sometimes get so tied up with marketing, corporate or computer-speak about the consumer, the target audience, the recipient, punter or user, that we forget to simply put ourselves into the shoes of a person actually on the receiving end. Not only that, but the definition of 'spam' lies solely with this person - not with you, me, the ASA or the DTI. Respect, courtesy and thoughtfulness are qualities that go a long way. Here's to an enjoyable and fulfilling year in online marketing!
