In case you hadn't noticed, there are a lot of changes going on in our country right now. We have a new president, everyone is concerned about the economy, and many companies are looking at ways to cut spending. That being said, now more than ever, email marketing professionals need to make sure that their email programs are being utilized as much as possible and that they are truly optimized to generate the highest ROI.
One area of optimization that is often overlooked is ensuring coordination and strategic alignment with your various email partners. For a lot of companies, increasing the ROI of an email campaign involves working with many different groups, including an email service provider, internal department, and other outside partners.
I have had clients in the past who have worked with as many as four different partners outside of their company. I don't know if this was based on each company's strengths, preferred vendors, or some other reason, but it certainly introduces a number challenges. One company I worked with had different partners for its email design, template creation, strategy, and delivery. This approach always seems a little crazy to me, as they are all so heavily connected. It makes me wonder if companies don't understand how interrelated all of these practices are -- especially email strategy and delivery.
As more and more senders begin reevaluating their email marketing programs to drive higher ROI, it's more important than ever to make sure your email campaign strategy and email deliverability strategy are in close alignment -- particularly if they are being delivered by separate companies. Think about it: Anything you do with regard to your campaign strategy could have a positive or negative effect on your email deliverability.
For example, let's say your campaign strategy consultant suggests doing a re-engagement campaign for customers who have been inactive for 12 months or more. If you simply look at this idea from a strategy standpoint, you might not see all of the potential issues related to deliverability.
First and foremost, most deliverability experts will tell you that if you're planning on sending out a re-engagement campaign, it is best to make sure you send it separately from your master list. Customers who have not shown any activity in the last 12 months are the most likely to either not have that account anymore or to complain about the mail once they get it. If you were to send this campaign with your master list and off your main IP address, it could lead to serious deliverability issues in the future.
Another example of a case in which your campaign strategy and deliverability teams need to be integrated is in the creation of new templates. Although you might receive a new email template from your design team and it looks great in Photoshop, it is critical to make sure that you consider how the template fits into your overall strategy. You also need to ensure that it renders correctly in all major email clients. Even the placement of the unsubscribe link in a new template is an important detail that should be evaluated with input from both your design and campaign strategy teams. Any disagreements need to be worked out together, and that can be complicated if you are working with different vendors for each aspect of your email program.
So how do you ensure that you are doing everything you can to increase the effectiveness of your campaigns? First, make sure that all the various experts, both in-house and outsourced, are working closely together and clearly understand your overall email goals -- including the overarching strategy for accomplishing them. If this is not the case, it likely will cause you more work (and money) in the long run.
So during this time of change, look at how your company is currently working with all the groups involved with your email programs and take action now to make it easy for them to communicate and work together. All the effort will help ensure that you get the most bang for your email marketing buck.
Best of luck in 2009 and good sending.
Spencer Kollas is director of delivery services for StrongMail Systems.
