When was the last time you thought about what you put in your email? I mean really thought about it? Sure, week in, week out, you look for new content and offers to put into your emails. But do you ever stop and think, as Peggy Lee used to sing, "Is that all there is?"
Most email marketers could benefit from stopping and rethinking their email campaigns, but some signals absolutely demand that they do. For instance:
- Response rates have gone flat or (egads!) declined
- Subscribers unsubscribe at especially high rates
- Increasingly high numbers of subscribers become inactive, neither opening nor clicking for four or more mailings
These signals indicate that, by and large, your subscribers have become too accustomed to your email. They know what to expect from your emails and thus do not bother to engage with them. Marketers in these straits need to rethink what they send -- and fast.
Let's explore an approach that marketers can use to evaluate and refresh the contents of their emails.
First, take a good look back
For an ongoing campaign that's gone flat, take a look at every individual email over the past three to six months. For those of you running highly dynamic campaigns, try and look at the most-served offers week by week. Now, ask yourself a hard question: If I opened up every single one of these emails, what would look different?
According to MarketingSherpa's latest numbers, the No. 1 reason that people stop reading or unsubscribe from emails is that they "weren't relevant to me." This finding suggests that initially, subscribers did find the email relevant (otherwise, they wouldn't have signed up), but later became disinterested. Email marketers in this situation, then, should look for causes of dissatisfaction.
Do the offers tend to cover the same few product lines? Does the design look the same from week to week? Do you see anything other than "buy me!" in your emails?
Next, look for patterns you can break
Now comes the tough part. While it makes complete sense to start changing things in the email, two factors make change difficult. First, change requires resources. Someone has to redesign the email, find new products, or create new content. Many organizations can afford only minor, incremental changes. Secondly, the nature of a business may impede change. A tire retailer cannot include offers for pet food in its emails. A business-to-business software developer will not get very far with cookie recipes.
Still, even the most constrained marketer can find a way to, as The Cars once sang, shake it up. Here's how:
- Change the offers. Create new offers, especially if the offers tend to cover the same few products. Maybe your subscribers would like to know about something else.
- Change the depiction of the offers. Perhaps adding or subtracting information about the products will pique subscribers' interest. For instance, swapping out dry product specs for customer testimonials or suggested uses may cast old products in a new light. Or reducing bulky copy to a few key bullet points may work better in driving subscribers to the site.
- Employ simple design tweaks. Change a background color. Add a color block behind a call-to-action. Try smaller or larger pictures.
- Go text-only for an issue. Think of plain text as a real change of pace. We've seen clicks increase with the occasional plain text email because it stands in stark contrast to slick HTML emails. The effect doesn't last forever, but it keeps subscribers on their toes.
- Consider content other than offers. People don't always want to buy things. But they often want to learn things. So trying an email that focuses on content -- stories, articles, product uses, etc. -- can really grab attention. Marketers without copywriters at their disposal should look to their own websites for copy that they can use.
Watch for change
After implementing one or more changes, look to see if response changes. Better yet, formally test old vs. new configurations head-to-head to identify winning ideas. Should the new ideas actually decrease response, the marketer can quickly go back to what worked before. But, by and large, making basic changes will likely improve response, if only because the email looks a little different than before.
As successful as email has become, it doesn't work as a set-and-forget concept. Don't be afraid to grab the wheel and steer it in new directions every once in a while.
Chris Marriott is vice president and global managing director for Acxiom Digital.
