The Function of Email Marketing

Email marketing is an integral comms function on the Internet, directly connecting customers with businesses, and having the capacity to customize and personalize to fit individual needs. However, most marketers are going about email marketing in a very haphazard manner, and they risk losing revenue as a result.

According to the Adestra/Econsultancy Email Marketing Industry Census of 2012, one of the largest surveys in the UK, the study found key areas which marketers and businesses should focus their email marketing on rather than doing a “batch and blast” strategy.

The survey found out that ROI is high for companies who utilize email marketing, but, revenue altogether still suffers because they still neglect to use segmentation, testing, and systems integration.

What can a business do to alleviate this? Simple: implement these key features into the campaign, on top of striving to make your email land into a High Priority inbox immediately. Here is the break down of all three.

Segmentation in email marketing

Companies who practice segmentation, even the most basic type, can see as much as 95% increase in ROI. Segmentation can mean the difference between loyal customers or a failed campaign.

Segmentation increases the relevancy of messages so that customers get more value out of the campaign. You can start by breaking down your email list strategy into, say, ‘prospects vs. clients’. For example, if you have a prospect that has recently converted into a client, you want to be sending them emails that are catered to further your business-client relationship, and not an impersonal, mis-targeted email campaign that is more suitable for a prospect. Eventually, the more you monitor your results, the more refined the segments in your email lists will be, (ex. major clients, list member loyalty, geography, improved purchasing likeness, etc).

Segmentation is necessary to nurture any personalized content marketing campaign, as it assures customers you are working with them via interest-based behavioural data, where you have considered their specific wants and needs.

Testing the campaign

Campaigns should always be tested for their relevancy and potency to reach a potential customer or client. According to the Adestra survey, 81% of companies that do regular testing see instant and satisfactory ROI, while 72% of companies that only do occasional testing see a response and a measly 37% of companies that do no testing see any kind of reaction at all.

Instead of being in the 37% bracket, test your campaign in order to ensure success. Like any other channel of marketing, email still needs to be tested and constantly measured to make sure it is still bringing in clients. There’s software out there to test email campaigns and to keep tabs on them, most of them inexpensive or even free to use.

Systems integration

Integrating data requires forethought and planning, and usually requires building good connections between the various tools that host or use customer data, rather than creating “one database to rule the world.”

From our perspective, personalized content marketing is entirely dependent on blending together customer data from multiple channels; this clearly requires some systems integration. This is data you’ve collected about the customer’s persona – anything from how long they’ve worked in the industry to what types of content they downloaded previously, or in a consumer context, perhaps their purchase habits and content interests – is fundamental to creating a powerful personalization process. To go back to the Adestra survey, they discovered that “well integrated” data with email campaigns see as much as a 49% increase in seeing excellent ROI and a wildly successful campaign.

Final thoughts

As managing director of Adestra, Henry Hyder-Smith, says: “Get the basics right and you will sell more.” That means testing the campaign, segmentation of the campaign, and integration are all key in today’s market.

According to both Adestra and Econsultancy, only 3% of companies surveyed are implementing these simple and easy steps to their next campaign. They will be missing out on high ROI, a successful campaign, and ultimately lose revenue and valuable time from less than stellar email content.

Don’t fall into the batch and blast habit, start thinking smart with your email marketing with these three simple steps to ensure real success and a constantly high ROI.