2) Results Reporting

Testing can only be beneficial with a complete system for results tracking and reporting. Services like our product, Constant Contact, provide real-time reporting on important email campaign data including the number of emails sent, the number of emails opened, the number of emails clicked-through, plus subscribe and unsubscribe data.

3) Troubleshooting

Low Open Rate?

Take a look at your subject line.

• Is it short and to the point (e.g. between 30 and 40 characters, and no more than 5-8 words)?
• Does it incorporate a specific benefit?
• Does it look like spam?

Consider your delivery day and/or time. It may not be the most appropriate for your business or your offer. Do not underestimate the difference delivery timing can make. Industry statistics suggest that recipients are more receptive to offers in the mid-day, mid-week timeframe. This holds true for both business-to-business (B2B), and business-to-consumer (B2C) emails. By delivering your campaigns mid-day on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, you can avoid the inevitable Monday frenzy and Friday ennui that could keep your email from being opened.

Evaluate your list. It is a permission-based list, right? Are you sure?

Be careful how often you send campaigns to the same audience. I suggest a frequency of once every ten days or so, if you are sending predominantly promotional offers. Please note that there is an exception to every rule and use your own good judgment.

Target your campaign to a particular audience. One size rarely fits all. If your message is relevant to the recipient, it has a much higher probability of being opened. Do a little data mining, segment your audience and tailor your messages accordingly.

Low click-through rate?

Examine your call-to-action

• Is it clear what you want your recipients to do?
• Have you made it easy for recipients to answer your call-to-action by sprinkling links throughout your email?
• Oops. Do your links work?

Review your email copy

• Are you writing to your target audience? It is important to know your audience, understand what motivates them and write compellingly.
• Is your copy clear and concise? Stick to simple words, short phrases and paragraphs consisting of 1-3 short sentences.
• Is your copy short and to the point? Generally speaking, email is scanned rather than read. Keep your copy short and get to the point sooner, rather than later.
• Have you placed the benefits of the offer right up front? Before you start writing, list the benefits of your offer, rank them in order of importance, then pick the top three and be sure to emphasize those benefits early on.

Reevaluate your offer

• Does your offer fulfill the promise of your subject line? Using the bait and switch technique is never a good idea. Make an offer you can deliver on.
• Is your product or service expensive? Low or no obligation offers will naturally incite a higher response than an offer carrying a high obligation, a long decision process or a significant expense. For offers requiring a longer sales cycle, newsletters are a great way to educate your prospects and progress to a sale.
• Can you make the deal a little sweeter by offering an incentive (e.g. a bonus, cost savings, a freebie or entry into a raffle)? Make the freebie or the raffle something closely related to your offering to attract customers genuinely interested in your products or services, not just a cool gadget. Always keep your customer acquisition costs in mind to avoid giving away too much for too little in return.
• Have you created a sense of urgency? Limit the offer to a specific time period or, for example, the first 50 customers. If you're using a time period, quantify it (e.g. "until November 23rd" vs. for the next two days)

High un-subscribe/opt-out rate?

 

Always pay attention to your unsubscribe rate to ensure that your churn rate remains positive. If you are losing more than .5% of your subscribers per month, take a look at all of the elements of your campaigns and make adjustments. Finally, try asking your customers why they unsubscribed, and take action on those complaints. You can survey your subscribers using free online survey and feedback vehicles like Zoomerang.com.

Whatever you do, don't throw in the towel because of less than stellar results your first few times around. As I said, email marketing is not an exact science, but applying a little science in testing can go a long way in helping you increase the effectiveness of your campaigns over time and get the results you are looking for.

Happy Thanksgiving!