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Your campaign checklist - 20 vital questions
Perhaps you have an email campaign sitting in draft form,
notes jotted down on napkins and scraps of paper or just a
clever email marketing idea or two in your head.
What are you waiting for?
The rewards of adding email to your marketing mix are within
your reach. So, revisit that draft, go back to those notes and
refine those ideas. Then, before you hit the send button, use
this checklist to make sure your campaign is ready for "prime
time."
- Define your goals.
Are you trying to motivate purchases, reinforce your brand,
bring visitors back to visit your site or store, cue the
reading of an article, prompt requests for more information,
appointments or sign ups for a service?
- Define your audience.
Are you targeting a segment of
your customer base, your entire house list, a rental list of
targeted prospects? What are their interests? What is
important to them?
- Define your message.
Engage your audience and use what you know to determine how,
and in what order, to describe the benefits of your offer.
- Define your vehicle.
Now that you understand your goal and your audience, how can
you best communicate? Think about what kinds of campaigns
you may use. You have many options including newsletters,
holiday or seasonal promotions, preferred customer sales,
new product or service announcements, press releases and
more.
- Define your delivery timing.
When is your audience most likely to open and read your
message? While audiences vary, we have found that mid-day
delivery is better than mornings or evenings. Choosing the
right day of the week is also important. Often Tuesday and
Wednesday achieve better results than the beginning or the
end of the week.
Answer the following questions:
 Your
From and Subject Lines:
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Does your "From:" line include your company name
or brand?
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Is your "Subject" line the right length? (5-8
words, 40 characters including spaces)
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Does your "Subject" line incorporate a specific
benefit?
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Does your "Subject" line include your brand (if
for some reason your "From" line does not)?
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Does your "Subject" line accurately reflect your
offer?
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Does your "Subject" line create a sense of
urgency?
Your
Email Copy:
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Is your email personalized with the recipient's
first name last name or both, if appropriate?
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Is your email copy clear and concise?
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Does it contain a strong call to action?
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Does it focus on benefits?
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Does it create a sense of urgency?
Important
Details:
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Have you used appropriate graphics while also
making good use of white space?
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Have you proofread the "From:" line, "Subject:"
line and email copy thoroughly?
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Have you checked all links to be sure they work
properly?
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Have you previewed and sent yourself a test in
HTML, aol and text?
When you can answer "yes" to these questions, you're ready
to hit the send button. Congratulations! Now, sit back and
enjoy the results!
Email
Marketing Video Tutorials Show you how to plan, create, and send
successful newsletters.
Read Email Marketing Tips
and Lessons written by Michelle Keegan, Constant
Contact's Email Marketing Diva.
Learn E-Marketing Lingo from the
glossary of Email
Marketing terms.
| by Michelle Keegan, Constant Contact's Email
Marketing Diva(TM) |
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