Effective Email Campaigns
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Styles of Email
Communications
- Follow the Principles
1. Overview
An effective email campaign consists of many component parts in
the areas of, technical, procedural, content management and analysis. This
article looks at some of the basics in the content management area
and suggests approaches and principles for maximizing the impact of
campaigns using different email content strategies.
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2. Recipient Chosen Content
For the most effective result, one should always approach communications from the
perspective of the recipient. For instance, try to plan your communications structure such that the recipient can elect to receive
the type of content that they desire while still providing for the
opportunity for you to highlight items that may be outside
their elected content. This can be achieved a number of ways:
- Headline Edition
In this format, you would include only a title and one or two
sentences about
each subject matter
with click-through links to your web site for the main content
on each message. This approach would
generally include “sidebar type
spotlights” of special events
or other content subjects not included in the
main body.
- Customized Content
Provide a link to allow the recipient to go to your web site and check
attribute boxes to elect
what type of content that they would like to receive in a single
periodic
newsletter. Gnosis would then “exclude” some content on an
individual basis if they elected not to receive it in their
preferences. This style of communication would also include cross
selling opportunities via “sidebar style spotlights” and
click-through references to items that may have been excluded by the
recipient.
- Transition to Multiple Subscription Based Emails
In this mode, you would create multiple different emails, one for
each subject and your recipients would elect which email(s) they
wish to receive.
For the few weeks or months (depending on your current schedule) before launch of
the new format, you would include a call to
action for recipients to click-through to your web site to
choose which new publication categories that they would like
to receive in the future.
Each of your new individual emails would
have
content focused on the subject that the recipient signed up for and
a “cross-selling” sidebar for the other subjects that they may
not have signed up for. This could be supplemented with something
like a monthly “everyone gets it” general communication
(probably a "headline edition") to fill in any communication gaps.
An effective option may be to implement both #1 AND #2, allowing recipients to choose which version they want to
receive, and giving them the option to change the version they
want to receive at any time in the future by clicking on a link
in any of the messages they receive.
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3. Follow the Principles
At the end of the day, there are some basic principles that when
followed, result in significantly more effective email campaigns.
They are:
- Provide an obvious next step
Always provide the reader with an option to get more information
on any topic or take action in some way via a click-through
link, button or even a course of action like a link that adds an
appointment to their outlook calendar.
- Less is more unless more is needed
If the recipient has not specifically requested the specific content
being provided, keep the content volume in the email to an absolute
minimum while still getting the message through.
- Use “Cross-selling”
Use “sidebar’s” and click-through references in main message text to
effectively bring attention to subject matter potentially outside
the areas that the recipient has elected to receive.
- Move to a Subscription Model over time
It can be difficult to move from a “blast” model to a “subscription”
model and it can take quite a bit of time to execute, however, there
is no denying that a subscription based model (where recipients
specifically sign up for the content that they want) is orders of
magnitude more effective. It also requires much more time to plan,
implement and execute, so, one must make sure the resources are
available for both strategy and execution.
- Keep non-subscribed volume low
Keep the volume of “non-subscribed” emails as low as possible. One
per month is excellent, one every two weeks is good, one per week is
OK but high, after that, you start to go into the danger zone. More
than 6 per month is definitely off the scale.
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