Spring Cleaning for Your Digital Marketing Plan
 Dust off, spruce up your e-mail campaign
by Jennifer J. Salopek
Spring, the time of potential and opportunity, seems the ideal season in which to dust off and spruce up your e-mail campaign. Recent research has shown that e-mail is still a great way to reach consumers—and that a few little tweaks can really increase your campaign’s pull.
“Companies should definitely stay on board with e-mail. It’s been demonstrated to drive both revenue and value,” says Rich Fleck, vice president of interactive strategy at Merkle, a customer relationship marketing agency based in Columbia, Maryland. An annual research report released last month by Merkle, “View from the Inbox: Key Findings on Usage and Attitudes of E-mail and Emerging Digital Media,” reported these notable results:
- 48 percent of respondents believe e-mail is a vital part of daily life, but 58 percent believe it is a great way for companies to stay in touch with customers.
- Approximately one quarter of e-mail time is spent with permission (or push) e-mail.
- 56 percent of respondents made an online purchase last year in response to a permission e-mail.
- 40 percent are likely to spend more money with companies whose e-mails they read.
- 52 percent say a company that does a good job with e-mail influences respondents’ doing business with them.
- 63 percent say a company’s e-mail program influences brand perception, both positively and negatively.
The phenomenal rise in popularity of online social networking means that its functions and the behavior patterns they drive should be kept in mind as you design an e-mail campaign. For example, Merkle research showed that active social networkers are also avid e-mail users; that 63 percent of people use the same e-mail address for personal and permission e-mail; and that 20 percent of social networkers have posted or shared something from a permission e-mail to their social accounts via a “share” option.
“This really demonstrates the importance of an integrated e-mail strategy, but most marketers still keep their functions very siloed,” Fleck says. Best practices of integration include:
- Trigger push e-mails based on web site behavior. If your site visitor searches out season pass prices, give him/her the opportunity to sign up for special offer e-mails—and send them.
- Understand your customers’ use of social media and leverage it. For example, friend-centric campaigns are very popular; social networkers like to share offers with their friends and “get them in on” special opportunities. Merkle can locate and aggregate information on the email subscribers you already have, which permits the targeting of users with large social networks.
- Provide and promote share functionality. Include a bar of social site icons—Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so forth—in a consistent place on all of your e-mails. “This allows the recipient to find and use those functions consistently,” says Lori Connolly, Merkle’s director of research and analytics.
- Underpin the program with value. “Permission e-mail messages must have intrinsic value and utility,” Connolly says. In other words, strictly promotional messages are duds. Coupon use has skyrocketed during the economic downturn; offer subscribers a limited-time coupon or discount that they can share with their friends.
- Don’t forget the basics. Testing various messages is still really important, Fleck says. “It’s not sexy but it’s powerful. Digital marketing campaigns need rigor and strategy.”
- Include a “Friendly From” line in your e-mail messages. Many firms, says Fleck, still set up their e-mails with sender addresses that say “webmaster” or “do-not-reply.” This is not friendly and a big turnoff to consumers.
- Be respectful of the information you glean. More important, don’t request, then ignore, user preferences. “This can really blow up in your face,” says Fleck. He particularly advises against asking subscribers how often they would like to receive messages—that can really tie your hands.
“Social media is getting a lot of attention and research, but it is less actionable for marketing purposes than e-mail,” says Fleck. So dust off that campaign, shine it up, and see where it takes your business this spring!
Jennifer J. Salopek is a freelance writer in McLean, Virginia; jjsalopek@cox.net.
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