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Now that Halloween is in the rearview mirror, the holiday email-marketing season is about to shift into overdrive. This isn't the time to reinvent your entire marketing program, but a quick fix here and there could help you raise your engagement, deliverability or results a few percentage points without forcing you to tear your whole program apart.
Use this list either to identify areas to tweak or adjust without a major investment in time or money, or to check your own performance before crunch time.
1. State your name.
Your company or brand name should appear in the "from," or sender, line, not a person's name or email address. Your readers use the from line as one clue about whether they recognize or trust the sender. So, unless you're Martha Stewart or Donald Trump or Queen Elizabeth, use the identity your readers will be most likely to recognize – your brand name.
2. State your business.
The other tip readers look for when deciding whether to open your email is what you say in the subject line. You'll find plenty of advice on how to write irresistible subject lines in our online Resource Center, but here's one quick tip and a pointer to an online subject-line tool.
The tip: Put the most important information in the first 28 characters of the subject line. That's how much space (or how little, depending on how you look at it) you have to get your message across in the typical email client's subject line. Putting your company or brand name in the sender line frees up space for the heart of your message.
The tool: See what several major email clients do to your subject line with our free subject-line rendering tool (works in Internet Explorer only). Access it here.
More subject-line advice: Click this link to access a list of articles with tips and advice to help you fine-tune your subject lines.
3. Check your inventory.
Does your regular email message contain these essential ingredients? Five are must-haves; three are nice-to-haves that are worth the time it takes to include:
Must Have:
- Link to the full email on your Web site. Make sure this link goes directly to the page that displays the email. And, restate your brand name in the line. It could be the only thing your reader sees in the message if he reads it on a mobile device or in the preview pane. Mention the offer too, if you have room.
- Working unsubscribe link and directions prominently displayed. This is the law for U.S. email marketers, and in most companies that regulate commercial email.
- Your company name, address and contact info, including telephone, email and Web contact-page link.
- The email address used to send the message, useful if the recipient wants to unsubscribe or tracks messages by address.
- Your company or brand name prominently displayed.
Nice to Have:
- Subscription instructions for readers who had your message forwarded to them and enjoy it so much they want a copy for themselves.
- Link to other offers/stories or past offers/stories still in effect or to related information on your site. Take advantage of last month's edition to fill out this month’s.
- All contact and subscriber information grouped in an administration center, placed near the bottom of the message body and promoted with a link near the top.
4. See the big picture? Dump it.
Does your email message look exactly like a print ad, with gorgeous color and all the message information contained within it? Your HTML designer is probably in love with it, but the half or more of your readers who block images from downloading automatically will never see it. Instead, all they'll see is a big white nothing.
Instead, break your message into more manageable chunks, replacing one large image with smaller pictures, and place the most important information in text boxes that will show up whether or not the pictures do. Also, use alt tags to describe what’s in the picture or to restate the offer or the action you want readers to take. These will often display if the pictures don't.
5. Proof, proof, proof.
Nothing makes you look like a spammer and less than professional than spelling or coding mistakes. You probably won't misspell your company or brand name; instead, mistakes usually happen in the body copy where you aren't paying close attention and more often than not in the actual links you want your readers to use.
Always have a second pair of eyes review your copy. Run your copy past the person in your office who drives everyone crazy with her obsessive attention to detail. You'll make her day and probably catch a stupid mistake.
Then, click each and every link in the copy, from the link to the Web version of your email message to the unsubscribe link to every product link in it. Yes, it is tedious, but you'll irritate your readers and lose sales if even an incidental link leads only to a 404 Page Not Found. Don't trust past performance, either; links break over time, pages get moved, servers go down. Test every link.
6. Run that offer up the flagpole and see who salutes.
This involves three phases: being clear about the value proposition, seeing what your competition is selling at the same time, and trying out your message on a sample of your readers before you commit to it.
Can your reader tell exactly what you're offering just by glancing at the subject line or the message copy, especially if images are blocked? The subject line and message headline should state that clearly.
Also, consider what it is that you want to be known for. Everybody is offering free shipping this year; what will distinguish you?
If you're not sure what the competition is doing, subscribe to the email programs of your major competitors, or at least the leaders in your market. You could also use EmailDataSource.com to see what promotions or incentives they're offering and how they compare to yours.
Pressed for time? Monitor the competition in Chad White's Retail Email blog: http://retailemail.blogspot.com/. He tracks subject lines, offers, trends and other big-picture ideas of major retailers, primarily US-based.
For the scoop on what will be promoted in brick and mortar stores this season, check the Web site for Black Friday Ads. BFAds posts bootleg or advance copies of retailer newspaper ads for Black Friday, the Friday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday that traditionally kicks off the holiday shopping season. To the chagrin of many major retailers, the site scans the ads and catalogs the promotions. Read the blog here: http://bfads.net/ or subscribe to its email list.
Once you have figured out your offer and created the messages, test them on a sample of your readership. Create at least two versions, but test only one aspect so that you know which factor lifts or depresses response. Typical test factors are the offer (free shipping versus a price discount versus buy one get one free, for example), the subject line, the copy arrangement, or image choice.
7. Synch the landing page.
Where does the link in your email message send the clicker? It should go to a landing page that closely reflects the message itself, with the same product, value proposition, copy and offer. Never make people hunt for what they need.
8. Segment to boost relevance.
If you aren't already using customer or subscriber data to create relevant sublists and target messages to them, it might be too late to start now, unless you have a database whiz who is just itching to help you create meaningful niches. However, you can create segments just by dividing the clickers from the nonclickers, and, if you send HTML email, the openers from the nonopeners. Then, come up with tasty incentives to get them to respond.
9. Fast-track your newcomers.
You should end up with new subscribers if you promote your email program diligently on your Web site. (Quick tip: put a link to your registration page on every page of your site.) Don't let their enthusiasm fade once they buy and leave your site.
Do you have these important new subscriber functions in place?
- Instant subscription confirmation request, whether they sign up at your Web site or through an affiliate site.
- Immediate welcome email, confirming what mailing lists they signed up for, how often and in which format, along with information on how to use your Web site, links to relevant pages at your Web site (home page, contact or customer-support links and phone numbers if available), link to your privacy policy, invitation to create a more detailed profile if you offer it, links to current offers and links to any products or downloads they qualify for by subscribing.
10. Jump on spam complaints.
As email frequency goes up, whether you send more often or your subscribers just get overwhelmed with seasonal email, you can expect complaints to go up, whether they go directly to you or indirectly from ISPs through their feedback loops.
You can minimize this increase by throttling your frequency, resisting the temptation – or the command from the higher-ups – to send more often. But also, read your delivery logs more carefully to spot problems as they occur, and monitor ISP feedback loops to remove complainers immediately, before you email them again.
Again, these are quick fixes that you should be able to implement without a major investment in time or labor. The most important thing you can do, however, is to keep your eye on the ball all the way through the holiday season, noting what works and what doesn't, and cataloguing improvements you can investigate when the smoke clears in January or February.
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