Email Marketing Success Moves Beyond Click-Throughs

By Melisa LaBancz-Bleasdale
in

The mechanics behind sending, receiving, and preventing email outreach has become a weird science unto itself. What better way to evangelize an organization’s products and services than by spreading the Good News through catchy and clickable code?

Just a few short years ago companies lived in fear of being blacklisted by their Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Those lists still exist, but ending up on one these days takes much more effort. Legally requiring senders to provide an opt-out button has turned out to be a benefit for both senders and receivers. Analytics have enabled senders to monitor their emails so accurately that they continually perfect their outreach to reduce negative numbers. The modern inbox is a melting pot of business, personal, and permissible email outreach. In fact, email advertising has become interesting, and many people now opt-in to receiving offers from their favorite places.

In the June 2010 Email X-Factor study by ExactTarget, over 1,500 consumers were polled to identify motivations for engaging with companies through email, and social media. The findings show email as a major part of the advertising landscape.

“Regardless of age or gender, email is the first place consumers turn when they want ongoing promotions or information tailored to their unique interests,” says Joel Book, principal of ExactTarget’s research and education group. “Consumers are turning to Facebook and Twitter to show support for their favorite brands. However, when it comes to on-going deals, email remains the channel of choice.”

Today’s Tools

With so many email marketing tools and Email Service Providers (ESPs), how do companies decide what’s best for them? Eric Groves, senior vice president of global market development for Constant Contact says businesses should consider their priorities, “We hear from customers that it’s time and money.” Important features email marketing providers should offer, among other things, he says, are: ease-of-use, affordability, social media integration, high deliverability rates, email templates, Grow-Your-List email tools with secure list storage and reports that let you track and see result analytics.

“Getting your head around your short and long-term needs and goals for email marketing is critical,” adds Derek Harding, CEO of Innovyx. “All of the major vendors have such great capabilities that I don’t see a huge level of differentiation. I don’t think there’s one vendor that stands out as having a must have feature. It’s all about knowing what you need.“

Harding has seen companies choose ESPs based on their long-term aspirations rather than focus on identifying their current needs. “They’ve gone with a vendor that is simply an overkill solution for what they’re going to need for probably the next three years. That’s not necessarily the right way to go. There’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all, otherwise we’d be down to two ESPs and that really isn’t the case. I think there are so many vendors in the marketplace today because there are so many needs out there.”

Book suggests that companies look at an ESP’s reputation. “You can’t fake experience when it comes to system performance and reliability. Make sure you “pop the hood” and satisfy yourself that the ESP can actually do what they represent to be able to do.” Book believes that it is imperative for business-to-business marketers to have seamless integration between email communications software and their CRM system. He suggests that organizations look for ESPs that have “productized” integrations with the leading CRM software providers. This, he says, ensures smooth execution and tracking of automated campaigns for lead nurturing, cross-sell, and event promotion.

Regardless of the plethora of email marketing campaign tools or type, there seems to be one unifying goal—to reach current and potential customers and grow the business.

Is the Click “It”?

The click-through made many ESPs very wealthy. It used to be that a mere click of the mouse signified success—whatever that meant. Organizations paid untold amounts of money for magical clicks that may or may not have translated into actual rise in profits or reputation. Now, we’ve all been warned by IT not to open links from strangers and many people are jaded. Does clicking still define success of an email marketing campaign? According to Book, click-through is merely the “leading indicator” of purchase intent or interest.

Harding says the better sign of success is to ask yourself what your goals were for the campaign. “If you’re trying to sell product, I think you should judge the success or failure of the campaign by how much product you sell. The open or click-through rate is irrelevant—whether it’s high or low—if you sell a ton of product. If you sold a lot more than you expected, you were probably highly successful. But if you didn’t sell very much at all, I don’t care what your open or click-through rate was, if you didn’t achieve your business goal then the campaign wasn’t truly successful for you.”

That said, Harding believes there are a lot of areas in marketing where less tangible results are sought, and it’s about what the overall campaign is saying. “I’m a big believer in looking at email campaigns as part of an overall sales or marketing communications plan and figuring out what the goals for the plan need to be, not just what the goals for an individual email are. I think that’s about measuring success on different levels.”

Groves thinks success is different for every business. “The first thing to identify is the overall goal of any particular campaign—is it general awareness, increased sales, event attendance? To measure success you first need to know exactly what you’re hoping to achieve. Taking advantage of every avenue you have to reach customers—email marketing, social media, online surveys, website/blog, event management, etc.—using all of these marketing tools in combination is the most effective way to communicate your message to customers and prospects.”

Analyzing the Analytics

It’s easy to get caught up in a sort of Analytic OCD. Reading your company’s daily numbers is like shaking the Magic 8-ball hoping for the “right” answer. Should you be paying more or less attention to these numbers? What numbers are important?

Book believes that what a customer “reads” is the best indicator of what the customer will eventually buy. “White paper downloads, downloads of product brochures—these are all actions that indicate customer interest. You should look for an ESP that enables you to trigger email communications that aid the product evaluation process based on these actions.”

Groves believes the most important statistics relative to email marketing remain the average open, click-through, and bounce rate, as well as your unsubscribe rate. “Another important metric is your list growth, though you won’t know how effective your email marketing really is until you see how your subscribers engage with your messages and content.”

Harding feels that metrics are more complex than monitoring click and open rates. “What is the key performance indicator (KPI) of an email marketing campaign? The answer is, as in all areas of business, your KPI is dependent on your business. I’d love to tell you that click-throughs are the key or low complaint rates, but it really isn’t that simple. The KPI for a campaign is very much dependent on the business and what you’re trying to achieve.”

Published August 26, 2010