In the days of spam-riddled inbox’s, everyone has an opinion on how to raise the average conversion, the average sale, average open rate, or the average click-thru. Years of data from some of the best, and worst, companies who specialize in online marketing have been analyzed and published to help construct “best practices” for email marketers. For that, I say “Congratulations!” You’re on course to bring email marketing, a gateway of infinite marketing possibilities and unlimited ROI potential, to an “average” level.
Email marketing is a channel, a unique marketing avenue unlike any other, for you to showcase your product or service to the world. Whether your company is B2B or B2C, it can help propel you to levels unattainable 10 years ago. But how do you get there? What do you do to get your email to stand out? What type of campaign is going to impact your customer.giving them no other choice but to click on your email and purchase your product?
The answers we’ve seen include “segment your email lists”, or “A/B test your email designs” and even “make sure your offer lies above the fold”. These are all very good answers, and key ways in helping create a successful email campaign. But something is missing. Something that will ultimately make the difference between maximizing your profit or resulting in another “average” email.
That something is creativity. It seems simple really. After all, marketing is creativity. Without creativity, we’d never know about the caveman’s struggle to adapt to human society or about a duck that can provide supplemental insurance. It’s you and your company’s belief that your product is better than any other in your market. Why would you settle for “average” results? It’s so easy to fall back on your averages to gage whether or not a particular campaign is successful, but how creative was it? How was it different than any other email you’ve sent in the past? Were your customers so enthralled that they felt inclined to forward it to their peers so that THEY can see what you had to offer?
I ask you, the email marketing guru, to come up with a different type of strategy. Break free from the standard email you send week in and week out, and come up with something unique. You know your product and market better than anyone, so these are merely just suggestions that might help start the brainstorming process:
- Promote Online Shopping Security – If your email is product heavy, create an email promoting your “shopping cart safety” or “customer purchasing experience” and how you take care of your customer throughout the entire process.
- Create Buzz – If you only offer 10% or free shipping with every email, offer a special time-restricted sale off large margin or clearance products to create “buzz” throughout your contact list.
- Increase Repeat Customers – If your goal is to increase repeat customers, offer an additional 10% off a customers 2nd order.
- Obtain New Customers – If you provide a service, maybe an SEO or hosting service, offer 3 months’ free hosting and optimization for referring another company.
- Promote Corporate Responsibility – A company like Neiman Marcus sends an inbox cluttering 10 emails or more a week. To show their company is focused on today’s issues, they could offer a special 2-week promotion where 10% of every order is donated to the charity of their choice.
These types of offers may help your email stand out from the many others that are sent every day, and can help increase brand awareness. They’re elementary in their premise, but they give your customer a reason to click.
An offer is only as good as the company that provides it. To consistently offer the same promotion week in and week out is an easy way to ruin your email marketing efforts. Include creativity with every campaign. Be the first in your market to provide something different each time you send an email. Create a campaign that incites a purchasing frenzy, instead of an “average” experience.
For more information on Email Marketing, call us at 1-800-978-3417 or Contact Active Web Group and let us help you!
