It’s not always easy coming up with ideas for blogposts -sometimes inspiration can take a little gentle encouragement to show its face. On this occasion, it was a piece comparing email marketing to making love with a beautiful woman. Naturally, my thoughts turned to religion.
At the time, the Ten Commandments caused quite a stir. But these days, not coveting your neighbours’ cattle simply isn’t the pragmatic advice modern individuals are looking for. Especially when it comes to email.
With this in mind, I thought it was about time to suggest a useful list of things to strive for, concentrating on something I know a lot about. Without further ado, please allow me to introduce my Five Pillars of Email Marketing:
1. Thou shalt not spam
– Create and cultivate a list of opt-in recipients
When it comes to email marketing, the road to glory is littered with temptation. Shortcuts like buying pre-built mailing lists may seduce the inexperienced marketer with promises of a quick win and value but ultimately these may cause more trouble than they’re worth. Always be sure to fully check the permission of any data you use.
To ensure maximum relevancy, results and engagement, remember there really is no replacement for a well-pruned, home grown opt-in community of recipients.
2. Thou shalt not take thy customers’ name in vain
- Use personalisation sensibly and carefully
It’s quite common to see email templates which put on a great flashy show for the recipient up front but neglect small touches, missing the opportunity to give the recipient what they feel is a genuine one to one communication to them. On the other hand, there’s the even worse extreme of clumsy personalisation which may trigger spam filters and limit successful deliveries altogether.
It’s important to find a comfortable middle-ground and concentrate on the kind of user you’re sending to. Some may expect only personalised salutation, while for others it may be much more appropriate to provide the fully tailored experience through words and images.
3. Thou shalt covet thy data and constantly test thy methods
- Segment your audience and always be optimising your process
It’s easy to underestimate both the volume and quality of data which email marketing generates. But if you make the most of the insights and use them to drive testing of new methods, it can be the pivotal element of understanding your audience better. And once you understand your audience, you can start splitting them intelligently and basing your email distribution on their different priorities.
This customisation is near the Holy Grail of perfect marketing- oft neglected and something of a magic bullet in the fight to ensure relevancy.
4. Integrate thy social networks
– Make it easy for your recipients to share each email’s content and call to action
Long before Twitter, Facebook and co., email was the original source of viral content. Even today, many of the more successful campaigns out there rely on email to plant seed from which such enormous popularity grows. Making it as easy as possible for them to liberate the link from inbox to the wider web gives your work the best possible fighting chance.
5. Thou shalt be clear, concise and honest in thy call to action
– Make the next steps clear for the reader
The Devil makes work for idle hands so occupying your reader’s attention effectively, and sending them in the right direction with your call to action is vital. It’s easy to confuse by including too much but just as easy to assume that what you’re asking of the audience is clearer than it actually is.
So there we go. When it comes down to it, these pillars of email marketing may be less dramatic than the old commandments with no mention of murder, pillaging or false Gods but if you stick closely to this advice, email heaven is almost guaranteed. See you there!
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