Email Marketing - As Dear As Salt

This article is a part of the blog on Mediallianz - https://bit.ly/325MLoM

How often during a digital marketing plan discussion you hear “Yes, we will do email blasts”. That moment reminds me of Bryan Adams song “Don’t worry about the future; Forget about the past; We’re gonna have a ball, yeah we’re gonna have Blast; Gonna make it last, 18 'til I die…” In order for the email marketing to make a lasting impression we cannot afford to forget about the past or not worry of the future. Blast…yeah!

I recall a fable from my childhood – “As Dear As Salt”. A King disowned his youngest daughter as she confessed her love for Father was as dear as salt. Could we ever imagine a ‘Hearty’ meal (no pun intended) without Salt! Similarly how could a digital engagement plan be ever complete without optimal usage of Email Marketing?

"There is no formula for the perfect email – Authentic and honest messaging works"- Anonymous

Email is the cheapest means of connecting and engaging with your existing and future customers. So what’s the harm in doing that Blast? Practically our mail boxes are jammed with multiple such Blast emails. Though email providers have created a “Promotions Tab” in their interface, goal of every brand should be to land in ‘In Box’. How does one land into Inbox? There are multiple ways to get that done. The ‘Right’ one is sending relevant and timely messages.

"If Social Media is the cocktail party, then email marketing is the ‘meet up for coffee’. The original 1 to 1 channel." - Erik Harbison

Why is email so critical? It’s the ‘Apps World’ out there, isn’t it? Notifications, they are cheaper, if not free, compared to emails. Aren’t we all getting too many notifications as well? Let’s talk about that in next post. Not necessarily all your current and potential clients have the app installed. An email address more often than not is active. Historically brands have been collecting emails, so most likely what you have on record could be primary email id which the customer has been using for long, a valuable asset isn’t it?

How does one get emails to work for them, what is the sweet spot to ensure customer interaction?

“To get the right message to the right person at the right time you first need to get the right data to the right database at the right time” - John Caldwell

Marketing (email) is an Art and Science. The key success factor here is ‘Database’ (Opt In). Unsolicited or excessive mailing could lead to increased ‘unsubscribe’ or worst being marked as ‘spam’ which are the two Taboo words, besides waking up the sleeping giant “Spamhaus”. While there are workarounds, what is important here is the ‘Reputation’ of the brand and ‘Customer’.

"Email is a push channel, so we need to push it to work harder" -Kath Pay 

Best performing email campaigns are built with -

Sender Name – eyes travel left to right and if receiver's don’t acknowledge the sender we have a concern

Subject Line – will decide if one wants to interact with that email. It has to be short and relevant

Data & Personalization – of an event/action by customer in subject line is likely to get the desired action. For example – Your cart is waiting; Sneakers to pair with your Levi’s (last purchase)

Timing – plays a vital role. If you are trying to get back a “dropped cart” customer no point sending a mail after few hours or days.

Mail Body – A mix of data and personalization with links taking back to relevant pages

Device Optimized – Mails should be optimized for both Mobile and Desktop and same applies for the landing pages.

All of this might look like a mammoth task but thankfully there are sophisticated tools available from Global and Local SaaS organizations like Oracle, Salesforce, Adobe, Netcore, ValueFirst and many more to suit your needs and budgets. These tools help you to orchestrate mails as per your customer journeys. They offer intelligent insights real time allowing you the flexibility to monitor and modify your campaigns. In addition, some of them even offer ‘Managed Services’ or your agency could take it under its fold.

Are email blast actually a taboo? There is no ‘cookie cutter’ solution even for a simple campaign like ‘Announcing Sale’ or ‘Festive Greetings’. Baisakhi/Bihu/Poila Boishak/Vishu/ Puthandu all these Indian festivals usually fall on same day but each has a different significance and way of celebration. Could we send one email to all (like the image above) of course not?

There are no Blast just building last-ing relationships with customers.

DM me and we could chat over this more…oh rather ‘email me’ :) 

(PS)st: "How to write a good email:

1. Write your email

2. Delete most of it

3. Send"

Dan Munz