JBA Central Blog System

Getting the right message to the right person is only appropriate if it arrives at the right time. Email marketing constantly poses the million dollar question, "When is the right time to send an email?"

Probably a better question is, "When is the recipient most likely to respond to my email?"

Timing is so intimately tied to what you're sending and to whom, that choosing a certain day, time, or schedule for sending emails is no longer the most efficient tactic. The best thing you can do to ensure relevancy is to focus on list segmentation and targeted emails.

Not everyone on your list is always going to be at an "action point" the moment they receive your email. Therefore, a whole science is dedicated to determining the optimal time to send...

Email marketing frequency and targeted lists go hand in hand. Frequency will not matter unless lists are segmented in a way that applies to the recipient's most recent interaction with your business. You can either segment your lists based on buying cycles - information, purchase, and post-purchase interest emails; or buyer categories - new buyers, active buyers, and inactive buyers.

Once you've segmented your lists, create messages that are standard responses to your recipients' most recent actions. Emails that aren't auto responses ("Thanks for signing up" or "Thank you for your purchase") should include tasteful promotional content that's strategically placed among interesting articles. This ensures that your emails will continue to speak to your subscribers, even when they're not in the mood to buy.

When in doubt, it never hurts to survey your subscribers, asking them how often they prefer to receive your emails.

"Observe due measure, for right timing is, in
all things, the most important factor."

-Hesiod, "Works and Days"

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We know how hard you work to increase your subscribers, and we've long touted the benefits of a large mailing list. But are you aware that lengthy mailing lists that continue to grow unchecked can adversely affect the data used to measure email marketing success?

Research has shown that open rates, click-through rates and conversion rates are the most valuable metrics when assessing email performance. "Dead weight subscribers" who receive your emails, but hardly ever open or interact with them, have a negative impact on these key variables simply by remaining on your list. They also make it more difficult to test the success of different email strategies (like subject lines), as these types of subscribers can skew your results.

Understandably, many people are hesitant to delete any addresses from their list unless an explicit unsubscribe request has been made. With this in mind, a less permanent approach is to filter all of the inactive subscribers into a separate email list. This way, the overall number of subscribers remains the same and the same content can be delivered to everyone, but the segmented list of inactive recipients will have its metrics reported separately from the main list. You can also use this as an opportunity to target inactive subscribers with things like surveys (to find out why they may have lost interest in your emails) or even special "We want you back!" coupons.

A smaller email list comprised of actively engaged subscribers should deliver improved email metrics, and can be attained without taking that dreaded step of deleting addresses.

You don't have to be an expert in SEO to generate highly qualified leads from your website. Email newsletters are, by their very nature, keyword-rich, making them excellent targets for long-tail search terms. Using MNB's newsletter software, you can archive newsletters on your website or blog, creating an arsenal of content for search engines to pull from. You can also tag and syndicate newsletters using our Publish to the Web feature, making them searchable and accessible to new subscribers. Why not leverage your email marketing campaigns to improve search rankings and traffic? Here are some suggestions for formally optimizing newsletters for SEO:

Keyword-Rich Content - Make sure you're using viable keywords and phrases in your content; they usually occur naturally in most newsletters. Use these same words and descriptions to tag your newsletter when using the MNB Publish to the Web feature. You can also write unique title tags for archived newsletters using these same keywords.

Fresh Content - Search engines love regularly updated content. Start archiving your newsletters if you haven't already. You'll be amazed at how much traffic can be directed your way by virtue of search engines pulling up archives. If you publish monthly, this adds a new, keyword-rich page to your website each month--that's 12 new pages a year!

Reprintable Content - People may ask to reprint your articles in exchange for adding a link back to your site. This is a great way to extend brand exposure and build credibility. You also get a new inbound link (see below), which means more people coming to your site and signing up for your newsletter.

Linkable Content - Archived newsletters give bloggers and site owners a reason--and a way--to link to your valuable content. Search engines love it when sites link to each other, so use this tool to your advantage.

Conversions - When prospective customers recognize you as an expert in your field, you are more likely to gain their business. Newsletter archives are excellent displays of your expertise, and can help you win a customer over simply because they like your writing style and what you have to say.

If email newsletters are used solely for marketing purposes, they're not likely to win over loyal readers. Who wants to read promotions all the time, especially if your email marketing campaigns are frequent? Your readers aren't always in the mood to buy whatever it is you're promoting. But, good content keeps people opening your emails time and time again. Promotions disguised as good content also works quite nicely...if you do it right.

Here are some ideas to spice up your newsletter and make it something people will want to read.

1. Offer tips on how to do something better, especially if it involves making use of your product or service.
2. Give solutions to common problems, especially if your product is a part of the solution.
3. Include case studies and testimonials highlighting your product or service.
4. Teach readers how to perform a task or use a certain product.
5. Write informative articles about your field of expertise. Showcase yourself as an expert in your profession.
6. Give an opinion (but don't be offensive!) on a newsworthy or relevant topic.
7. Include quizzes and surveys. Post the results in your newsletter.
8. Provide readers with learning resources in the form of articles and links.
9. Announce relevant events that might interest your readers.
10. Post interviews with experts and people of interest.
11. Lists, like this one, provide easy-to-digest information.
12. Educational and entertaining audio and video clips add a fun, interactive element to email marketing campaigns.

Your email list is like a gem that must be polished often in order to retain its luster and brilliance. Unless you properly nurture your list, it will become inactive and stale, resulting in poor open rates and fewer subscribers.

That said, here are a few list management tips to keep your email garden free of growth-stunting weeds. Ahh, the poetry of email marketing.

- Add new email addresses as soon as you get them, and do everything you can to keep building your list. Include a "forward to a friend" button, and post sign-up forms on your website and anywhere else you have a web presence. Keep a sign-up sheet in your office and ask people personally if they'd like to receive your newsletter. Each new address represents a potential long-term customer.

- Remove duplicate and invalid addresses--MyNewsletterBuilder does this for you automatically. Bad addresses can throw off campaign statistics, causing you to miscalculate the overall effectiveness of a mailing.

- Don't remove soft bounces the first time around. Your email could be undeliverable because a server was down or the recipient's inbox was full. Give it 3-4 mailings before removing the address permanently.

- Don't make your company appear careless and incompetent by misspelling a recipient's name.

- Segment your email list so you're sending relevant content to targeted sub-lists. Divide recipients into categories, ie., prospective customers, existing customers, people who've purchased within the past 6 months, etc. Apply your message to whatever recent interaction your company has had with that recipient. That way, you relate directly to that person and give them content they're likely to respond to.

- If you have multiple email marketing campaigns going to multiple lists, don't mis-target your messages. Make sure the right campaigns are going to the right lists.