If you have a database of email addresses and you’re sending out email campaigns on a regular basis, but not reviewing and acting on the data in your reports, you’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible with email marketing.
Each email marketing platform provides data on how well your campaigns perform from open rates and clicks to bounce rates and ecommerce conversion rates. These reports are so valuable to marketers when it comes to refining messages, content and targeting.
Your open rates give you some insight into how well you’ve written your subject lines and matched the content to the audience you’re targeting. Your clicks (or click through rate) give you insights into what content or call-to-action resonated with your audience. Your bounce rate gives you an idea of the quality of your data and if you’re selling online, your ecommerce conversion rate shows how well you’ve targeted your campaigns in terms of messages, offering, audience and timing.
By using the data you’ll find in your reports, you can go one better than just understanding what they mean; you can segment and target future campaigns to improve results and follow up on leads. Here, we’ll look at 3 simple ways to use your data to amplify your email marketing efforts.
#1: Re-engage non-openers
If your email open rates are an average of 30%, that means 70% of your recipients are not opening their emails. There could be a few reasons for this. For example, the subject line perhaps doesn’t interest them, the email goes into their spam folder so they don’t see it, or they’re just too busy and get a lot of emails so yours gets lost in their inbox.
By segmenting your audience and creating a list of all your non-opening recipients, you can repeat the email campaign, trying a different subject line to entice them to open. This will give the non-openers a second chance to read your email without sending it out again to those who have opened it already.
Re-crafting your subject line also gives you a second chance of getting your email past the spam filters as it’s often spam trigger words, excessive punctuation and/or capitalisation that gets your emails junked.
#2: Use your openers to build your tribe
People who consistently open your emails are your fans; your tribe and potential brand advocates. These are the people you want to keep engaged. They’re used to receiving your emails and even look forward to reading them. Unlike people who rarely open your emails, they’ll be more receptive to sales messages when you have an offer or something to promote. They’ll even help you out with a survey or feedback when you need it.
So, by segmenting your openers into another list/audience, you can target them with tailored messages, improving open and click through rates as well as conversion rates. Don’t overdo it though – you want to keep them as fans and not irritate them with constant sales emails.
#3: Don’t ignore the clickers
Take note of who clicks and what they click on within your emails. A click signifies some intent and interest in what you offer. By ignoring the clickers you’re leaving money on the table.
Use your click data to follow up on potential interest, but don’t be creepy about it! Yes, you can see exactly who clicked on each link in your email, but don’t open your follow up email with “We noticed you clicked on this link in the last email we sent you” – it just comes across as stalker-ish and could have the opposite effect to the one you want. Instead, follow up with a special offer on that particular product or service they’ve shown an interest in, or send an email giving more information about it.
Email campaigns shouldn’t be just a send-it-and-forget-it activity. Your email reports provide a wealth on insights into how your email was received by your audience and a huge opportunity to optimise campaigns, build relationships and convert your database in hot leads.
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