Create Dynamic Email Marketing Campaigns

Beyond objectives and audience, there are several other considerations to take into account as you design the content of your email. According to Forrester Research, the number of permitted commercial email messages is expected to grow from 16.9 billion now to 210 billion by the year 2004. Every email marketer must consider how to break through the clutter to get attention and then keep it.
One of the most effective strategies is to make each email valuable in some way to the target audience. There are many ways to create a sense of value - and they do not all involve financial incentives or discounts (although consumers are very fond of those, too, of course). If your email fails the value test, it is likely to wind up in the deleted mail folder, unopened or given only a cursory glance by its intended recipient.

Ways of creating a sense of value include:

Target your message and segment your database - The goal of email marketing is to deliver the right offer or information to the right person at the right time. The possibilities of targeting and segmenting are limited only by your creative thought and existing database capabilities. When done well, targeting increases the relevance of the message

Personalize every message - At a minimum, personalize the "To:" line based on email address as opposed to using a generic salutation such as "subscriber." Personalize with a name if possible. Go even deeper if appropriate. For example, VarsityBooks.com includes the name of the recipient's college or university in personalized emails to students as a way of appealing to students' school affiliations.

Keep it brief - Unless it's a newsletter or carefully designed HTML message, you should probably keep it brief - maybe even just a screen full of information. If you need to go into more detail on something, then use the email message to entice them to link to your Web site. While you do not have to pay for paper and printing with email, you do still need to grab attention and keep it. If you cannot deliver your key messages succinctly, it may be an indication that you need to re-work your messages.

Offer something of value - The obvious examples are discounts and special email-only offers, but there are many others. Information alone can be highly valuable when it is relevant, as can high-quality service such as fast, accurate confirmations, or other service notices.

Communicate only when you actually have something to say - As you craft your email campaign, carefully consider the frequency of communication, and remember that more is not always better. Weekly might be right for some time-sensitive campaigns, while monthly may be adequate for newsletters or regularly scheduled promotions. You do not want to communicate so infrequently that subscribers forget about you, but you do not want to bombard them with "fluff" just to keep up with a schedule, either.

Include a call to action - Use clickable URLs within the message to drive them to a particular spot on your Web site. Place a "tell a friend" button in your email newsletter. Include an invitation to sign up for any other lists you may have.

Deliver your email in the most graphically rich format you can - This is not a rule without exceptions. While graphically rich HTML email generally receives much higher response rates than plain text, some mail browsers can't read it and some people would actually prefer plain old text. Ideally, you can give your list subscribers a chance to tell you what kind of mail they can receive or prefer when they sign up. Even if you do not, technology such DARTmail's "auto-sensing" capabilities can detect whether a subscriber's browser can read HTML.

AOL subscribers can also pose a formatting dilemma - The Web links in messages read by the AOL mail browser are not clickable, meaning AOL users have to cut and paste the address into their Web browser in order to visit it. If you don't use technology to make the links clickable in the AOL browser, then you should if you may need to give special care to the crafting of messages to AOL subscribers.

Make sure the message fits in with your other marketing channels - As we have mentioned before, email is a great way to reinforce your brand. Does the message fit with your other marketing materials, including printed materials, advertising, and even your brick and mortar presence (if you have one)? Use both the text and, if delivering in HTML, the graphics, to convey a consistent look and feel.

Remind subscribers why they are receiving your email - Include a simple note somewhere in the message such as, "You are receiving this email because you have subscribed to the (name of list) at (name of site)."

Include user-friendly unsubscribe instructions with every e- mail - One of the primary pain points of email marketing is removing people who want to be taken off a list quickly and easily.

Utilize your lists - If you have other lists, use email communication as an opportunity to cross-sell your current subscribers to your other lists.

Keep the subject line brief - Use no more than 35 characters, ideally, since some mail programs will not display more than that. Obviously, since this is the first thing readers see, it needs to be eye-catching without setting off spam concerns. For instance, try not to use the word "free" since it's so heavily used in spam, and avoid dollar signs ($), all capital letters, exclamation points (!) or the words "make money" together. You get the picture.

Choose a subject line that captures immediate interest and makes people want to read more. For example, avoid vague subject lines like "Our September Newsletter." Instead, say something that engages your readers' attention with an interesting topic or headline from the newsletter, such as "Best Practices for Email Marketing" or "Inside: Exclusive Interview with Tiger Woods!

Use your subject line to encourage forwarding. The Association for Interactive Marketing (AIM) always adds "Pls. Forward" to the ends of their newsletter subject lines and they report it's more than doubled their circulation!

Identify whom the email is from - If your company has several divisions or units sending email to lists, make the "From" field as specific as needed to avoid confusing people.

See what others are doing - Take a few minutes and sign up for email newsletters from competitors - choose a few on your favorite hobby or interest too. Once you're receiving online newsletters from other companies, pay attention to what makes you open some and what makes you delete others without reading.

Keep the message personal and casual - Think like a customer and write in a conversational tone - people crave a little humanity behind the corporate mask.

People respond best to messages that are written by one particular individual at a company who they can get to know over time - it's part of building relationships.

Avoid using 'FREE' in your subject line - since it has been abused by spam marketers and arouses suspicion.

Be honest in your subject line and reflect what's inside - State a clear benefit that motivates the recipient to open the message. The messages that get opened will be those that seem relevant and offer value.

Some other points to be kept in mind -

		HTML and Rich media email messages that include audio, video and animation generate high response rates, however it's still important to always have a plain text version for those recipients that prefer text or can only receive text.
		Unless your newsletter is unusually long, recipients will probably try to read it on their screens. Your job is to make this as easy as possible for them.
		Always include a table of contents up-front so people can scroll quickly and easily to the section of their choice.
		Usability studies show that most people won't look beyond the first screen of information if there's not something immediately interesting to them. Give them a reason to scroll down!
		Use bullet points and lots of white space for plain text messages.
		Minimize the use of ALL CAPS and italics as they are much harder to read on screen.
		To make it easy for readers to scan your message, keep columns of copy narrow.
		Test your messages through a number of email accounts to ensure they look good through all mainstream email clients.
		Gathering results through trackable links and having access to real-time reports will help you understand what works and what doesn't.
		Test using different subject lines, copy, offers, creative designs and more. Use real-time results to see which get the best response rates.
		When running a series of email campaigns, refine your message as quickly as possible once you understand the results of your first campaign.
		To fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of an email campaign, look for an email marketing solution that offers real-time reporting features that address more than just who opened your message.
		To save valuable time, choose email marketing software that automatically manages and tracks results so that you don't have to manually sort and calculate through hundreds or thousands of responses.
		Research by Jupiter Communications report email response rates to average between 5 percent and 15 percent. This compares to banner advertising that averages below 1 percent and paper-based direct marketing at 1 percent to 2 percent.
		Above all, take the time to understand email as a marketing medium. Always analyze your results and think about innovative strategies to get new customers and keep existing customers.