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Simon Says, Do Your Email Campaigns Have the X Factor?

Andy Shore Andy Shore found his way to Benchmark when he replied to a job listing promising a job of half blogging, half social media. His parents still don’t believe that people get paid to do that. Since then, he’s spun his addiction to pop culture and passion for music into business and marketing posts that are the spoonful of sugar that helps the lessons go down. As the result of his boss not knowing whether or not to take him seriously, he also created the web series Ask Andy, which stars a cartoon version of himself. Despite being a cartoon, he somehow manages to be taken seriously by many of his readers ... and few of his coworkers.

February 1, 2012 2 min read

The web has been abuzz the last few days over news of a massive overhaul on The X Factor. Simon Cowell said goodbye to judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones. Cowell made big promises when he left American Idol about what The X Factor would become. Season one was not the rousing success he predicted. The show will retool and try to come back on top in season two.

I didn’t watch a single minute of the show. I’ve stayed loyal to Idol and the only new singing competition I had room for was The Voice. This news didn’t really faze me (and apparently a lot of other people, if the size of the audience accounts for this major change). However, new email marketers should take note of The X Factor‘s willingness to realize what didn’t work and make changes accordingly.

Just like The X Factor, you may have come into an already crowded market in your industry. I’m sure you also put a ton of work and energy into your first campaign. Some people may have loved it. Maybe it didn’t convert as much as you thought it would. It’s important to sit back, evaluate what worked and didn’t and be willing to come back better than ever in your second attempt.

The X Factor didn’t pack it up and go. They saw what worked. L.A. Reid will remain with Cowell on the judging panel. I’m sure all of your first campaign didn’t fail. Perhaps your subject line resulted in a high open rate. But maybe the CTR wasn’t what you expected. See what you can do to improve upon your previous effort. Strengthen your calls to action or break up the text with images a bit more.

Email marketing is an ongoing process. You must be constantly evaluating your successes and failures. Make sure your emails have the X Factor.

Author Bio:

by Andy Shore

Andy Shore found his way to Benchmark when he replied to a job listing promising a job of half blogging, half social media. His parents still don’t believe that people get paid to do that. Since then, he’s spun his addiction to pop culture and passion for music into business and marketing posts that are the spoonful of sugar that helps the lessons go down. As the result of his boss not knowing whether or not to take him seriously, he also created the web series Ask Andy, which stars a cartoon version of himself. Despite being a cartoon, he somehow manages to be taken seriously by many of his readers ... and few of his coworkers.