When we stopped email blasting our open rates increased by over 85%
Email blasting everyone the same message once a month really isn’t an effective marketing strategy for 2021. If your email open rates are typical, then less than 20% of the people you email actually see what you’ve sent. If you really want to get the most out of your email marketing, it’s time to get personal.
Does any of this sound familiar?
Company – A
After months of hard work, [insert random product or service announcement] is ready to be shown to the public. The marketing department is wheeled in and asked to blow the dust off the email list they’ve been building up over the last year. They copy the newsletter template they used last year. Update the headline and fresh the copy. Select SEND ALL and whoosh….
Company – B
After months of minimal product or service innovation and the inevitable decline in sales. The marketing team is asked for solutions to the crisis. “We could do a seasonal promotion to our email list” they cry! Nothing says “WE CARE”, more than sending the same message to everyone at the same time as everyone else.
Company – C
After months of tagging every audience engagement and regular personalised messaging of their email list. The marketing department has been able to segment its database on subscriber interest *(thanks to the work they’ve done on tagging)*. Enabling them to reach the right audience at the right time, for each message they send. Sales have been on a steady climb all year and the only thing the team is being asked to do is more of the same! (congrats to you and your team if this is you 🎉 )
“Any company, anywhere in the world, can copy everything about what you as a company do, except for one thing. How you communicate” — Don Schultz, Integrated Marketing Communications
We owe it to ourselves and our customers to communicate more effectively. Unless you sell a single product or service and have one type of buyer persona you’re servicing, you should be segmenting your database right now.
Your email marketing should be a series of micro or mini mailers & sequences that are talking in your unique voice and about the thing your audience wants to hear about.
If all that wasn’t enough reason to change, ignoring personalisation also comes at a price.
5 dangers of email blasting in 2021
- Increases unsubscribe – People unsubscribe from things they don’t have any interest in. Given the energy marketing departments spend on getting new subscribers, it makes sense to look after them too.
- Reduces open rates – if your subject line relates to the body of the email (and it should) and that email has no relevance to its audience, then obviously the open rates will be lower.
- Frustrates your customers. How do you react when you get repeated emails from a brand talking about something you have no interest in?
- Reduces engagement – Not only does it impact engagement on a specific email that has no interest. If done frequently it massively reduces the likelihood of future engagement too.
- Produces lower conversions – It follows that if you frustrate and fail to engage with the right audience, you’re not going to set the world on fire with your sales numbers either.
It’s easy to understand why email has ended up where it is today for so many businesses. Email emerged from an era where businesses relied on the concept of one to one conversations with customers. Either by phone or in person.
Email arrived and all of a sudden we were presented with the opportunity to convert sales conversations into one too many. It was addictive and for a long time worked.
The advances in technology have provided us with the chance to have the best of both worlds. Conversations can be scaled for efficiency, but at the same time remain personalised.
🔥🔥 How to choose the right email marketing software 🔥 🔥
I recommend exploring your current email software for options on tagging and segmenting. It will open your mind to a world of possibilities.
The transformation won’t happen overnight, but the great thing about this strategy is it can be performed in stages. Simple tags like “customers” vs “leads” will immediately give you a different perspective on your messaging. Over time you can become increasingly granular. Each tag and segment creating an opportunity to engage with your audience in new ways.
To give you a sense of how much impact this strategy can have on your business. Our average open rates have risen to 37% and continue to climb by the day. Even more amazing is the performance of sequenced emails (hyper-personalised) which are achieving average open rates of above 68%.
So you really don’t have to settle for average. You just need to put some time and effort into your planning and then execute it using the right tools.
