Email marketing is still one of the most effective and cheapest ways to get eyeballs on your products. It’s a great way to have fun, grab attention and send content to an audience that has opted into. However, this means that you’re vying for your audience’s attention more than ever as their inbox will be busy, so getting your email sends spot on is key. Here’s why nailing your email timing and strategy matters and how data can help you.
First impressions count
Treat every email like it’s a customer’s first point of contact with your brand. This doesn’t mean acting like there’s no relationship, but rather, putting in lots of effort, oomph and personality.
If an email is poorly timed or irrelevant, then a new customer might swiftly regret opting into your content and swiftly look for the unsubscribe button. Timed well, giving value and being consistent will make you stand out.
The impact of remote working
The influx of people working from home means that traditional email habits have shifted. Instead of checking emails on commutes or lunch breaks, data can show all sorts of new patterns, for example people are checking emails earlier in the morning and later in the evening than they might have done in the office. Tried and tested send times might not be as relevant, so it’s well worth testing different timings to find out more about your audience and what works.
Data drives success
Email marketing platforms can give you all sorts of data to play with so it makes sense to familiarise yourself with how to use it best – from open rates and click-throughs to engagement by device and location. Data is gold dust and will help you to refine your sends and make them more contextual, accounting for events, seasons and trends. Pay attention and adjust your email sends when needed.
Avoiding the spam trap
Sending too many emails and with odd timings can get your emails marked as spam which can reduce open rates and end up as wasted effort. If you plan your sends properly, you can build up rapport and relationships with your audience.
Testing and refining
Test, test, test. Gaining as much data as possible in order to test out ideas will help improve your emails and boost your business. What works for one mailing list might not with another, so testing out tone, images, subject lines etc are all ways to refine your offering.
Use A/B testing to try different send times, images and content styles to see what hits the spot and what definitely does not. The more you test, the clearer the picture you can build up about your audience and how to get through to them.
A decent email marketing offering is just as much about timing and testing as it is about the content you include. Using data to get your sends right can contextualise them and take behavioural and audience behaviours and habits into account. Review your analytics, experiment thoughtfully and you can improve results.
If you need a hand with your data and marketing strategy, get in touch with us here at DOWO today.