4 Effective Strategies to Boost Email Marketing Performance
While many businesses and brands claim to engage in email marketing, they only gather the email addresses of potential customers without knowing how to make good use of them. We'll discuss four ways to increase email marketing performance in this article.
1. Verify User Email Addresses
To ensure that the email addresses you collect are correct (users sometimes make mistakes when inputting), it is recommended to implement a double opt-in process. After users subscribe, they will receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription to your newsletter. The benefit of this approach is that it verifies the accuracy of the information provided by users. However, it also adds a barrier to your email list because not every user will open the verification email and confirm their subscription.
2. Set up your Welcome Email
The welcome email is the first email that users receive from you after subscribing. It includes a thank-you message for subscribing to your newsletter (EDM) and provides more relevant information. It also aligns with Method 1 to verify the accuracy of the email provided by users (e.g., detecting hard bounces or soft bounces).
Interestingly, Active Campaign found that 41% of brands do not send a welcome email within 48 hours of obtaining the user's email address, and as high as 27% of brands do not send any emails to registered users in the first 3 weeks. This means that they are letting potential customers slip away who may be interested in learning more or making a purchase.
- No longer interested in the substance of your emails.
- Subscribed using their work email but have left the organisation (this is a typical explanation).
- Emails are sent to the spam bin.
- Sign up using a temporary email address.
3. Unsubscribe Inactive Users
This approach may seem absurd as most people strive for more prospective client email lists. Why should we unsubscribe inactive users? If someone hasn't opened your emails in a long time, their prospects of becoming a potential customer are almost nil. Sending emails to such individuals has lost its original function. Some may argue, "What's the harm to send emails?" Perhaps one day they'll grow interested in us and make a purchase?" However, you must evaluate why people stopped opening your emails:
If you are using Mailchimp or other email software, you are typically billed based on the number of subscribers or the volume of emails sent. If you have just started email marketing for a short period (less than a year), or if your email list is not very large, you may not need to consider this practice yet. However, if your email list is substantial, it is essential to assess its activity level. When some people consistently fail to open your emails, you are wasting promotional resources that could be better utilized (such as shifting to paid advertising to attract new potential customers).
If you decide to unsubscribe inactive users, you need to define what constitutes "inactive." You can refer to Convert Kit's definition, which considers "inactive users" as those who have not opened your emails in the last 90 days. To avoid mistakenly removing new subscribers, add another condition: "Subscribed for 90 days or more." Users who meet both of these conditions will be considered "inactive users." You can also define your criteria based on your email-sending frequency.
Of course, you don't have to unsubscribe from this group of users immediately. You can start by sending a reminder email with a subject line informing them that you are considering unsubscribing them. Those who still want to receive your emails can open that email to continue their subscription. After some time (around 7 days is recommended, as not everyone checks their mailbox daily), you can unsubscribe users who did not response. This way, you avoid mistakenly unsubscribing people who may be viewing your emails but not reflecting that in the system.
4. Provide Exclusive Content for Subscribers Only
Offering exclusive content that is accessible only to subscribers or providing them with priority access is a powerful tool to improve open rates and click-through rates. While not every email can have exclusive content (that would be challenging), it is indeed enticing to have exclusive content that captures the reader's interest.
Occasionally utilising this strategy can be an effective way to build a loyal email list. If creating exclusive content is too challenging, consider offering priority content. For example, you can set your YouTube video to publish at a specific time with restricted access. Sharing the access link with your subscribers can generate more interest in your content and increase their willingness to open your emails.