If you’re looking for a way to enhance your current email marketing program, this post is for you. Below, you will find five different types of email efforts that you may want to consider implementing to increase your results and dazzle your boss!
One: Welcome Email
Ideally, Welcome emails are sent on the first day of a user’s subscription and they are set up to send automatically from your email marketing platform once a new user is added to your email list. Take the hard work out of the process and let your email marketing platform’s auto-response solution do the work!
Recommended Welcome email content includes:
- Welcoming subscriber
- Thanking them for signing up for your emails
- Encouraging them to mark your ‘From’ address as a Safe Sender in their email system
- Providing a link to whitelisting instructions
- Last, yet most important, the Welcome email should present a promotion for first purchase to drive conversion
Gardner’s Supply Company: Good Welcome email
Two: Holiday Campaign – All holidays
It’s no secret that the holidays present huge opportunities for all businesses: both B2C and B2B. B2C companies experience huge revenue spikes while B2B companies typically see more engagement/interaction with their customer base. Budgets are tight but your customers are willing to spread the holiday cheer…don’t miss out.
According to Experian’s 2010 Holiday Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report, email volumes are expected to increase 15% to 20% for the 2010 winter holiday season as compared to this same time period last year. Why? Because emails generate results whether that is in the form of revenue or stronger relationships. Need proof? The Direct Marketing Association conducted research that suggests that email marketing generated an ROI of $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009.
While the winter holidays are top of mind now, don’t forget about the smaller holidays scattered throughout the year. These holidays represent the same opportunity for you and/or your business. Follow Brooks Brothers’ lead.
Brooks Brothers: Good Holiday email
Three: Birthday Email
Similar to a Welcome email, a Birthday email should be setup to automatically fire off to a subscriber on his/her birthday or during the subscriber’s birthday month.
According to Experian Marketing Services report, 2010, the top five birthday subject lines based on open rates are:
- A special gift for your birthday
- Happy Birthday [FIRSTNAME]
- Happy Birthday From [Company]
- Your Special Birthday Bonus
- A special gift of 20% off for your birthday
Like the Welcome email initiative, be sure to add value to your Birthday email efforts.
Macy’s: Good Birthday email
Four: Re-Engagement Campaign
WhatCounts recommends running a re-engagement campaign every 6 months in an effort to clean your lists of dead and “emotionally unsubscribed” email addresses and ensure all subscribers on your lists are actively and positively contributing to your email results. Those that want to hear from you are less likely to mark your emails as spam so they should be the prized addresses you keep on your list. Don’t blow your email budget on people that don’t want to hear from you. They won’t buy, they won’t engage so what is the benefit of having them on your list?
TurboSaver: Good Re-engagement email
MarketingSherpa recently released a great case study showcasing the benefit of Re-engagement efforts (list cut in half, sales doubled). Read the MarketingSherpa article.
Five: Apology Email
When you mess up big time (we’ve all done it!) fess up and reap the benefits. Apology messages aren’t necessary for every small slip up but when needed, keep it short, add value (e.g., discount, gift, free shipping), try to send the apology email as soon after the mishap as possible and, last but not least, add some humor if you can!
1-800 Flowers: Good Apology email
If you’re not hitting your subscribers with all these types of communication when appropriate, you’re missing out on huge opportunities. Get to it and, WhatCounts clients, let your account managers know if you have any questions.
Happy Emailing!
Lindsay Ferrara
Services Account Manager, WhatCounts
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