Commentary

Your Post-Vacation Email Marketing Checklist

The summer season gives you the chance to achieve another objective besides working on your tan and a new strawberry mojito recipe.

Now is a great time to take stock of your email-marketing program and look for opportunities to make both incremental and substantial leaps in performance before the holiday season kicks into gear.

Use this quick checklist to assess your email program from end to end:

Opt-In/Welcome Process:

  • Do you have an opt-in field or link on every page?
  • Does your opt-in process manage expectations? It should convey the value proposition of your email program by explaining frequency and privacy policies, and providing an example.
  • Do you have a world-class preference center that enables new subscribers to personalize their email experiences?
  • Do you send a welcome email immediately after opt-in that reinforces these expectations, and offers something of value such as an immediate discount or special content?
  • Do you utilize a multiple-part welcome series with a specific goal for each email, such as trial, completing the preference process, completing a survey, etc.?

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Design/Usability:

  • Does the core call-to-action render appropriately on mobile devices and preview panes?
  • Do you make it easy for subscribers to find what they are looking for and make a purchase or take similar action quickly?
  • Does your text navigation reflect email actions, not just the sections of your Web site?
  • Does your email administrative footer provide a link to your preference center or just to the opt-out page?
  • Do you provide alternatives to opting out on the unsubscribe page, such as frequency options, list options, product interests and channel preferences?

Content:

  • Have you optimized your sender and subject lines to include your company or brand name and key info about the message content?
  • Have you tested them?
  • Have you included share-to-social links in your emails, along with a compelling reason for subscribers to share the email?
  • Do your emails have personality and a distinct voice that reflects your brand?
  • Do you personalize email content so that it reflects individual subscriber preferences?
  • Do your emails solve problems for subscribers? Are they differentiated and stand out in the inbox from your key competitors?
  • Are your emails fun, educational, thoughtful or helpful? Or is the central message just "Buy, buy, buy"?

Deliverability/List Hygiene:

  • Are your emails authenticated for SPF/Sender ID and DKIM/Domain Keys?
  • Do you remove hard bounces immediately from your active list?
  • Are you set up for feedback loops with the ISPs?
  • Do you immediately suppress subscribers who file abuse (spam) complaints?
  • Do you run your emails through content and code-validation checkers to minimize the possibility that they will be filtered for content or improper coding?

Segmentation/Personalization:

  • Have you identified your inactive subscribers and moved them onto a reactivation track?
  • Have you segmented your subscribers into "customer" and "prospect" categories and then into RFM (recency, frequency and monetary) buckets that then drive the types of email programs they receive?
  • Have you implemented new types of email streams that enable subscribers with different interests to opt in and out of different programs?
  • Are you sending targeted emails based on preferences and behavior -- or one-size-fits-all broadcast messages?
  • Have you identified your most influential subscribers?
  • Do you treat your "influencers" differently to encourage social sharing?

Automation:

  • Have you set up triggered messages based on demographics and anniversaries such as birthdays?
  • Do your messages incorporate content from your Web site and other technology solutions such as product reviews and recommendations?
  • Have you optimized your transactional emails to include branding, cross-sell or upsell promotions, as well as post-purchase series like customer-service surveys and requests for product reviews?
  • Do you have a remarketing program including browse and cart abandonment?
  • Have you implemented a cart-recovery email series that launches within minutes of abandonment?
  • Are you optimizing your email send time based on recipients' past open and click behavior?
  • Have you launched a lifecycle program that delivers automated messages based on the customer's position in a purchase cycle or life stage?

Optimization/Measurement:

  • Do you have an ongoing testing program, where you continually test and build on previous learnings?
  • Are you implementing your email program as part of a broader multichannel approach?
  • Are you using your basic email metrics to uncover potential issues or opportunities for improvement in your program?
  • Are you using the right metrics -- like revenue per email delivered, cost savings and customer retention -- which measure the success of your email program as it contributes to business success?
  • Are you constantly optimizing your program by trying new things and adding new email programs and streams based on other learnings?
  • Are you tracking your email metrics by different types of email streams and programs in order to persuade management to reallocate resources to the highest ROI and revenue-generating programs?

Tackling just a few of these areas can drive better performance from your email program. I've certainly left off dozens of other areas for improvement, but hopefully I've given you at least one or two task ideas to work on after you get back from your vacation on the beach.

Did I miss any really important initiatives? Let me know in the comments area below.

What would Stefan say?

3 comments about "Your Post-Vacation Email Marketing Checklist ".
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  1. Rita Allenrallen@freshaddress.com from FreshAddress, Inc., July 1, 2010 at 2:20 p.m.

    One more to add to your comprehensive list: Have you updated your bouncing and inactive email addresses sitting idle, not working for you? With an attrition rate of 30% per year, better to reconnect with one who was previously engaged with your brand than to go to the expense of prospecting!

  2. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, July 1, 2010 at 5:08 p.m.

    This is one for the wall to be reviewed by all departments and management.

  3. Kurt Johansen from Johansen International, July 1, 2010 at 7:27 p.m.

    OMG what a list Loren. Conrats. Though nothing beats personalising your marketing emails and writing them in the "first person". Don't just make your email marketing another sales 'brochure'. Make it a personal message between you and your intended recipient. Cheers Kurt Australia's Email Marketing Strategist - http://www.kurtjohansen.com

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