Determining the success of your email marketing campaign comes down to several factors including open rates, click rates and conversion rates, if applicable. Once your campaign has deployed, you probably spend a considerable amount of time determining what’s working, what’s not and how you can best improve your ROI.
It’s natural to look at what has been successful and try to repeat that success. And in a lot of cases, this can be beneficial for your business. If there’s a subject line or offer that spurs your subscribers to action, it’s a wise idea to use a similar variation in the future.
But today I wanted to share an example of when this concept can go terribly wrong.
There’s an online retailer that I’ve purchased from once – two years ago. I get emails from them daily, which is overwhelming as a prospective customer. But I’ll save the idea behind how to change your email marketing strategy to reactivate old clients for another day.
In the two years I’ve been on their email list – they’ve sent over 500 emails all with varying subject lines. Some which caught my eye and but most which caused me to hit delete without opening.
And then a few months ago, there was an email that got my attention. “Sorry, we made an oops. Here’s 25% off your next order.”
I’ve always been intrigued by this approach. In my years working for a large online retailer, we only sent one of these types of emails. And it was because we had an actual goof in the original email.
So I was intrigued. I opened the email and it explained their website code wasn’t working, so people weren’t able to order the promoted item at the discounted rate.
The email was a great way to resolve an issue and also bring in customers who may not have ordered otherwise.
But here’s where they took a misstep. They started sending out the same type of “Oops, we made a mistake” offer email every other week. And although their intention was surely to repeat their previous success, the frequency of the “oops” emails made them look like they were poor at running their business.
My recommendation is to not run the same exact promotion more than once a quarter. You need to mix it up so that your subscribers don’t grow tired of the same offer.
Think of new and exciting ways to convert your email list. It’s one of the many things I enjoy about email marketing — the testing! Review your reports and find out what your list responds most positively to. And as you build out your promotional calendar, spread things out so that your offers and fresh and exciting.
Do you have questions or need help with your email marketing? Contact us!
