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Planning for
Success:
How to Achieve "Sustained Inbox Visibility"
"In the future, only permission-based email campaigns that are able to
achieve a high degree of "inbox visibility" will provide marketers with
worthwhile positive ROI both on the retention and acquisition fronts."
-"The Future of Email
Marketing," Ajay Segal AvantMarketer.com
How effective is your email message?
Experts in email marketing concluded years ago that the most effective
email campaigns are delivered to recipients who give their permission. Emailing
to the masses without permission not only reduces the odds of success,
but also increases the risk of irritating and distancing the true
target audience. Emailing without permission also puts your company
at risk of a bad reputation with the Internet Service Providers who may
in turn begin blocking your e-mails completely.
And think about how much time you spend reading your email. As Seth Godin
points out in his popular book, Permission Marketing, "we are
all running out of time." Email that arrives without permission
consumes this precious commodity. As inboxes fill with permission-based
emails, campaigns based on mass marketing concepts - mailing to random
lists based on selected data fields - will ultimately fail to return
significant profits.
New and Improved Strategy
So with the focus the past few years on "permission," we see more
emails being sent with permission. This means we all spend more time
making decisions on which relevant e-mails to open and which to
delete. And we may ask to be un-subscribed from e-mail campaigns we
simply can't fit into our schedules.
The way of the future, according to Avant
Marketer Managing Editor Ajay Segal, is to focus
on sustained inbox visibility. The key to visibility is to be
anticipated - we need to make an appointment and keep it. "...only
directly anticipated email communications will provide a vehicle for
worthwhile positive ROI."
For Example
The Temple for Performing Arts in Des
Moines sends me an email newsletter every other month. I look forward
to reading it, it contains the perfect amount of information, and with
one click I can buy tickets. With a different kind of consistency, I
look forward to event-based emails. When a holiday is approaching, I
expect to receive emails from the Amana
Meat Shop, Centro Restaurant and Boesen the
Florist. I expect these messages, I open them and I read
them. I have purchased meat, eaten at the restaurant and ordered
flowers. And I appreciate the special offers extended to me for the
right things at the right time.
STRATEGIES:
Here are three goals to set to achieve
sustained inbox visibility:
- Obtain permission.
Grow your inhouse subscriber list and it will prove more valuable than
any purchased or rented list can ever be.
- Continue to identify your subscriber
preferences.
As time goes on, it will be important to tailor your messages to the
specific needs and desires of your audience, so ask, define and pay
attention.
- Set a schedule.
Success email campaigns are anticipated. Set a schedule according to
subscriber preferences. Make the appointment, arrive on time, and stay
on point.
| Recommended Resource: Inbox 2006
San Jose, CA, May 31 |
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