Email Marketing

Email marketing is the distribution and communication of a message using email. These emails are sent to an individual or to a group of people. Businesses typically use email marketing to advertise their products or email newsletters. It also helps promote loyalty and brand awareness in a company’s broader digital marketing campaign.

Using email templates allows personalized messaging while blasting emails to many people. The templates contain drag-and-drop features to customize the content. You can add images, links to web pages, and text. Merged fields within the text allow personalization.

Email Automation

Marketing emails can be sent manually to a single contact or a filtered list of email subscribers. It’s most efficient when they are sent out automatically. These email marketing services are available with an enterprise CRM or separate marketing system.

One email can be distributed to thousands of potential customers and existing customers. Or you can add them to a drip campaign. Drip campaigns send multiple emails at specific dates and times. For a more in-depth discussion on drip campaigns, please view the blog article, “What is a Drip Campaign.”

Measuring Message Effectiveness

Messaging optimization is key to achieving a high conversion rate in an email marketing campaign. One way to ensure the best results possible is to perform upfront testing before emailing the entire subscriber list.

A/B Testing

The terms “split testing” and “A/B testing” are often used interchangeably. They’re actually two different types of tests. Split testing involves comparing two distinct email designs.

A/B testing is a more effective way to determine an email’s effectiveness. It involves comparing two versions of the same email by changing one element, such as subject lines. After preparing the variations, each version is sent to two different audiences of the same size. The test will reveal which email was the most successful by the number of people that opened your email or click-through rates.

A/B testing informs marketers what words, phrases, images, videos, testimonials, and other elements work best. Even the simplest changes can impact conversion rates. Here are some of the variables that can affect the performance of an email:

• CTAs – The “calls to action” tells readers what is wanted of them to do now. It should entice the reader to accept the offer because it offers too much value to resist. Changing even one word in the CTA can influence conversion rates.
• Subject lines – Email subject lines directly impact open rates. If a subscriber doesn’t see anything he or she likes, the email will likely be deleted. A/B testing subject lines can increase the chances of getting people to click.
• Content depth – Some consumers prefer high-level information that provides a basic overview of a topic, while others want a deep dive—test content depth by creating two pieces of content. One will be significantly longer than the other and provide deeper insight.
• Content Style – Whether the content contains text only or includes an image, audio, or video, it can affect the conversion rate depending on the subject matter. Which types of images, audio, or video are chosen also matters.
• Day/Time of Day – Sometimes, the day or time of the day the email is sent can affect its performance. To measure this scenario, the same email (containing no variations) will be sent out at different times.

Test Requirements:

• Change just one element on the form.
• Equal numbers of people see each variation.
• The test runs long enough to reach statistical significance.

Email Marketing Metrics

Let’s look at the metrics one should pay attention to in their email marketing efforts.

Key Email Metrics

• Open Rate – The percentage of email recipients who open a given email. Example: 5000 total clicks ÷ 10,000 delivered emails * 100 = 50% open rate.
• Unsubscribe Rate – The percentage of email recipients who unsubscribe or opt out of a given email. Example: 1000 total clicks ÷ 10,000 delivered emails * 100 = 10% clickthrough rate.
• Clickthrough Rate (CTR) – The percentage of email recipients who clicked on one or more links contained in a given email. Example: 500 total clicks ÷ 10,000 delivered emails * 100 = 5% clickthrough rate to a website’s landing pages.
• Conversion Rate – The percentage of email recipients who clicked on a link within an email and completed a desired action, such as filling out a lead generation form or purchasing a product. Example: 400 people who completed the desired action ÷ 10,000 total emails delivered * 100 = 4% conversion rate.
• Bounce Rate – The percentage of total emails sent that could not be successfully delivered to the recipient’s inbox. Example: 75 bounced emails ÷ 10,000 total emails sent * 100 = 0.75% bounce rate. There are two kinds of bounces to track: “hard” bounces and “soft” bounces.
  • Soft bounces result from a temporary problem with a valid email address, such as a full inbox or a problem with the recipient’s server.
  • Hard bounces result from an invalid, closed, or non-existent email address, and these emails will never be successfully delivered.
• Subscriber List Growth Rate – The rate at which the subscriber list is growing. Example: (500 new subscribers – 100 unsubscribes and email/spam complaints) ÷ 10,000 email addresses on the list * 100 = 4% list growth rate.
• Email Sharing/Forwarding Rate – The percentage of email recipients who clicked on a “share this” button to post email content to a social network, and/or who clicked on a “forward to a friend” button. Example: 100 clicks on a share/forward button ÷ 10,000 total delivered emails * 100 = 1% email sharing/forwarding rate.
• Overall ROI – The overall return on investment for email campaigns. In other words, total revenue is divided by total spending. Example: ($1,000 in additional sales – $100 invested in the campaign / $100 invested in the campaign) * 100 = a 900% return on investment for the campaign.

Marketing Email Regulations

Data privacy and security regulation is growing rapidly worldwide, including in the United States. In addition to strengthening the requirements to secure personal data, individuals are being given an increasing array of rights concerning the collection, use, disclosure, sale, and processing of their personal information. Meanwhile, organizations’ growing appetite for more data, and more types of data, persist, despite mounting security risks and concerns about permissible use.

To this end, three Major legislations impact the universe of email marketing regarding consumer data privacy protection.

Canada Anti-Spam Law (CASL)

CASL legislation was enacted on July 1, 2014, being the first of the three laws to be implemented.  It focuses mainly on an anti-SPAM law feature that requires Canadian and global organizations that send commercial electronic messages within, from, or to Canada to receive consent (by an explicit or implicit opt-in) from recipients before sending messages.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), passed in May 2018, is a legal doctrine that establishes guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information of individuals within the European Union.

While GDPR has similar anti-SPAM requirements as CASL, the GDPR focuses on eight basic privacy rights.  The right to Consent, Data Protection, View Personal Data, Get Notified, Correct Data, Automated Delete, Be Forgotten, and Data Portability.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a California state law that strengthens privacy rights and consumer protections for residents of California. It was signed into law on June 28, 2018, and is scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2020. It is the most comprehensive data privacy legislation passed in the US to date. It is essentially the American version of the GDPR.

Email Marketing and C2CRM

Email marketing platforms can be found in standalone email marketing software or as part of CRM systems. While standalone systems tend to be slightly more robust with features and have an extensive library of images and templates, CRM systems offer more efficiencies, and better collaboration and are more cost-effective since there is no integration involved…lists do not have to be exported and performance statistics to not have to be imported into the CRM.

C2CRM provides all the essential components of full-service email marketing software while leveraging CRM tools to provide a more personalized, more effective direct marketing contact with prospective clients. It utilizes a robust drip campaign module and a collateral library to provide a seamless world-class marketing delivery system.  Below are some of the features C2CRM has to offer:

• enhanced form letter creation with drag & drop editing
• library of pre-designed templates
• scheduling capability for monthly newsletters
• drip campaign integration
• A/B testing of emails
• linking of emails and performance statistics to companies and contacts without the use of integration
• automated opt-in and opt-out on contact records
• Send emails to existing or potential customers for pre and post-sales, quotes, acknowledgments, knowledge base articles, etc.
• Email dashboards and reports
• CASL/GDPR/CCPA compliance

Conclusion

C2CRM can provide a full turnkey marketing solution to meet your business requirements. Give us a call at 972.304.7100.