You may arouse your reader’s interest with provocative headlines and promises…but if you are not responsive – email recipients may still click away. The internet-enabled buyer has many demands and expectations. Chief among those mandates is the demand to be responsive to them.
Respond to the device
Your average prospect has multiple devices for reading email. It seems that the ever-presence of email has increased email marketing effectiveness. Worldwide, the use of smartphones and tablets is exploding. Since this follows the trend of overwhelming communication, a company benefits from following a few basic principles:
• Subject lines must grab attention. It is really easy to delete emails from these newer devices. Short and snappy wins the race.
• The first sentence needs to compel the reader to continue. In that brief reading time, the recipient of your email decides whether to delete or read. If the first sentence fails to engage, all the hard work to create an email marketing message is wasted.
• Optimize for a variety of devices. If your email does not display attractively and quickly, the impatient reader will move on. You cannot approach this with a one-size-fits-all approach. What may look great on your phone may look awkward on another. Watch the top 10 smartphones for your target market and view your message for each device.
Respond to the recipient
Your target audience expects all emails to be relevant to them – personally. They have been spoiled by the changes made by large corporations with big data. They expect you to know who they are and send them only things that will interest them.
The best way for a smaller business to accomplish the goal of relevancy is to segment lists into specific target audiences. The segments may pertain to the type of product they purchase, the way they became your prospect or by data you discovered in conversations with them. Bottom line: Know your customers and prospects well enough to always stay relevant.
Respond to the numbers
The foundations of email marketing are constantly shifting and changing. There seems no way to create a formula that will work for today and also carry your marketing goals for the distant future. Marketing results can be the driving force for sound marketing decisions.
This may be the most important way to be responsive.
Use your CRM software to monitor your marketing goals in a way that is quantifiable. Once you know your goals in terms of numbers, watch the metrics on a regular basis.
• You will be able to better hold salespeople accountable for results based on real numbers tracking opportunities and results.
• Pipeline and revenue forecasts become more accurate.
• It becomes easier to compare multiple sources of revenue based on the real numbers in the CRM.
Stop being a tease and become responsive in your email marketing. It will give more satisfaction to both you and your prospects.