E-mail Marketing by the Numbers

This week I have the honor of presenting the keynote speech at the DMA UK's Email Customer Lifecycle: List Growth event in London, opening the first Email Experience Council's international event in Barcelona, and delivering the keynote for the EM+C Virtual Trade Show with a talk titled, "Email Marketing by the Numbers." While preparing for these events, I found myself organizing my thoughts into lists of topics and best practices. When I finished, I realized I had created some really useful lists.

This week's column shares just a few. To get the full impact, tune in, or come to any of these three events. Even if you can't make these events, you can still learn a bit this week just by reading these lists.

List No. 1: Nine Rules for Driving E-mail Marketing Success

You must be proficient in all of these to make the most of the channel.

1. Have a good reason to e-mail.
2. Follow the five elements of success.
3. Plan your plan.
4. Get the right tools in place.
5. Cross your t's.
6. Have resources ready.
7. Launch and evaluate results.
8. Get fancy. Be brave!
9. Integrate with other channels.

Following these general rules will help you organize your planning and strategy to ensure you do not miss out on any key elements. Speaking of elements, I referenced the five elements of success. Here they are:

List No. 2: Five Elements of Success

1. Understand the impact on brand.
   
   

   Old stat: 90 percent use e-mail to engage in/determine the value of a company.

   New stat: Average person will keep an educational e-mail for two years.




2. Add intelligence to your design.
   
   

   Old stat: 18 percent on social networks, 27 percent texting, 4 percent on RSS.

   New stat: 62 percent use social networks regularly.




3. Drive the purchase.
   
   

   Old stat: 26 percent of e-mails are opt-in marketing messages.

   New stat: 28 percent of all people recommend products to friends.




4. Create service messages!
   
   

   See No. 1




5. Add viral elements.
   
   

   Old stat: Send to a friend (STAF) should drive a 1 percent to 2 percent referral rate from opens.

   New stat: In the Twitter vs. Facebook world, Twitter sells.

Are you listed out yet? I hope not, because here is one more list for you. A checklist of sorts to make sure you haven't forgotten anything.

List No. 3: Don't Forget To...

1. Make a mailing calendar.
2. Place value on e-mail addresses (opt-in and out).
3. Have activation, retention, and reactivation programs planned.
4. Develop key performance indicators that make sense for your business.
5. Focus on behavior of your list.
6. Tailor landing pages.
7. Optimize content based on results.
8. Develop seed lists that are not on your network.
9. Determine multi-channel usage early on.
10. Map our continuity campaigns (aka, triggered e-mail campaigns).

Making lists and keeping focused and organized can go a long way in creating channel effectiveness. Save, share, or print these lists to help give your year-end results a boost. Do you have a good list of your own? Share it with me and I will post it to my blog.

Meet Jeanniey at Search Engine Strategies, Chicago, Dec. 7-9, 2009.