Beware the E-Mail Marketing Blinders
Marketers and customers define "e-mail program" differently. Three steps to help you leverage some of the most valuable marketing space available today.
Marketers and customers define "e-mail program" differently. Three steps to help you leverage some of the most valuable marketing space available today.
As an email marketing professional, I realized earlier this week the definition of an “email program” may be drastically different for marketers and consumers. Marketers define an email program as composed of one or more email messages, sent to support a specific product, effort, or campaign. This could be a direct sales email, a prospecting email, or a branding email.
Consumers define an email program as any email from an organization that lands in their inboxes. This includes opt-in confirmation email, welcome email, service-related email (confirmations, cancellations), and everything else an organization may send.
These definitions imply that many email marketers underestimate the elements that help define the customer’s perception of a company’s email marketing efforts. It’s as if email marketers wear blinders regarding the presence and effect of transaction- and service-based email. Thinking of an email marketing program as a finite messaging sequence with a single intent promotes an unrealistic, limited view of how all email messages affect the consumer’s state of mind. This single-minded approach can also cause marketers to miss out on some of the most valuable marketing space available in email today.
How can marketers ensure they take advantage of every email touch point the consumer experiences? Below, three steps that can immediately add value to your current marketing program by leveraging service and confirmation email.
Will these steps make a difference? Absolutely! And they’re only the beginning. Once you’re comfortable with the fact email programs span far beyond the one-off marketing messages that support your campaign, you can make service and confirmation email work even harder for your program.
Want more email marketing information? ClickZ E-Mail Reference is an archive of all our email columns, organized by topic.