By this point, you know that email marketing is one of the most effective tools for generating new leads, sales revenue, and for targeting specific audience segments. However, email is more of an exact art than many would have you believe; timing not just the initial email delivery, but scheduling each follow up, is critically important to the success of your email campaign.
Scheduling email campaigns
According to a recent article by Direct Marketing News, most marketers vastly overestimate their emails’ shelf lives. In reality, two-thirds of all marketing emails are opened the first they are received; one-third are opened within two hours of them hitting the inbox. The bottom line? If your email wasn’t opened after 48 hours, it’s not going to be. So how do you make sure that your emails are ready, sent, and opened in that golden two hour period? It’s essential to be at the top of the inbox – this means that you need to know when your customers are most likely to be reading emails, and on devices that are most likely to help convert. For example, on the East Coast, most marketing emails are sent out between 6 am and 9 am. This is when most people are commuting to work and either unable to check their emails at all, or are only able to view them on smartphones. While on the surface this doesn’t sound like too much of an issue, Epsilon SVP of digital marketing solutions Quinn Jalli reports that emails viewed on mobile devices have a 33% lower click-through rate, and a 75% lower conversion rate than emails viewed on traditional PCs, laptops, or even on tablets. So how do email marketers stay top of box? Schedule your email message to hit your East Coast audience inboxes before 6 am; that way, they are sitting at the top of the inbox while customers are checking email at home on their computer or tablet before work.
Recapturing and retargeting campaigns
There are other tools that email marketers are either ignoring, or implementing improperly: recapture and retargeting. Most companies have an annual campaign to re-engage inactive customers; Jalli dismisses these as a waste of time. The research shows that if companies don’t try to re-engage customers after a month of inactivity, the rate of success drops down to a dismal 11%. Quick recapture efforts keep the probability of maintain that customer much higher. Additionally, retargeting helps to alleviate the low numbers of conversions on mobile. Follow up on emails opened on mobile with emails sent at different times that are most likely to be opened on different devices (we’ve found that right after lunch is a good time for desktop opens). While marketers are afraid of pestering their customers with retargeting, but 70% to 80% of retargeted emails end up getting opened.
Email marketing is more of an exact science than an imprecise art; however, it takes a blend of creativity, imagination, strategy, and proper implementation to create a successful email campaign. It is a lot to handle; if you feel overwhelmed just thinking about it, check out inSegment’s email marketing services; we have the experience and expertise to target your audiences with the right messages at the right time.
