1. Start with your business objective 

While your database and technology are important to executing a campaign, you should first decide what you want to get out of an eDM marketing campaign.

“Take a step back and look at the role that email plays within your organisation. You need to start with your business objective and then look to how campaigns work within that,” Mike says.

“What do you think this campaign is going to do? Who are its key audiences we’re targeting? What is the messaging going to be? There are some steps before you get to technical execution – and these initial questions set up a framework for that.”

Understanding your business objective will help properly inform the campaign and make sure your audience is getting content matters to them.
 

2. Identify key audiences and relevant messaging 

Mike says one of the key strengths of eDM marketing is being able to tailor your message to a select group of people – and it’s up to you to make the most of that opportunity. 

“You’ve got to leverage the ability to tailor the message on a dynamic and individual basis,” Mike says.

“Quite often, we've got three things we want to say, so we try to say all three to everybody, rather than saying ‘hey, let's choose which one's most relevant to which audience’ and make sure that we engage with them on the thing that's most important to them.”

3. Set up your eDM campaign goal

Before you start writing your email copy, set up a clear campaign goal – define what would you like your target audience to do when they receive your email. Some examples of eDM campaign goals are: purchasing your product, visiting your website, engaging on social media and completing a purchase in their abandoned cart.

4. Write engaging email copy and subject lines

Once you have decided your target audience, write your email copy in a tone of voice that will connect with them. Your first chance to connect is your eDM subject line, which will influence your email open rate. Short, straight to the point, personalised subject lines perform the best. Also, make sure you check your subject line spam score to help prevent your email ending up in a spam folder – there are plenty of free online tools you can use for that.

“Test it on yourself. If this came into your inbox, would you go to the effort of clicking open? And would you spend more than two seconds actually reading the content?” Mike says. 

Your opening sentence or paragraph is also very important because it will define whether your customers will continue reading. Don’t make the copy too long (250 words maximum is ideal) – and ask yourself if the content is more about what you want to say, instead of adding value to the reader’s life?

And if you keep them engaged, they’ll hopefully reach your Call to Action (CTA) button. Your CTA should be short, clear and straight to the point, directing the reader to take the action you want them to take. The email copy and CTA will define a click through rate (CTR) and ultimately your campaign conversion rate.
 

5. Build your client database

A good eDM campaign needs to be targeted. You should only send your eDMs to people who are interested in or have already bought from your business. Here are some channels examples you can use to build your client database:

Your business website

• Create a “subscribe to our newsletter” button – this will help you collect contact details of the people interested in your business.

Social Media

• Good social media content helps your brand exposure and generates interest around your product and services, prompting people to visit your website. Social media ads are usually optimised for purchase or content views but can also generate various website form submissions, helping collect contact details from your potential customers.

Search campaigns

• Similar to social media ads, search campaigns (Google ads) often generate subscriptions and leads in addition to sales and conversions.

Offline campaigns

• Print ads, TV commercials, billboards are all examples of offline advertising that creates brand exposure and leads to a boost in website traffic, usually from direct channel (in Google Analytics).

6. Choose your email marketing automation platform 

Choosing a good marketing automation platform can make or break your email campaign’s performance. It’s important to choose a platform that easily integrates into your current CRM as well as one that fits your budget. 

Good marketing automation platforms will allow you to:

• Generate a detailed campaign statistics report

• Segment your database to send your marketing offer to the most relevant audience

• Run A/B tests to determine which eDM campaign elements perform the best

• Create automated email sends to help you qualify, or “warm up”, your current leads

• Generate dynamic content – serve the most relevant content to your database individuals without having to create multiple versions of the same email

• Easily update your email templates.

Design your eDM templates following your business brand style guidelines and make them consistent with your other creative assets. They should be easy to read and optimised for mobile devices. Make sure you always include an “unsubscribe” link in all your emails and that your email complies with the three rules of the SPAM ACT .

7. Build a solid landing page for your eDM

Ensure your landing page content speaks to your eDM copy and offers more valuable details to your users. Run cross device and cross browser testing for your landing page and ensure that your page is optimised for mobile devices. Make sure the copy is engaging and highlights the benefits of your product, service or offering.

8. Choose the best time slot to send your eDM

Before you schedule your eDM campaign, consider your audience demographic, their daily habits and schedule. Most marketers believe that the best days to send your eDMs would be Tuesday/Wednesday mid-morning. It makes sense because by midweek everyone has settled into their week and is up to date with their emails. But for some brands, a weekend send might make more sense, especially if you want your audience to relax and spend some time browsing through your content and landing page.

9. Test. Optimise. Repeat.

A/B testing refers to the process of sending different versions of your eDM to different segments of your database with the objective of working out what version performs the best.  Once the test is complete and the best performing version determined, the winning version will automatically be sent to the rest of your database. Always test only one variable at a time, otherwise it will be impossible to determine why one version of your email performed better than the other. Test a different element with each eDM including images, CTAs, designs and copy – and Mike recommends always testing subject lines.

“It's easy and it makes a difference every time,” he says. 

10. Assess your eDM campaign performance

The final step – and one of the most important ones – is to measure eDM metrics that matter  and leverage insights for your next campaign. Assess your campaign performance and determine what worked the best and what didn’t two days after your send and use your campaign analytics for your next A/B testing strategy. 

Learn more from Mike about best practice around email and how it integrates with other marketing activity to drive better business outcomes through the ADMA IQ Email Marketing Strategy course. 

Join the next one-day virtual course on 26 April.  Don’t miss out. Enrol today.