Emails are a popular marketing method. As the costs are low, they’re simple to set up and it’s relatively easy to track responses and measure success. But they are also great for staying in touch with customers and providing an opportunity to promote your products and services.
Whether you’re new to email marketing or simply want to make sure you’re doing it right, here’s a simple checklist you can refer to when creating your next campaign:
Planning
Segment your audience and consider what would be the best way to approach them; email may not be suitable for everyone.
Design and layout. This should create impact but also allow the message to be clearly delivered. The design should support the message, not dominate it.
Share icons. Link to all social media channels to encourage sharing and connecting and to spread the word about your messages.
Message
Keep your core message clear and simple. Don’t try and overload it by cramming in more than one message. Leave that for your next campaign.
Legal requirements. Make sure you are compliant with the Data Protection Act, the Corporate Telephone Preference Service and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations to avoid some hefty fines or even prosecution.
Platforms. Have a plain text version for those who can’t see images. A recent report showed that surprisingly, only 48% usually have images switched on in their emails.
Pre-send checks
Proof read your email and check for typos or spelling mistakes. It is always worth getting someone to check over it for you as well — two pairs of eyes are better than one.
Check that any links you’ve included actually work and follow through to the correct site. If you include links to your social media sites, check they go through to the right pages before you click send.
Test your email out on all platforms, such as PC, mobile phone, iPad and so on. Bear in mind that 79% of smartphone users use their phones for reading email.
Call to action. Have a clear objective of what you want the reader to do when they see your email. This will be helpful when creating the initial content and design as well.
Provide your reader with a simple un-subscribe option at the end of the email so that you adhere to legal requirements.
Follow-up
Integrate your email marketing with other marketing activities, especially social media.
Track your campaign (looking at clickthroughs and open rates) to measure success. This analysis will also allow you to see if your call to action was followed up.
Trial and error. Sending email campaigns is a learning curve, most of what you learn is from your previous campaigns. Take note of the areas you fall short in and you’ll know what to do next time.
Capture response. Remember those who acknowledged your campaign, or equally those who didn’t. Enter this information into a database.
Capture bounce backs. Take note of those emails that bounce back so you know who to re-send to and those whose details need updating.
Capture un-subscriptions. Those who unsubscribe from your email need removing from the contact list straight away, or highlighting as no further contact required. Failure to do so could lead to penalties from the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.
Some of these suggestions may seem obvious, but if you follow this checklist, you can trust your campaigns rather than just hitting the send button and hoping for the best.
Catherine Kelly is a planner at Mundocom.
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