The May issue of Internet Retailer magazine included a survey of email marketing practices. One of the more interesting questions was “Which of the following tactics are you using to improve the effectiveness of your e-mail campaigns?” In order of popularity, here are the answers:
44.6% Aquiring email addresses at every point of contact
(i.e., in store, call center, social networks)
41.1% Adjusting the mix of graphics and content
39.3% Triggering email messages based on behaviors or events
39.3% Increasing the use of segmenting
39.3% Personalizing messages (i.e., addressing customers by first names)
32.1% Marketing through transaction emails, such as order confirmations
32.1% Adding Share This (with social networks) links
14.3% Providing multiple options during the opt-out process
(i.e., opting out of promotions but remaining on the enewsletter list)
I’m astonished that these numbers aren’t higher. Email service providers make most of these options easy to incorporate, and you’d think that asking for email addresses at every opportunity would be a no-brainer. Do you see anything on this list that might help you improve your email marketing results?
