Serious email marketing (and III)
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2024 7:03 am
Conversion funnel
The conversion funnel works like a sequence of filters that select a progressively decreasing number of users to pass through.
The next element in the chain is the page where the CTAs (“ Call To Action ”) of the campaign will lead. This page, known as the landing page , has a specific objective and must be built with that objective always in mind. On it we will usually find a very clear message, directing the visitor to achieve the objective (conversion), together with a list of the benefits of the action (discount, advantages of a subscription, possibility of downloading a document with privileged information, etc.), plus positive references from previous cases and typically a form (subscriptions, downloads) or link to a specific product on offer.
Developing landing pages requires special skills. It is common to find landing pages that do not differ from one of the regular pages on the website, or even that are regular pages on the website. It is a mistake to approach them in this way because their effectiveness will then be greatly reduced.
Email marketing with results Contact us .
Analytics
Absolutely all of our email marketing campaigns must have france business email list an analytics system that allows us to measure their results throughout the different phases and elements of the process.
Since the basic path is: Subject + Sender → Message → Landing page → Conversion, the minimum indicators that we must measure will be the following:
Number of messages sent.
Number of rebounds.
Deliverability = (Sent – Bounces) / Sent (%).
Number of openings.
Opening ratio = Opens / (Sent – Bounces).
Number of clicks obtained for each CTA.
Click-through rate obtained for each CTA.
Number of visits to the landing page.
Landing page visit ratio.
Number of objectives achieved (registrations, downloads, contracts, purchases, etc.).
Conversion rate = Goals / (Sent – Bounces).
Evaluating the results and their conversions
Of course, at the end of each campaign we must allow a reasonable amount of time to pass, around two weeks, and crunch the numbers to see what results it has provided. Most organisations lack reference figures on whether 1% conversions is a good or bad figure. Everyone wants to know the magic figures for openings, click-throughs and conversions, but although you can get reports from consultancies that specify margins by vertical sector and country, the truth is that the margins of variation are very wide, and each audience is a separate case that must be studied.
We must accumulate our data to form a historical series and compare the results, always varying a small number of factors from one campaign to another, testing their effect and acting accordingly in subsequent campaigns. It is always more valuable to compare with our own historical series than with figures obtained from a consultancy firm. Keep in mind that yours are your audience's figures, and the consultancy's are not.
When analyzing your numbers, try making limited changes and compare with previous results: modify your subject line and sender to see if you get better open rates; improve your HTML message to get a better click-through rate ; change elements of your landing page to get more conversions. Accumulate performance data and keep improving in each cycle.
Conclusion
There is a huge gap between sending an email message and running an email marketing campaign. If you are aware that you have an asset in the form of a contact database, compliant with personal data legislation, and you think that you can use that asset as a means to improve your business, you are right. But be careful to do things right, because while it is indeed possible to make a step forward through email, it is also possible to damage your own image if you are not careful enough, or if you are intrusive with the user. Do your research to do things right or hire a consultant!
You may well find that you can afford it and it is worth paying the price.
The conversion funnel works like a sequence of filters that select a progressively decreasing number of users to pass through.
The next element in the chain is the page where the CTAs (“ Call To Action ”) of the campaign will lead. This page, known as the landing page , has a specific objective and must be built with that objective always in mind. On it we will usually find a very clear message, directing the visitor to achieve the objective (conversion), together with a list of the benefits of the action (discount, advantages of a subscription, possibility of downloading a document with privileged information, etc.), plus positive references from previous cases and typically a form (subscriptions, downloads) or link to a specific product on offer.
Developing landing pages requires special skills. It is common to find landing pages that do not differ from one of the regular pages on the website, or even that are regular pages on the website. It is a mistake to approach them in this way because their effectiveness will then be greatly reduced.
Email marketing with results Contact us .
Analytics
Absolutely all of our email marketing campaigns must have france business email list an analytics system that allows us to measure their results throughout the different phases and elements of the process.
Since the basic path is: Subject + Sender → Message → Landing page → Conversion, the minimum indicators that we must measure will be the following:
Number of messages sent.
Number of rebounds.
Deliverability = (Sent – Bounces) / Sent (%).
Number of openings.
Opening ratio = Opens / (Sent – Bounces).
Number of clicks obtained for each CTA.
Click-through rate obtained for each CTA.
Number of visits to the landing page.
Landing page visit ratio.
Number of objectives achieved (registrations, downloads, contracts, purchases, etc.).
Conversion rate = Goals / (Sent – Bounces).
Evaluating the results and their conversions
Of course, at the end of each campaign we must allow a reasonable amount of time to pass, around two weeks, and crunch the numbers to see what results it has provided. Most organisations lack reference figures on whether 1% conversions is a good or bad figure. Everyone wants to know the magic figures for openings, click-throughs and conversions, but although you can get reports from consultancies that specify margins by vertical sector and country, the truth is that the margins of variation are very wide, and each audience is a separate case that must be studied.
We must accumulate our data to form a historical series and compare the results, always varying a small number of factors from one campaign to another, testing their effect and acting accordingly in subsequent campaigns. It is always more valuable to compare with our own historical series than with figures obtained from a consultancy firm. Keep in mind that yours are your audience's figures, and the consultancy's are not.
When analyzing your numbers, try making limited changes and compare with previous results: modify your subject line and sender to see if you get better open rates; improve your HTML message to get a better click-through rate ; change elements of your landing page to get more conversions. Accumulate performance data and keep improving in each cycle.
Conclusion
There is a huge gap between sending an email message and running an email marketing campaign. If you are aware that you have an asset in the form of a contact database, compliant with personal data legislation, and you think that you can use that asset as a means to improve your business, you are right. But be careful to do things right, because while it is indeed possible to make a step forward through email, it is also possible to damage your own image if you are not careful enough, or if you are intrusive with the user. Do your research to do things right or hire a consultant!
You may well find that you can afford it and it is worth paying the price.