Tag: conversion optimisation

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What should you be tracking?

Email marketing produces more tracking data than just about any channel.

Some things are crucial for monitoring on each send, others are worth the occasional glance or ignoring all together. We all know the importance of reporting, and yet many marketers are unaware of what they should be tracking and the tools which they should be using. Here is my take on what to track to help you make the most out of your email campaigns.

The Basics

Every email system will track bounces, opens and clicks and the stats generated on the back of this provide your core analysis of the success of your emails in comparison to others. If you do email marketing you will be doing this already so we won’t dwell on these.

Heatmaps

Having a list of click-thru’s and how many times each one has been clicked on has some use, but a more visual and immediate means that even non-analysts can draw rapid conclusions from is the heatmap. This overlays click numbers in a colour coded fashion on top of your email so you can see the warm spots for lots of activity, and less active spots. You want to see the areas you want clicked to be providing the warm spots – if not then it’s back to the drawing board to redesign those call to actions.

Revenue & Conversion

You can tag your links with codes to track the eventual success of your email in Google Analytics but this will only provide so much useful data. A better approach is to use the tracking code provided by your ESP who will hopefully be able to provide you with reports showing not only how many conversions and revenue the email generated, but which links had better conversion paths than others.

Device

With the rise of smartphones and tablets it’s important to understand what devices your customers are using. This should show what percentage of your audience is opening on Smartphones and what type, allowing you to make an informed decision on whether it’s worth re-designing your emails to take into account mobile (Hint: It will be!)

Deliverability

Email systems like GraphicMail provide the ability to seed your send with major email providers such as Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo so you can see whether you made it into the inbox. GraphicMail does this test before any emails go out, as well as after the campaign is finished so you can see if the volume of the campaign sent the email into junk, or caused any delays.

Segments

Looking at the basic campaign stats will only give you so much insight, and after a while you might see the same things each time. One way you can really learn where your response is coming from is to drill down on your reports by different segments. An obvious and immediate one for many would be to split them by gender – how do males and females respond to the email? From this you can see if you have any underperforming segments, and calculate the opportunity size for investing in targeting these differently to bring the results up to the same level.

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Dynamic email campaigns

Email marketing is rapidly evolving with marketers always on the look out for new innovative ways to improve their email campaign’s performance.

Statistics show that 51% of British consumers are more likely to respond positively to brand communications that deliver real-time information relating to their interests . It therefore comes as no surprise that dynamic content has become increasingly popular over recent years, helping email marketers provide their subscribers with relevant and engaging content.

Dynamic content provides marketers with the ability to send one email to their subscribers which contains different content depending on the recipients preferences, history or behaviour. This can be applied at different levels, starting by simply tailoring your email to include the recipients first name and information based around their location. To put this into context, would a restaurant chain want all their subscribers in Manchester to receive all the latest restaurant offers in London?

Probably not…

But they are likely to want to receive restaurant offers near to them in Manchester. Sounds fairly simple right? So why not take it one step further?


Say, for argument sake, that you’re a holiday provider, the same rules apply – you want to ensure that your recipients receive emails that are relevant to them. Dynamic content can be used to pull through data from your product tables relating to previous bookings the customer has made or holidays they have browsed in the past. In this instance, the dynamic content may include images of previous destinations to muster up memories for the recipient, or perhaps display a selection of suggested holidays which may be relevant to the subscriber. Provide this content with a logical and personalised subject line and introduction and you have the basis for a strong email campaign with high potential to engage the customer.

These are just some examples of how you can begin to implement dynamic content within your campaign, we are always looking for new opportunities to explore the power of dynamic content.
Just in case you’re still not convinced, here are some of the perks you can expect to see after applying dynamic content to your email campaigns:

Customer engagement

Your recipients want to be, and expect to be engaged… How many emails have you received today which you have automatically discarded from your inbox or ignored? Probably quite a few, and the reason behind this is more than likely because you weren’t engaged or interested in the content that was delivered to you. Or in other words, the content wasn’t relevant enough.

Customer loyalty

Get to know your customer, and they will get to know you. The more data you hold about your recipients, the easier it will become to make your subscribers feel unique and engaged. When customers receive emails tailored to their interests and demographics they begin to feel as though you know them, making them become more attached to your brand. The use of a preference centre is useful here, allowing recipients to update you with their preferences.

Improved subscriber experience

Relevant content will provide a better experience for the subscriber and therefore offer them a better experience with your brand. People are crying out for relevant content, with 25% of consumers willing to give up chocolate for a month just to receive relevant content!

Increased conversions

Sending highly relevant and targeted email campaigns can dramatically increase campaign performance. Dynamic content provides targeted marketing which is likely to yield significantly better results with, relevant emails driving 18 times more revenue than broadcast emails (Jupiter Research).

Avoid disappointment for you and your Customers

With dynamic content becoming increasingly popular, email recipients are now expecting content to be relevant to them. If your email isn’t, you’re putting your campaign at risk and increasing the chances of your recipient discarding your email from their inbox straight away.
So whats stopping you? With 80% of marketers defining dynamic personalisation in email as highly important (Adobe and DMA), it’s becoming more and more essential to implement dynamic content into your email campaigns. Your email content should always offer value to your subscribers, and knowing their needs and preferences will enable you to provide them with the content they desire. For more information about maximising your email campaign performance through dynamic content, get in touch with one of our experts today.