Marketing automation strategy is no mean feat. Whether you’re doing a full lead nurture programme or just sending a mass blast, how to do you keep your content fresh and ensure an increase in email open rates, click-through rates, and, ultimately, leads?
There are many things to consider to ensure you’re reaching the ROI you need, without getting many unsubscribes. Here are several common mistakes when creating email programmes and tips to overcome them.
Problem 1: Lack of proper segmentation
Proper segmenting allows organisations to craft unique messages and offerings that speak to specific interests and concerns of each customer group, improving customer response rates and boost customer loyalty. But many marketers struggle with segmenting their database due to incomplete data or because they just don’t have the bandwidth to create highly segmented content. This affects not only ROI, but also the company brand and the ability to move leads through the customer lifecycle. If a lead opens an email and decides the content isn’t relevant, your brand is affected and you’ll notice an influx of unsubscribes.
Tip: Even if your data isn’t 100% clean, you should still segment based on data you have. Identify distinct customer personas and build content and messaging that resonates specifically with those profiles. Each segment should have different messaging based on what is relevant to them. Remember, there’s no single right way of segmenting that fits every customer base. The best method will depend on your particular business, your unique sales cycles, and your marketing goals.
Problem 2: No reporting or follow-through
A lack of reporting and follow-through from sales happens all too often based on lack of knowledge or resources, among other reasons. Once a programme is created and leads start funnelling through, it is easy to forget about it. Because the process becomes more automated, the analytics become secondary and leads can be lost due to a lack of follow-through from sales.
Tip: Creating these programmes requires a lot of effort and ongoing due diligence, so it’s important to have a governance plan in place. Report progress in weekly metrics meetings and always work on fine-tuning your emails. Make sure they have highly segmented content and assign a sales lead to take charge of following up with potential prospects. Optimisation is vital – live programmes should be assessed on a monthly basis.
Problem 3: Confusing calls to action
There are so many things you want to get across in your emails -- download a whitepaper, take a survey, or sign up for a free webinar. But when you overload your lead with too many calls to action, they’ll disregard all of them and you won’t get the click-through rate you need to justify the campaign.
Tip: Determine what the highest value call to action is, and stick to it. It’s important to direct a lead’s attention to only one thing so they’re effectively guided to take appropriate action. For a lead nurture, spread your calls to action out over the life of the programme -- ask them to download a whitepaper in one email, and fill out your survey in the next. By providing your leads with a specific direction, you’ll see the results you're looking for.
Problem 4: Email pacing
With an email programme, pacing is very important. If you send too many emails, you will be perceived to be spammy. And if you don’t send enough emails, they will forget who you are and it’ll be more difficult to create a strong connection. In certain businesses, a segmented list of certain titles needs to be used by multiple business lines and can be challenging to work together to determine a proper email schedule.
Tip: A lead shouldn’t be hit more than every two to three weeks, but every business has a different timeline. Schedule weekly team meetings to determine when blasts should be sent out and who to, but don’t forget to take into account any ongoing nurture programmes. The more organised your team is, the more control over your database you have. Collaborate to develop a calendar that works for everyone -- different business lines and customers alike.
Problem 5: Lack of testing...or too many test variables
Too often an email nurture programme is created and either not properly tested or there are too many test variables in your outreach. An example of too many variables is having both split subject lines and different call to actions in the email body. It makes it impossible to determine which of the two was the success factor in driving leads. You’ve spent so much time on it and you want to get it live now. But, if testing is done improperly, it might not be reaching your intended audience.
Tip: Testing is vital. Include your co-workers as email campaign testers in advance so they can experience it from a lead’s perspective and ensure you don’t miss important details. Additionally, keep your testing to one variable at a time to gain a better understanding of what content strategy is working. You must ensure your programmes are running 100% before you go live with them.
So much time and effort goes into creating an effective marketing automation strategy, so don’t let your emails fall to the wayside without putting into action simple tips and tricks.
By Vera Loftis, Managing Director UK at Bluewolf.
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