Maximizing the ROI of Your Email Marketing Program

In my years as a marketing communications professional - and especially as an email marketer - I'm constantly told that to maximize results, I need to be constantly testing content, copy, images, and layout to multiple test audiences. In fact, Internet marketing and advertising news publication ADOTAS says it’s one of the things you simply cannot ignore if you want to have a successful email marketing campaign. But in the real world, it’s just not always possible. At many companies, writers and layout artists are stretched too thin and can’t possibly create that many messages.


So where to start? Email Marketing firm iContact has some great ideas about things you can test that won’t take up too much time but will still get results. 

• Subject Lines - If you do nothing else, make sure you’re testing subject lines. If you can’t get people to open your emails, any other content testing you’re doing won’t even be seen. And let’s be real—it takes almost no time to write two or three subject lines.  

• Images - Similar to subject lines, it’s not difficult at all to pick two masthead or main images and see which resonates more with openers. For examples: if you’re selling hotel rooms, test hotel exterior image vs. guestroom shot or spa vs. restaurant. If you’re selling men’s clothing, how about pants vs. shirts or clothes vs. accessories.

• Call to Action - Test text or colors. Does “Book Now” or “Save 20% in Cancun” work better? Orange or blue text? Any of these are easy to change and can get instant results.

With just these simple steps, you'll immediately begin learning more about what tactics will get results with your audience. And even better, if you can prove that you get results with just these simple steps, you’ll have numbers that will back up your efforts and could lead to you convincing superiors to give you more resources.

Pete Roccaforte has been a marketing communications professional for nearly 10 years and is currently a graduate student in the Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University’s Medill School. Follow him at @proccaforte or on LinkedIn.

A Three Ingredient Recipe for Website Optimization: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Your Lemonade As Delicious As Possible

If your financial advisor looked at you and said, “If you give me $50, I can give you a return of 5 or 15 percent with the same risk-- your choice,” you would probably choose the investment with the highest return. Website optimization is very similar; it’s using the same resources to squeeze the most out of the investment in the site. Be it through tweaking landing pages, registration forms, or calls to action, site optimization can increase conversions like Albert Pujols hits homeruns. This simple recipe makes it possible for even time-strapped marketers to focus on their site to drive conversions, whatever the end goal may be.

Ingredients

A website

Somebody who knows how to install code on pages  (possibly your friendly IT guy)

Google Website Optimizer or any other web analytics or optimizer program

Mix the ingredients in the bowl until smooth, and do the following:

1.     First, think about your goal- is it to get customers to sign up for a newsletter? Complete a purchase? Then consider ways that help or hinder customers from achieving that goal.

2.     Start small. Test differences in color, placement of your corporate logo, and position of text box. Keep a control page, and observe which configuration is most successful in getting customers to complete the goal.

3.     Go bigger. Create different landing pages, and test different elements. Fiddle with sign-up or check out information. Are you asking your customers for too much information, such as a phone number your neighbor’s mom’s boyfriend’s dog’s date of birth? Does it prevent potential customers from completing the conversion?  Experiment with elements that might impact or influence your consumers. Sometimes, those elements are not necessarily intuitive. As this HubSpot webinar points out, the words “register” and “submit” can connote very different things in the subconscious minds of consumers.

4.     Always test, test, test. Never settle. Your company’s website is one of its most important assets. Don’t leave it on the stove without proper attention; after all, a burnt pot is really hard to clean. On the other hand, there’s nothing as tasty as a perfectly baked cake. But it takes the right temperature and a lot of love to make it that way.  

Written by Kate Hellman  | Graduate Student at Northwestern IMC |  @hellk