4 Steps to Successful Email Campaigns
Email marketing campaigns are among the best way to reach out to customers. With high open rates to a targeted audience, the potential ROI of email marketing is incredible (according to HubSpot, an astounding ROI of $42 for every $1 spent, on average).
If your email campaigns are falling short and underperforming, it could be that you’re not setting intelligent goals for email marketing. Let’s correct this right now!
Setting goals for email marketing
When you set goals for your email campaigns, it pays to be SMART ─ in capital letters.
SMART goals for email marketing will help you succeed. They will give you a definite target to aim for, and help keep your efforts on track. And they will make sure those efforts are rewarded with results.
SMART stands for:
Specific ─ Put a number on it! A vague goal will get lost and doesn’t provide a clear target.
Measurable ─ If it’s not measurable, it’s not achievable! You must be able to track your progress.
Attainable ─ Your goal must be achievable. There is nothing more demotivating than an unachievable goal. Have you got the resources available to achieve the goal?
Realistic and relevant ─ Does the goal mean something to your business if it is achieved?
Time-bound ─ Without a deadline, your goal will be pushed to the back of your to-do list, until it becomes forgotten. Why create the goal if it’s not important?
4 steps for setting SMART goals for email marketing
How do you set SMART goals for your email marketing campaigns? Follow these simple steps:
Step #1: Determine your definition of success
What will success look like for you?
It’s crucial to tie your goals to your overall business goals, while simultaneously defining success parameters for your email marketing (and probably by individual campaign). For example:
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Do you want to improve your open rate?
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Do you want to improve conversions?
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Do you want to increase the number of leads you receive?
Step #2: Put a number to your goal
Okay, you know what constitutes success. Or do you?
Let’s get realistic here. If you set a target to lose weight, and the next time you weigh yourself you find you’ve lost a pound, have you achieved your target? The answer is yes because your goal said to ‘lose weight’. You’ve got to be more specific. For example:
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We want to increase our open rate by 25%
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We want to improve our conversions by 30%
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We want to drive 50 subscriptions
Now they are specific targets, relevant to a business, and they are measurable, too.
Step #3: Commit to a deadline
How long will your email campaign take to execute? How many stages does it cover? Create milestones to keep you moving, and put dates on them to keep you on track.
With email campaigns, you’ll also need to consider how long it might take for recipients to respond ─ this is how long you’ll need to leave before measuring results and determining your success.
Step #4: Identify your roadblocks, and navigate them
An email marketing campaign is like a road trip. You’ve decided on your destination, and the ideal route to get there. But what roadblocks may lie in your way?
Consider the resources you need. The technical expertise. The systems you’ll need to use. The analytical tools to review your results. Is time on your side or against you?
When you consider all obstacles, you can plan to navigate them to attain your marketing goals.
8 Examples of SMART goals for email marketing
What email marketing goals could drive your business to new heights? Here are eight examples of SMART email marketing goals.
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Growing your email subscriber list
“We want to drive a 25% increase in subscribers to our email newsletter within three months.”
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Increasing the email open rate
“Improve the open rate by 25% this month.”
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Increasing the email click-through rate
“Deliver a 10% increase in the click-through rate in the next eight weeks.”
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Increasing sales
“Earn 100 more high-value sales in the next quarter.”
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Decreasing the number of unsubscribers
“Reduce the number of unsubscribers by half in the next two months.”
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Building brand awareness
“Increase our number of followers on LinkedIn by 50 this month.”
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Moving your customers down the sales funnel
“Receive 50 new requests for service demonstrations this month".”
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Driving traffic to your website
“We wish to increase our page views on our website by 50% by the end of the year.”
Are you ready to take your business to the next level, employing intelligent email marketing to reach a broader and deeper target audience?
To learn how we help our clients to accelerate and excel in content marketing, click here to book a live demo of BlabberJax in action.