Once is never enough...

This may seem odd given that I’m responsible for generating sales, but I’m a strong believer that if you are going to do something, then do it properly, (In the world of marketing that means within the parameters your working in – ie budget and time). I also like repeat business.

We all know emarketing can be an extremely effective tool to engage with an existing base who want to receive your information. Opt-in email audiences are liquid gold. They’re inviting communication and the cost is negligible. It’s marketing Utopia.

However, I’m not talking about that. This is about whether an email can be effective when trying to engage an alien B2B audience with a single send? The answer depends on many factors, but for argument sake, let us assume that most have already been accounted for:

• The 3^rd party list is the best available and comes from a validated source which they have been able to segment exactly to your required audience – TICK.

• That the html copy itself is relevant, short & snappy, works on all platforms – TICK.

• That the copy has a call-to-action and has had its spam score checked and adjusted accordingly – TICK.

• That it’s got an enticing subject line – TICK.

  But before the client gets too excited assuming everything is in place, I always posed the following questions:

• ‘How many emails do you receive each day?’

• ‘How long do you give each subject line your attention?’

• ‘Are there times in the day you are more receptive to reading emails than other?’

• ‘Do you respond differently to different styles of subject line – what catches your attention?’

• ‘Do you really unsubscribe that often?’

  I’m certainly not trying to put the client off the idea of using email, but am definitely suggesting they challenge a single send approach. Simply getting them to think that every one of the contacts on their target list would have different answers to each question above, should get them thinking as to why would sending just one email at one given time on one given day, with one given message produce anything but a disappointing result?

  For a few years now our counsel to clients has been that they must allow the market a chance to engage with their message, in order to swing the odds back in the favour.

  Budget is always an issue, but given the investment the client has already made in creating the html, writing subject lines, the time spent identifying and sourcing a data pool, the only real way to make the returns work is to re-use and re-target the contacts effectively.

  By sending just three emails (typically within a 10-day window), we’ve seen significant increases in overall engagement simply by changing the subject lines and the time/day it’s sent.

  Managing the opens/clicks/ unsubscribes is part of the process, but a series of ‘Announcing X’, ‘Did you see X’, ‘Last chance for X’ subject lines build a story in the inbox and gain attention.

  Yes, clients do have to pay a little extra for the re-use of data, but as most suppliers offer re-use discounts, it is certainly an investment well made.

  The simple fact is that in email marketing ‘ONCE IS NEVER ENOUGH…’