By Jess Stephens, SmartFocus
Today, more emails are being sent out than ever before, but fewer are actually being “seen” by consumers. With a whopping 100 billion emails vying for attention every day, it’s no surprise that people are ignoring the vast majority of them. In order to be part of the digital cream that rises to the top of the inbox, you can stand out by steering clear of these five pitfalls currently causing the most trip-up for retailers.
- Not testing the emotional weight of subject lines: Out of all components of an email, the subject line is probably the most important. It either catches people or releases them back into the wild world of inbox surfing…for some other brand to hook them with an appetizing offer or meaty campaign. To make sure you’re getting the most pack with your punch, test the emotional weight of your subject lines to obtain optimum response. Additionally, whatever subject line you come up with, do yourself a favor by exploiting the 2x brand opportunity that email affords. On mobile devices, for example, people can clearly identify the “sent from” and “subject line” sections before even clicking on the email. Even if consumers don’t open your email, you’ll still be building brand awareness from just these two lines of text.
- Leaving context out of the email equation: The modern consumer is now so bombarded by offers and information that only content directly applying to an individual’s lifestyle, preferences and priorities will grab their attention. If the data you’re using to target customers is even one second old — yes, you read that right — your marketing efforts are outdated and possibly even detrimental to your brand. It’s super important to employ the appropriate contextual marketing engine in order to deliver in-the-moment, relevant email content to consumers based on current data.
- Letting data live in silos: Having data in silos is like trying to make a pizza with each ingredient stored away in separate kitchens. It not only takes an immense amount of effort to combine all of the data, but it also becomes nearly impossible to see the whole picture with any perspective of foresight. It also creates roadblocks for integrating a third-party system with the rest of your data. The best approach to handling loads of data (or any at all) is to leave the organization and processing up to universal tools that can keep everything working together.
- Neglecting Multiple Channels: Email contact with customers is an amazing low-barrier method for reaching your market, but if it’s not complimented by messaging across channels, it will be significantly less successful. In order to achieve ROI, brands need to use personalized email messaging as an integral piece of the marketing puzzle. Combine email with in-store promotions that ping the customer’s inbox based on their immediate location, for example. The sensors in a phone make this kind of contextual interaction possible, enabling different channels to fuel the campaign by building off one another.
- Relying on workflows: For too long, marketers have been sold solutions that require them to plan out campaigns in a linear, step-by-step fashion. However, working within these constructs means that your customer is always one step ahead of you. Instead of trying to pigeonhole the customer with your best guess on what they’ll want when, replace workflow mapping with smart-powered contextual decisioning, which allows messaging to automatically change based on real-time data. This way, every email brings value to the customer no matter when they choose to engage.
Jess Stephens is Chief Marketing Officer at SmartFocus. With an unashamedly enthusiastic approach to data, she knows all about the huge impact disruptive technology has in bringing brands closer to their consumers. In her role, Stephens is responsible for bringing SmartFocus’ brand to life and telling our unique story globally. Prior to joining SmartFocus, Jess was the Founder and Director at TagPoints and held senior leadership roles at MoneySupermarket Local Deals, Local Daily Deals and Filofax.
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