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leavyj
Community Member

Ignite Your Email Campaign: What Goes into an Email Campaign?

What Goes into an Email Campaign breaks the process down into its discrete components: goals, metrics, the message, names, an offer, the email delivery system, landing pages, timing, results, and frequency. Not to worry if some of these terms seem unfamiliar. They'll become good friends as you discover how to build and execute your email campaigns.

 

Of course, almost anything an organization sets out to do requires goals. For now, let's dissect the balance of the elements found in a typical email campaign.

 

The Ingredients of an Email Campaign

 

  1. Metrics – Metrics: a method of measuring something. Metrics are the numbers that separate gut feelings from reality. It's of little value to think or feel the email campaign is accomplishing the goals. Numbers tell whether objectives are being reached. Let's understand that some numbers will be more actionable, others not so much. For example, people that open an email require no immediate action. On the other hand, people that download our free eBook have shown a high level of interest and need to follow up.

 

  1. Action-driven Content (The Message) – The emails sent out need to showcase the communique's purpose. The messages need to be relevant, timely, and purposeful. The email content should be brief and enticing without being boring. The content should be compelling and action-driven.

 

Tip: Make every effort to have the email sound like you're writing to each person individually.

 

  1. Names (Recipients, Subscribers) – Don't send everyone in your contact file the same message. Know your audience. Donors will want a deeper information dive than those unfamiliar with the organization. If the contact file contains major donors, regular supporters, and potential donors, three versions of the email messages need to be developed. Each recipient group has a different commitment level.

 

  1. The Offer – Offers to entice people to act. Offer an early-bird discount or a gift to encourage people to subscribe, join, or donate. Make sure what's being given away is of real value to the person receiving the gift. If the giveaway is not performing well, then swap it out for something else. This process is a perfect opportunity to see which gift performs best.

 

  1. Email Delivery System – Launching email campaigns and relying on "gut feelings" to how well things went does not work. Instead, rely on the comprehensive reports generated by an email automation platform such as MailChimp or ConstantContact. How will the organization know who and how many recipients open the email? How will they tell how many messages were read and who clicked through to the offer? It will be evident how many subscribers were generated, but will the organization know how many people clicked through to the offer and then bailed no? MailChimp, for instance, offers its service free forever as long as the organization does not email more than 2,000 recipients.

 

  1. The Timing – Timing will be a guessing game each organization must play. Conventional wisdom might say Tuesday mornings between 9:00 and 10:30 Central Standard Time is the optimal window to email folks. Accurate as this may be for some organizations, others may opt to send out emails at different times, thinking that perhaps we may have a shot if no one else is trying to attract people's interest. It boils down to—know your audience members.

Tip: Run campaign tests to see if mornings generate a better open rate than afternoons and if Tuesdays generate more interest than Thursdays or Fridays.

 

  1. The Results – A while back, I wrote an article titled Vanity Numbers versus Actionable Metrics. Some numbers are essential; other numbers are more important. It's good to know how many recipients opened the email that was sent. It's more crucial to know how many of those people clicked through to the landing page that held the free offer. Finally, the number of people that acted and subscribed, joined, or donated, is the most useful. Choose the numbers to watch closely. In the end, are the numbers being monitored helping the organization achieve its goals?

 

  1. The Frequency – Let's separate Timing from Frequency. Timing refers to when the email is sent.  Frequency deals with how many and how often emails are dispatched. Some organizations communicate at no particular frequency. This practice probably produces the most unsatisfactory results. Other organizations communicate once a quarter while still others may speak several times per week. Here's a question to ponder, "Which organization do you believe is upper-most in the recipient's mind?" Yep, the one that emails the most. Is this the best practice, maybe? Again, each organization needs to decide on its frequency for emailing its contacts.

 

  1. Landing Page – A landing page is a standalone web page. It's where the email recipient lands when clicking the link embedded within the message. The recipient can learn more about the event being announced or the gift being given away on the landing page. Do not make the mistake of sending people to the organization's homepage expecting people to hunt for the free offer. Create a landing page instead. Unbounce.com, a premier company in this landing page space, offers a 30-day free trial of its software, free customer support, a drag and drop page builder, built-in conversion tools, and more.

Anatomy of an Email CampaignAnatomy of an Email Campaign

3 REPLIES 3
petra_r
Community Member

 

Sorry, but this has what to do with freelancing on Upwork?

leavyj
Community Member

Email dip campaigns…I thought I would share what I learned during.
My research. I do drip camapaigns for Upwork clients.

Your intentions may be purely altruistic but these incessant posts feel like some kind of stealth marketing tactic. Maybe it would be worth your while to use social media and/or a blog platform for this.

 

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