Whether you looked on in awe as “The Great One” – Wayne Gretzky – took command of the ice and captured multiple Stanley Cups, or you simply enjoy sitting back and soaking in the work of Mozart or another titan of the musical world, it’s hard not to appreciate excellence in action. Surprising though it may seem initially, there’s no denying that this concept of the “golden standard” holds true for the world of email marketing as well.So just what does a leader of this caliber look like in terms of email marketing? According to Econsultancy’s Jeff Rajeck, there are three defining characteristics that serve to differentiate the industry players which make up this elite company. To learn a little more about these indicators, as well as how your brand can follow in the footsteps of the email marketing world’s finest, let’s spend a few minutes talking about the three things that the best brands do in the inbox.
Think Big Picture with Strategy First, Then Tactics
The first characteristic up on Rajeck’s list is a willingness to embrace an overarching, “big picture” email strategy instead of just the tactics, tips, and tricks that boost engagement. Yes, these components are crucial pieces of the puzzle, but simply enacting these offerings without a guiding perspective marginalizes the effectiveness of your email marketing operations.If you’re worried that your current inbox outreach program is merely a mixture of disparate tactics that lack a cohesive direction or ultimate goal, consider sitting down for an in-house strategy session or reaching out to your trusted team of email marketing experts. This way, you can answer the questions related to why you wish to connect with your audience in the first place, and then map out a series of focused tactics and strategic moves that work together to achieve this desired result in an effective and efficient manner.
Let Customer Behavior Trigger Your Email Content
As you start to hammer out the details of your newly optimized email marketing strategy, Rajeck points out that if you want to stand with the elite members of this portion of the online community, then incorporating triggered emails based on the behavior of your customers is a must. The big key here is that you need to be willing to look beyond the basic “abandoned cart” triggered email and let your customer data lead you to new and engaging triggered content opportunities.For instance, the HubSpot Blog’s Ellie Mirman suggests considering the following triggered events as scenarios worthy of inclusion into your reactive email marketing strategy:
- Mentioning your brand on social media.
- Downloading an eBook or other long format piece of content.
- Viewing consumer “pain point” content or other targeted elements on your site.
These highly engaging events are often underused and definitely deserve a least a spot in the discussion as your brand solidifies its stance on upcoming triggered email content.
Commit to a Clean List
The final attribute spotlighted by Rajeck comes in the form of maintaining a healthy and vibrant contact list. More specifically, you’ll need to commit to regular cleaning sessions that eradicate unengaged and unresponsive list members, all while adopting a “less is more” mentality.If you’re like most people, this statement naturally leads to a few follow-up questions relating to how best to engage in healthy list cleaning and upkeep. According to Jonathan Long of The Huffington Post, it all starts with creating multiple segments or targeted groups within your greater contact list. It is important to note that dividing list members based on engagement, demographic data, or some other metric is entirely up to the preferences of your brand.However, once you have your preferred segmentation tactic in place, you can begin to prune the inactive or ill-fitting members of this list, thereby creating a higher quality and more responsive bank of contacts. Additionally, having a properly segmented and organized email marketing contact list makes adhering to Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL) and handling opt-outs in a timely fashion a considerably easier affair.At the end of the day, standing toe-to-toe with the leading email marketing players in the digital world requires a serious commitment to excellence. From devoting time and energy into figuring out an overarching strategy that fits your brand needs, to becoming a proactive caretaker of your contact list, there’s plenty of hard work and effort that goes into this process. Fortunately, with this overview serving as the foundation, you can build toward a spot of your own among these email marketing giants and reap the reward that come with top tier inbox outreach operations.
