Understanding, and Overcoming, Email Marketing Pain Points

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Key takeaways

• Prioritize relevant, personalized content. Review recent emails and fix repetitive or impersonal messaging by using subscriber names and locations and offering more than discounts.
• Bigger lists aren’t always better. Prune inactive subscribers if re‑engagement fails to avoid spam complaints and focus on engaged contacts.
• Know basic metrics. Bounce rates and opt‑out rates are key, get expert help if you can’t interpret analytics.
• Use social media to engage, not just broadcast. Spark organic conversations to drive interest in your emails.
• To find new audiences, monitor relevant social groups and pages and solicit feedback via surveys and inbox tools to uncover content gaps.
• If analytics or list maintenance feel overwhelming, bring in an expert to guide optimization and strategy.

Introduction

If your email marketing campaign is in dire shape, don’t worry; the doctor is in and ready to discuss the pain points that stymie your growth in the inbox. From content creation concerns to growing your list and finding new audiences, there’s plenty such issues that can hinder the development of even the most established campaigns. Thankfully, with a proper understanding, and some smart tips and tricks, you can overcome these pain points and continue moving forward with the most powerful marketing practice on the web.

Creating Relevant, and Enjoyable, Content

First up, Ayaz Nanji at the Marketing Professors blog notes that 42 percent of brands and marketers across the web struggle with developing dynamic and personalized content. If you’re an unfortunate member of this statistic, the best way to buck the trend is by setting aside some time for a content development overhaul.

To start this process, take a moment to review your latest offerings. By doing this, you can objectively pinpoint the problems plaguing your campaign, such as repetitive content or impersonal greetings. From here, making it a priority to put your contact list info, like subscriber names and locations, to good use in the personalization process, as well as trying to incorporate content that goes beyond basic offers and discounts, can help give this facet of your email marketing campaign a big boost.

List Maintenance

Also high on Nanji’s list of email marketing pain points, list maintenance requires a skillful hand to properly navigate. If you’re like most other members of the community that haven’t been around the block before, you probably subscribe to the notion that the bigger your contact list is, the better. However, this couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Sure, growing the number of people on your contact list should be a top priority, but growth for the sake of growth isn’t always right. Aside from the inherent risk of coming off as “spammy,” following down that path can lead to disgruntled or disenfranchised members that deliberately or accidentally mark your offerings as spam. If you have inactive subscribers and renewed outreach methods aren’t working, you’re much better off pruning these wayward members off the list and focusing on the consumers who are actually interested in your content.

Deciphering Analytics

One of the biggest keys to optimizing an email marketing campaign comes in the form of understanding and applying analytics to your development process. Of course, if you’re unfamiliar with bounce rates, opt-out rates, and the other terminology found in the email marketing, it might feel like you need to go back to college to truly understand how to put these stats to good use.

If you’re not able to wrap your head around these figures, or willing to put the time and effort into the process of learning the particulars of these offerings, don’t be afraid to connect with an expert who can help guide you along in your journey. Having a helping hand when it comes to analytics is a massive boon, even for established brands that aren’t new to the scene.

Making the Most out of Social Media

Social media and email marketing go hand in hand, so it’s only natural for one of the biggest pain points in the business to reside at this intersection, according to an industry report published by the experts at the Marketing Sherpa research page. In fact, this report notes that over 45 percent of brands find this process at least somewhat challenging.

The best way to maximize your time on social media is to dedicate your brand to rubbing virtual elbows with its followers. Pushing your email list and offers via mundane posts and tweets is one thing, but if you’re able to interact with these digital socialites and generate some organic and engaging conversation based on relevant topics, you’ll definitely turn this pain point into a strength in no time.

Finding New Audiences

Finally, the last pain point in need of some in-depth discussion doesn’t focus on starting your contact list, but rather what to do once you’re already up and running. Stagnation and stymied growth are real concerns, so it’s worth preparing for this situation, even if you’re currently on the upswing as far as growth goes.

To keep the momentum flowing in the right direction, place an emphasis on staying current with what makes your audience tick. By monitoring pertinent social groups and pages, as well as soliciting feedback via surveys and other inbox tools, you can keep track of what matters most to these shoppers, and even uncover gaps in content coverage and outreach that could lead to connecting with new audiences. When paired with the rest of what you’ve learned, dealing with pain points will become a thing of the past in no time.

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