During the holiday season, the last thing people want to see is a stale, spammy-looking marketing email taking the spice right out of their cider.
And yet, thousands of excited potential clients will spring from their beds this year, only to be disappointed at another bland email they will send to their junk folder.
These days, it's not enough to simply add someone's name to the subject line. Most of us are aware of personalized mass emails now, and we're over it. If the email following your name is generic, you'll be able to spot it quickly. To stay ahead of the curve, your emails need to speak to the specific person that's opening them. If that person bought a specific type of product or service from you, the email needs to speak to that. Your audience is too diverse and varied for blanket communications that don't take their individuality into account.
It's 2013. The old practices for creating a successful marketing campaign are just that -- old. But don't despair; there are ways for you to keep your subscribers reading this December without being an email Grinch.
1.Let the data drive your sleigh
In the age of analytics, any email marketing service that you use likely allows you to see into at least a few layers of data. You can tell what your recipients are clicking on -- and what they aren't. Use that information to continue to refine your communications. If your audience clicks on the same type of content, or prefers certain forms of content, give them what they want! Cut the content that isn't performing, and double down on the content that is.
2.Different gifts for different groups
Gift wrapping the same toy truck four times to give to four kids wouldn't fly in your house this Christmas, would it? Your 23-year-old nephew and your 4-year-old daughter don't use the same toys -- they belong to two different segments of gift receivers. The same goes for your audience. If you have contacts or leads on your list that are close to buying your service, don't send them the same content you send leads that don't even know who you are. Break your lead list down into segments, and think through how you will uniquely message those groups.
3.Don't forget the card
Imagine opening the card for a gift from Grandma that says, "From: MasterCard." Not quite as personal, is it? Yet email marketers continue to use their company name instead of their real name in the "From" line. People are perceptive; they know that McDonald's or Wal-Mart aren't human beings, and therefore can't send them an email. Give your audience some credit and let them know who's sending them the message. It creates trust, and people are more likely to open something they think may have actually been sent to them by a human hand.
4.Cut down the dinner speech
One of your relatives this year will inevitably, after dipping into the eggnog one too many times, bore the table with a political monologue that no one wants to hear. Your emails can drone on in the same way. If you're looking at a big block of text in your email, ask yourself, "Would I really read this?" If the answer is no, your customer won't either. You're adding a link that sends them to a landing page; put the juicy information there. The email should only serve to point them to the link. That means no wasted words, concise sentences, bullet points, statistics and other short, eye-catching techniques. The goal from your email is to get them to click-through, so don't bury the link in text. Make it easy to see and understand in seconds, because that's all you have until your email gets "junked."
The holidays don't have to equal a slow time for your email marketing campaigns. Just like gift-giving, if your email is warm, personal and meaningful, people will appreciate the effort.