Now that the buzz of a New Year has died down a little, its a great time to work on your processes and systems. Especially email marketing!
The end of the calendar year can be a rough time for email marketers. Between near constant sales emails and preparation fatigue that occurs between October and January, your email marketing can take a hit.
A jump un unsubscribers
Low open rates
Nearly nonexistent click rates
If you’ve experienced these lately, there is hope for your email marketing strategy!
Now is the time to lay the groundwork for a consistent email marketing strategy for your business throughout the year. It's the perfect time to audit your email strategy.
Auditing your email strategy allows you to refocus your efforts before the year gets into full swing. In doing so you have the opportunity to get your hands on valuable content that can be repurposed for current or upcoming campaigns.
Its also an opportunity to improve in areas that may have had you stumped the previous year. Auditing helps you get a full view of where you are at this precise moment so that you can make necessary adjustments to hit the mark.
Email marketing is a reliable form of marketing but only when you treat it like a priority. Analyzing your current progress, identifying gaps in your current strategy, and making a plan to improve are how you do that. Getting better at email marketing and positioning it as a steady marketing stream for your business, happens by laying a strong foundation for success.
Here are a few ways to audit your email marketing and laying that foundation:
Know your numbers: This is the first step in seeing improvements with email marketing. Its difficult to know what is going well and what isn't if you don't know your analytics and what they’re telling you. Take time to record your average open, click, subscribe and unsubscribe rates so you have a baseline for future campaigns.
Manage your subscribers: Got a bunch of subscribers who aren't opening your emails? Engaged subscribers are the lifeblood of your email marketing. Without them your email are going to an inbox graveyard. Remove subscribers that have been inactive for 90 days or more from your list or consider a re-engagement campaign to get them active again.
Also, take this opportunity to update your tags and segments. Ensure that they are aligned with your current offers, products, services and campaigns.
Revisit old emails: Auditing is the perfect time to go looking for content to repurpose. Many times marketers get frustrated because they find it difficult to source new content. But the great thing about email marketing is that its relatively easy to repurpose old content. Go through all of the emails you sent in the last year and save the ones that are aligned with your current marketing efforts..
Make a Plan: A solid plan is the key to consistency and congruence. Outline what topics you want to cover, resources you want to share, and how frequently you’d like to contact your audience. Start now to get ahead of the game!
Email marketing can be a true asset to your business instead of a burden. Use these tips to easily transition your email marketing into the new year.
