I recently attended an event hosted by Blue Hornet and was reminded of some basic email program guidelines. Since I needed a reminder, I am going to go out on a limb and assume that some you might need a refresher course, too. Here are 7 easy steps you can take to develop, review and keep improving your email marketing program.
Step 1: Define the Program - What are you promoting? What is your business goal for this communication? Is it a customer win back program? Is it a welcome program? Is it a referral program? There are lots of options here based on your goal.
Step 2: Define the Customer - Who are they? Start to collect information like age, demographic, psycho graphic and more advanced info if you have it. The more you know about your customer the better you can communicate with something of value. What do you really know about your customer?
Step 3: Define the Challenges - Do you have an existing program? What has been the challenge in launching or improving this program? What is broken?
Step 4: Review New Program Opportunities - What are you missing? One note of caution: Do not include this step if a) you don't have an existing program or 2) your existing program is broken
Step 5: Prioritize - Choose your improvements and tactics based on your budget and your resources. Don't over-commit. Set yourself up for success!
Step 6: Develop Test Scenarios - Like any good Internet marketer you should "Always Be Testing". Test an image. Test the subject lines. Test the link placement. Test the offer.
Step 7: Execute & Measure - Develop a plan to measure what worked and what didn't. Adjust for next time and do it again!
