Improving the ROI of Email Marketing

Many times, smaller companies that start using email marketing, do so out of inertia, without much depth in their objectives and without having much idea of the results that can be expected. However, when we start to take email marketing seriously and we realise that with some perspective we can greatly improve the results obtained, one of the most common questions is How do I optimise the profitability of email campaigns?  How do I improve my results?

Here are some of the keys that can help you shape a good email marketing strategy.
- Setting clear objectives
It seems obvious but it is the most frequent and most serious failure. Not being clear about what we expect from an action, sending emails or newsletters "just because", without having an objective against which we can measure a posteriori. This is the basis of any effective campaign, as the strategy will be defined by these objectives.
- Defining audiences
We must know what kind of people we are targeting, what their socio-demographic profile is like, what they like to do... Try to know what this audience can expect from us and always keep this in mind when developing campaigns. The clearer we have the definition of our audience, the easier it will be to offer them something of interest to them.
- Case studies, benchmarks
We will try to find similar situations in order to take advantage of similarities, without losing sight of the fact that each case requires a different approach. Sometimes case studies can provide us with reference data on aspects that we were unaware of before launching a campaign. We will gather all the information that can help us to get our strategy right.
- Quality database
Another condition without which we cannot expect good results from our emailings. Having a clean database, with opt-in records, without invalid or too old emails ensures good results. On the contrary, if we do not keep our databases up to date, much of our effort will be in vain and we will get high bounce rates, inactive users, low...
- Testing
Performing tests on our emailings will help us to have useful information for future mailings. Establishing a testing routine will allow us to avoid having to look for external data (studies, benchmarks...) and to have access to real information about the behaviour of our own database.
- Performance measurement (goal-oriented) and improvement.
Measuring results should be done on the basis of the objectives set in the first place. That is why this first phase in which we define what we want is key. Without it, it is not possible to determine what we have done right or wrong and to correct it.
By following these steps we can avoid our email marketing budget going to waste. It is about knowing the terrain, knowing where we direct our actions, study the best ways and then evaluate whether we have adjusted to the objectives and strategies that we had planned. We must also study if our efforts have been directed in the right direction or if a change in the direction of the effort is necessary to optimise the results.