6 Super Ways to Keep Your Subscribers Engaged and Happy
As the saying goes, “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.” But when it comes to email marketing, you should strive to keep as many of your subscribers as possible happy and engaged with your email campaigns. Otherwise, you’ll likely find your unsubscribe and spam report rates on the rise, while your email-marketing return on investment (ROI) plummets.
Here are six key ways to help boost subscriber engagement:
- Give subscribers control over the frequency and types of emails they receive from you. It’s no surprise that subscribers feel overwhelmed – and sometimes even annoyed – with the amount of email they receive, especially considering how many promotional emails typically flood inboxes these days. In fact, 2014 email statistics showed that subscribers received an average of 416 commercial messages each month. Yet, according to an Experian Marketing Services’ 2013 study, only 30% of marketers let their subscribers decide how often they’ll receive email, while 60% of marketers don’t give subscribers the option to select the types of email they’ll receive.Using a preference centeris an important way you can determine both the type of content your subscribers want to get in your emails, as well as the desired frequency. For example, providing the opportunity to opt-down versus opting out completely may help keep subscribers who want to hear from you, but on a less frequent basis. Click here for more information about how to build effective preference centers.
- Add some variety. Once people subscribe to your email list, do you send them the same promotional campaigns repeatedly? Instead, tailor your email communications to guide prospects and customers through the sales cycle by creating a customer journey map. For more information about how to effectively use email to enhance your organization’s customer journey and keep subscribers engaged, click here.Not always trying to sell something is another important way to be sure your email campaigns aren’t becoming “stale” to your subscribers. By also offering timely industry information and useful tips – in formats such as free white papers, e-books, videos, and webinars – you’ll stay relevant with subscribers and be the company they’ll think of when they’re ready to convert. Plus, simply updating your email templates is another great way to add some variety to your campaigns.
- Use reengagement email campaigns to rekindle interest in your brand. Begin by defining and identifying your inactive subscribers, such as subscribers who haven’t opened or clicked on your emails in 6 months or more. Then design an email campaign that highlights your organization’s value proposition and reminds those inactive subscribers why they signed up to get your emails in the first place.Check out the following Get the Click email review articles for good examples of reengagement email campaigns:
- Segment and personalize. Segmenting your email list can help you personalize email campaigns with relevant content and targeted offers that best meet individual subscribers’ needs. Click here for five segmenting tips to help keep your subscribers engaged and converting.
- Create a segment of “less engaged” subscribers. Try sending this segment fewer emails – and possibly slightly different content. You may even try an email with an opt-down option, for example, to give them the option of reducing the frequency of emails they get from you. Then, measure such engagement metrics as open, click-through, and conversion rates to see which of your email strategies actually help renew interest among less-engaged subscribers.Or, potentially test the opposite scenario: Send a portion of your less-engaged subscribers more emails for a while and see if the increased frequency gets them engaged. Be careful, though, not to conduct such a test with too big of a test group – the resulting repeated lack of engagement or possible increase in spam complaints might have a negative impact on deliverability across your entire list.
- Optimize with mobile in mind. As we highlight in this month’s blog, mobile email conversions are rapidly rising, while using responsive design helps drive email conversions by providing an optimal viewing experience across various screens and platforms.You likely have a significant number of subscribers using mobile devices to read your emails. So in addition to using responsive design, be sure to keep the design of your emails simple, as well as the fonts and calls to action large enough for recipients to easily read and make a purchase without getting frustrated. Click here for mobile-friendly design tips and information on coding for responsive design.
Does the content and frequency of your email campaigns strike the right balance between staying top of mind with subscribers and not becoming an annoyance? FulcrumTech can help you answer that question, as well as design and implement email campaigns that effectively engage and convert. Email us or give us a call at 215-489-9336 and get started today.