Resolution 1: Set the Right Goals
As you plan your goals for 2009 take a close look at your email marketing strategy. Have you been tasked with growing your list by 10 or 15 percent? Have you been challenged with deploying two or more email campaigns per week? If so, you aren't alone. Unfortunately, there are still a number of people who mistakenly associate volume with results. Before you rush out and purchase data stop and consider what your company wants to accomplish. If your goal is to increase sales you won't reach it simply by deploying message after message to a list that is made up of whatever email addresses you could find. Stephanie Miller from Return Path posted a great blog on this subject. In it, she states, "Throw away your list growth metrics -- they mean nothing to the bottom line. Instead, adopt more meaningful measures of ROI that reflect how well your program engages with subscribers."
Smart email marketers know that the quality of the list trumps the quantity of the names any day of the week. And targeted messages sent to a segmented list will outperform a general message sent to your entire subscriber base every time. Therefore, your 2009 goals should include tasks such as re-engaging five percent of your inactive subscribers, capturing more customer data, and segmenting your messages, as well as continuing to add qualified subscribers to your list. Not only will you increase your return on marketing investment, but you'll also protect your reputation and increase the deliverability of your messages.
Deliverability begins with good list acquisition practices. If you are buying lists, adding subscribers without permission, or ignoring list management best practices, you're risking your good reputation; and, no matter how great your campaigns are, they will fail. In 2009, make the resolution to acquire quality subscribers by following best practices. You might not have as many names on your list, but the value of each subscriber will be greater and your ROI will be higher.
Instead of focusing on the number of email addresses on your list, focus on the results each campaign generates. Not just the open and click rates, but the conversion rate of each campaign as well. Listrak is integrated with Google Analytics so it is easier than ever to track conversions back to the email campaign.