How to Deliver Customer Value Through Email Marketing Strategy
There has to be a reason for your subscribers to open, engage with, and keep reading your email campaigns. And no, it doesn't always have to be a coupon. But it should be something of value, whatever that means at the individual level.
You may be surprised to discover that what it takes to deliver value is actually pretty simple.
Rule #1: Do what you say you’re going to do.
Any time brands send content that is inconsistent with what they’ve promised or any time they send content to people who are not expecting it, deliverability and email marketing metrics start to suffer.
Successful email marketers are those who start the relationship out on the right foot by setting expectations from the very beginning. This means being transparent at the time of email sign-up about what type of content your brand plans on sending and how often you plan on sending it.
The next step? Meet those expectations.
Rule #2: Stop guessing. Start asking.
Do the work to figure out which customers actually want to hear from you, and what they want to hear about. Otherwise, you're just guessing.
If you don't know what your customers want, ask what's important to them over email, or by using a preference center. But don’t hide those preference options from your subscribers. Most senders make the mistake of waiting until subscribers are already heading for the exits before letting them know they could opt for fewer or different messages. Show them a shortlist of compelling options at the beginning of your relationship, and give them a real say in what appears in their inbox.
Rule #3: Stop talking about yourself. Instead, talk about the customer.
Marketers fail when they forget they are in a conversation. Have you ever been on a bad date where the other person just can’t stop talking about themselves, and you can’t get a word in edgewise? Did you give them a second date? Email is the same way.
When marketers talk about themselves in email, they’re talking about what marketers need—a sale, a conversion, or just beating their chest about how awesome they are. Your audience doesn’t care about any of that, even if you really are awesome. Your email should lead recipients down a path towards a solution they need.
Rule #4: Be empathetic.
Brands forget: They aren't sending campaigns to recipients. They're communicating with real people. The more email marketing campaigns can speak to the individual on the other end, the better. Research that Forrester conducted on behalf of Braze found that when consumers perceive a brand as human, they’re 1.6X times more likely to complete a purchase.
That's why the most successful brands are those that have navigated from batch and blast emails to 1:1 conversations.
Rule #5: Recognize when email isn't the right channel.
Today's marketer has many channels to choose from. It's important to recognize that email isn't always the best channel for every type of message or customer. In fact, email is most effective when it's part of a broader cross-channel messaging strategy.