Small and Medium businesses looking to reach more clients often have this idea: “We Should Do an Email Blast” – great! Maybe you should. First of all “email blast” makes me think of t-shirt guns or a confetti blast of coupons – I won’t get into the weeds about the difference between an email “campaign” and a “blast” – let’s just retire the word “blast” ok? Great.
Let’s look at the potential for how this email will shake out with three simple questions.
How HEALTHY is your current email list? If your email list is ‘healthy’ in this context, it means these are people willing and interesting in hearing from you. Either they have opted in to your desire to email them, or — no, hard stop. They MUST opt-in to emails from you – most email platforms will shut down your operation quickly with even a small (<1%, seriously) abuse reports. Ensure that the people on your list are ready and willing to hear from you.
How many people are on your list? Campaignmonitor.com reports that the average performance metrics across ALL industries goes something like this:
Open rate: 18% | Click-through rate (CTR): 2.4% | Average click-to-open rate: 14.1%
This means if your list is 1,000 people, on a good day, you’ll have 200 people read the email, and maybe 25 clicks through to further content. If you have a huge list, this can be great.
If you’re looking for online sales, donations, event signups, etc – the numbers game alone should give you an idea of what you’re up against. That being said…
What value does your email offer? Use email to enhance your relationship with your clients, not to ask anything of them. Provide entertainment, information, or offers. Are you inviting them to an event where they can learn something? Do you just hope to generate more revenue by being top of mind?
Special offers are great, but they must be special – you can’t email every week with the same coupon unless your list is so big that it justifies the unsubscribers you’ll get every time you email – people you’ll never get to market to again through email.
The big TL;DR – consider why you want to send an email, and manage your expectations of the results – but also know email can be a powerful way to enrich your customer relationships! I am a huge fan of this marketing tool, but use it responsibly!
Free Tip Fridays: https://calendly.com/free-tip-fridays/free-tip-fridays-with-matt-johnson?month=2021-04&date=2021-04-09
Email industry benchmark reference: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-benchmarks/
