Curating an engaged email list is one of the fine arts of email marketing. It’s tempting to sell sell sell to the largest group possible, but that is a short term game that that isn’t going to maximize your revenue year over year.
Email clients like gmail, icloud, yahoo, outlook, etc. rely on compelling content to keep users logging back in to check their inbox, just like social media feeds. The most engaging content gets featured, the least engaging gets hidden away or rejected outright.
Here are my 3 tips to make it to the inbox:
1 Use a mix of message types to keep audiences engaged. There’s way more to your story than a buy now call to action. I’ve found that dividing your content into the following categories creates more diverse emails that grow engagement without sacrificing revenue.
- Promotional: Highlight products and special offers
- Behavioral Prompts: Remind at the right intervals – repurchase reminders, event reminders, product enhancements, key deadlines
- Storytelling: Engage in a conversational style about a mutually beneficial topic.
2 Limit the number of unengaged recipients to about 20%-25% of the total list. Use your best judgement on what “unengaged” means, as it can vary based on list size and messaging frequency. A general definition is 3-6 months without an open or click. It’s ok to run occasional re-engagement campaigns with a larger percentage of unengaged, but sandwich those sends between two high engagement campaigns to counter balance your sender score. Inboxing and engagement go hand in hand, so cater to engagement.
3 Consistency is key. Keep a similar cadence and send size month over month. Reach out quarterly at the absolute minimum. Depending upon your industry and audience, you might be able to reach out multiple times a day! Inbox readers want to know they can find your latest offer, quickly contact you, or follow that link to exactly where they need to go. Don’t be afraid to resend those high-engagement emails to those who didn’t engage, maybe the timing just wasn’t right. Keep that email conversation going.
Follow these three guidelines and you’ll reap the rewards of a robust email marketing program.
For more information on deliverability, here’s a few of my favorite resources:
- Salesforce Trailhead Deliverability Course
- Netcore – 5 Best Ways to Check your IP Reputation
- Glock Apps – How to Increase Inbox Rate
- Sender Score
- Mail-Tester
Do you have other great resources or tips you can recommend? Tell me about them in the comments below!
Happy sending, my friends 😊
Omnichannel Ambitions 