Tips for evaluating your email strategy going into 2018
1. Audit your 2017 strategy and response analytics.
First, take some time to really dive into your data from the past year. A few things to look for?
• Types of mailings sent
• Top-performing and lowest-performing emails
• Send cadence
• Audience analysis: Growth and opt-outs
• Average open and click rates across audience segments
• Correlations between types of subject lines (length, tone, keywords) and your open rates
• Feature usage in your ESP
2. Identify trends and key takeaways.
Once you've gathered all the data you can find, take some time to really sit down and observe noticeable trends.
For instance, are your open rates decreasing as your send cadence goes up? This points to inbox fatigue and means you need to send fewer emails, or at least put your inactive contacts on a lower sending frequency than the rest of your audience. This is especially important to address in the year to come, as consistently sending to unengaged subscribers can hurt your inbox placement.
Have your clicks trended downward throughout the year? You should probably do some content testing to experiment with your button placement, layouts, and more.
Every trend you identify will allow you to form a more effective strategy for 2018.
3. Determine your 2018 metrics for success.
4. Choose the right integrations.
5. Get some help!
If you're an Emma customer and need some assistance optimizing your email strategy for the year to come, reach out to our Professional Services team. They're currently offering an Annual Review that includes a full audit of your 2017 response results and a customized action plan for 2018.
Not an Emma customer? Request a demo.
About the Author
McKenzie Gregory is the content marketing manager on Emma’s marketing team. A Nashville native, she can be found covering all things email on the Emma blog, debating hyphenation rules, and watching obscene amounts of Netflix without a trace of shame.
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