Never do a single email campaign

That’s right. Don’t do a single email campaign. You’re not really giving yourself much chance of success, are you? Think about it, plan it sensibly, and do lots of them. To the same people, if they like it. Different times of day, different creative, teaser campaigns, campaigns supporting other channels, not just direct sales.

Don’t get greedy though, you’ll piss off your customers or burn a source of prospects that should be farmed carefully. Crop rotation? Exactly the same thing. Email is predominantly used for direct sales. And why not? It’s good at this, extremely measurable and highly efficient.

You can’t tell if someone has looked at your online ad with the same certainty. Maybe they opened your DM pack only to leave the letter on the kitchen table until after the offer expired. Or read your lovely full page spread before turning over, their mind lingering on your cracking offer. Wouldn’t it be nice to deliver the message again, make use of that initial, sometimes immeasurable interest? Yes it would.

One of the benefits of email is you can identify these people as they opened the email. Yes, some of them you can put down to a preview pain view or a misplaced click, but most of them have demonstrated interest. Maybe the timing wasn’t quite right or the copy didn’t quite push them over the line. Make it count. Target them again.

We’ve seen a very consistent pattern of reopen stats in excess of four times the initial open rate. So 10% open in broadcast one gives you a reopen rate of over 40% in broadcast two. Test it out and see if it works for you. Change the subject line, tweak the creative accordingly, improve the offer if you can or want to.

Another opportunity is to double-up with a dual-channel campaign. DM packs can be expensive, so qualify interest with email first and follow up with a splendid DM piece if they open the email but did not convert. This is about the ability of email as an influencing, qualifying channel and making best use of the practicable insight available to you. Not just direct sales from a one-hit-wonder.

Simple isn’t it? But then the good stuff normally is.