Less personalization in your email marketing strategy? You heard that right.
The Gist
Optimizing campaign frequency.Adjust email frequency based on engagement. Send fewer emails to less-engaged subscribers while increasing opportunities for highly-engaged ones.
Increasing revenue with automation.Automate key lifecycle moments. High-performing campaigns like cart abandonment and welcome emails drive the majority of email marketing revenue.
Personalization pitfalls. Less can be more. Overpersonalization diminishes brand voice, so dial back on variations to maintain a unified experience.
Succeeding at email marketing requires constant iteration and evolution with an eye on gradual improvements. This iteration happens in an environment of continual change, with some of those changes requiring adaptation and some merely presenting distractions.
Experienced email marketers know that a good email marketing program has an active mailable list size that’s growing and contributes positively to their business’s success metrics, with good open and click rates just being table stakes. A good program also has a spam complaint rate of under 0.1% (which is what Google and Yahoo expect) and an inbox placement rate of 95% or better.
Those characteristics are hallmarks of a good email marketing strategy. But what about the hallmarks of the best ones? Here are four key characteristics.
Since I entered the email marketing industry nearly 20 years ago, email frequencies have steadily increased, and they’ve paused only briefly in the wake of the introduction of Mail Privacy Protection. The relentless drumbeat of a “more email equals more money” strategy has led us to this point, where many brands are seeing declining engagement rates and increasingly frustrated subscribers, which threatens program health.
Because of that, elite programs are reassessing which subscribers receive which campaigns. They’re sending fewer campaigns to their less engaged subscribers and more campaigns to their more engaged subscribers.
This not only improves their deliverability and program health by increasing engagement rates and reducing opt-outs, but it also increases revenue because it gives their more engaged subscribers additional opportunities to engage.
Welcomes, cart abandonment and other automated campaigns are the most productive emails teams can send. Their return on investment far exceeds run-of-the-mill broadcast promotional campaigns.
It’s that outsized productivity that allows roughly 15% of brands to generate the majority of their email marketing revenue from their automated campaigns, which typically represent less than 5% of their overall email volume. Through the steady launch, maintenance and optimization of automations over years, they’ve been able to automatically address key moments and points of friction in their customers’ lifecycles.
If you want to achieve this and you’re unsure if you’re addressing all the moments that matter for your customers, take a look at this checklist of automated campaign ideas.
Reducing Personalization for Stronger Brand Voice
That’s not a typo. I do mean reducing, not increasing. That’s because the best programs have already overdone personalization, and, yes, that is a danger. They’ve realized that in their email marketing strategy, they’d squeezed out brand messaging, diminished their brand voice and undermined their ability to create common brand experiences. So, they’ve started to dial back on personalization a bit.
Last year, the brands that bragged about sending out more than 100,000 variations of email campaigns will most likely be the ones to realize they overdid it to the detriment of their brand and throttle back this year.
Maintaining or Increasing Email Marketing Budget
A bizarre thing is happening. During 2024, many brands deprioritized high-ROI marketing channels and shifted budget to lower-ROI advertising channels, according to Gartner’s 2024 CMO Spend Survey.
“In these tough times, CMOs are prioritizing investments that have demonstrable impact,” said Ewan McIntyre, VP analyst and chief of research for Gartner for Marketers. “However, there’s a mismatch between the channels CMOs are investing in and their perceived impact.”
Given instability among social networks and increasing privacy protections, there have never been more reasons to invest in building larger first-party audiences and gaining more first-party data. The best email marketing strategy recognizes this imperative and continues to invest in strong subscriber relationships and retention programs.
Looked at this collectively, the first two hallmarks focus on delivering more campaigns to your most engaged subscribers and best customers, while minimizing fatigue for less engaged ones. The last two hallmarks, on the other hand, are centered around preserving your brand.
Where is your organization on its journey toward achieving each of these goals?
Core Questions Around Email Marketing Strategy
Editor’s note: Here are two important questions to ask about email marketing strategy.
What are the best ways to increase email marketing revenue without sending more emails?
The key is to target more engaged subscribers with tailored campaigns. Brands should segment their lists to send fewer emails to less engaged subscribers while sending more frequent and relevant emails to their best customers. By doing so, they can improve engagement rates, reduce opt-outs and increase revenue. A strong email marketing strategy focused on segmentation and smart targeting is crucial for maximizing ROI.
How can automation impact email marketing revenue?
Brands that focus on automated campaigns like cart abandonment, welcome emails and re-engagement emails often see higher returns on investment. These types of emails can drive a lot of revenue, even though they may account for less than 5% of total email volume. Implementing an effective email marketing strategy with automated workflows allows brands to address key moments in the customer lifecycle, and it reduces manual effort while increasing revenue generation.
Chad S. White is the author of four editions of Email Marketing Rules and Head of Research for Oracle Digital Experience Agency, a global full-service digital marketing agency inside of Oracle. Connect with Chad S. White:
Email generators have become a must-have in today’s fast-paced digital world, especially if you’re a marketer looking to level up your campaigns. They help you streamline communication, safeguard your privacy, and boost productivity.
Imagine you’re juggling multiple email campaigns. You’ve got dozens of messages to send, different audiences to target, and limited time. An AI-powered email generator steps in, instantly crafting the perfect email that grabs attention and fits your brand’s voice.
Or maybe you’re tired of your inbox filling up with spam from every site you’ve signed up for. A disposable email generator can create a temporary address, letting you dodge the spam while keeping your personal email secure.
In this article, we’ll explore how email generators can transform your email marketing strategy and enhance your overall communication efforts.
What are email generators?
Email generators are AI-powered tools that use natural language processing to quickly craft complete email messages in just seconds. They can be used to write subject lines, email content, and even develop email templates. Some types of email generators also create temporary or disposable email addresses.
While an email generator’s purpose depends on the type, its main goal is to simplify or streamline the process of email communication.
Types of email generators
AI Email Generators: Use artificial intelligence to generate entire emails based on the context you provide. They can save you time by suggesting email content, tones, and subject lines.
Disposable Email Generators: These are also known as burner email generators. They generate disposable or temporary email addresses for short-term needs, such as signing up for a service or downloading a file. These tools are great for maintaining privacy or avoiding spam.
Email Name Generators: Generates creative or professional-sounding email handles, making it easier to set up a new account that fits with your brand. They are handy if you want a consistent identity across different platforms.
Exploring AI email generators
AI email generators have rapidly gained traction as powerful tools in modern communication. These tools can help users create well-structured, personalized emails with minimal effort.
Benefits of using AI for email generation
Efficiency: AI email generators create emails quickly, saving you the time of figuring out what to write. Simply input your details, and the AI delivers a custom message right away. They can also have templates available for newsletters and other email messages. This speeds up communication, letting you focus on other tasks.
Personalization: AI tools excel at making emails feel personal. By analysing data, they tailor each message to the recipient, improving engagement. They can adjust the tone, style, and content to fit your audience, helping boost open rates and responses.
Consistency: AI ensures your emails maintain a consistent tone and style, which is key for branding. This uniformity makes your emails look professional and polished across multiple channels.
Flowrite is an AI email generator designed to automate daily email communication. It integrates with popular tools like Gmail, Outlook, and Slack, allowing you to generate high-quality content for emails and documents using advanced AI language models.
Key features
AI-generated content for emails, documents, and social media posts
Workflow automation to streamline repetitive tasks
Customizable templates and snippets to maintain consistent communication style
Integrations with Gmail, Outlook, Slack, and other tools
Ability to create custom commands for regular content like meeting agendas and project updates
SmartWriter is a great tool if you’re in sales, marketing, or outreach roles. It drastically reduces the time spent on crafting personalized cold emails and LinkedIn messages. Using AI and machine learning, it automates the creation of highly customized messages that resonate with prospects. Additionally, the tool’s automated follow-ups ensure you don’t miss any leads, increasing your chances of conversion.
Key features
AI-powered personalization for cold emails and LinkedIn messages
Automated research from 40+ data sources (e.g., podcasts, blogs, job bios, social media)
Jasper AI is a powerful AI email writing tool that helps you create personalized emails with customizable voices, ensuring the tone stays consistent with your brand. It supports a wide range of writing tasks, from email marketing to full campaigns. It also includes a feature to generate custom visuals for email enhancement.
Key features
AI-generated content with customizable brand voices
End-to-end campaign generation for emails, landing pages, and ads
Jasper Art for creating custom images to enhance email campaigns
Multilingual support with over 30 languages
Disposable and burner email generators for digital marketers
Disposable and burner email generators provide a smart solution for managing online activities while protecting your primary inbox from unwanted spam, promotions, or even potential phishing attacks.
These email generators create temporary email addresses for short-term use, often for sign-ups, trials, or one-time tasks. After a set period or when the task is done, the email becomes inactive, blocking further communication.
Key benefits for marketers
Here are some of the key benefits that disposable email generators provide:
Protecting privacy
Marketers can use burner emails to protect their personal or work addresses when giving an email is required, but not ideal. A burner email generator helps maintain privacy and blocks unwanted messages after a quick transaction.
Spam control
One of the biggest headaches for any marketer is dealing with a cluttered inbox. With so many sign-ups, free trials, and email subscriptions happening daily, it’s easy for the inbox to get overwhelmed with unwanted messages. Disposable email generators offer an effective way to keep your primary inbox clean and spam-free. With temporary email addresses, you can sign up for necessary services without risking a flood of irrelevant emails later.
Testing campaigns
Marketers are always experimenting with different campaigns to see what works best. Using a burner email generator for these tests prevents their main email lists from becoming cluttered with test emails. They can create temporary emails to test different aspects of a campaign—like layout, tone, or links—without disturbing the real marketing environment.
Analysing engagement
Marketers also use disposable email addresses to test sign-up processes or promotional campaigns without cluttering their main inbox. These temporary emails help monitor interactions like newsletter sign-ups or promotion entries, ensuring systems work smoothly without mixing test data with real user data.
Notable disposable email services
10 Minute Mail
10 Minute Mail is a free, temporary email service designed for users who want to receive messages without creating a permanent inbox. It offers an anonymous, self-deleting email address that expires after 10 minutes, with options to extend its lifespan if needed.
Key features
No account creation required
Temporary, anonymous email addresses
Mailbox expires after 10 minutes (extendable up to 100 minutes)
Simple recovery of recently deleted inboxes
Mobile-optimized interface
No personal details needed
Guerrilla Mail
Guerrilla Mail is a free, anonymous temporary email service that’s been around since 2006, processing over 13 billion emails. It allows users to send and receive emails through a temporary inbox without requiring an account.
Key features
No account creation or personal info needed
Emails automatically deleted after 1 hour
Scramble email addresses for added privacy
API available for tech-savvy users
Option to create or randomly generate email addresses
Mailinator
Mailinator is a disposable email service that started in 2003, designed to help users with email and SMS workflow testing. QA teams widely use it to test email and SMS systems before launching to ensure that workflows function correctly.
Key features
No account is required to use the public inboxes
Private domains and inboxes for Pro and Business users
Persistent message storage for pro and business users
Automated email workflow testing for secure validation
SMS testing for 2FA and OTP automation
API integration for inbox management, fetching messages, and automating tasks
Web-based GUI for manual email review and team management
Custom message management rules for forwarding, automating clicks, and load testing
Practical applications in marketing
Email generators are incredibly versatile, especially if you need to manage and optimize multiple campaigns. Here’s how these tools can be put to work in various practical applications:
Lead generation
Creating unique email addresses for each campaign or ad group helps track engagement across multiple campaigns. This makes it easy to see which efforts lead to the most sign-ups, conversions, or interest, helping you organize and follow up with leads more efficiently.
A/B testing
For A/B testing, unique email addresses for different audience segments let you test how various groups respond to different messages, subject lines, or offers. This helps fine-tune campaigns by revealing what works best for your audience.
Feedback and surveys
To gather honest feedback without making users feel exposed, disposable emails are a great option. They protect users’ privacy, making them more likely to participate in surveys or provide genuine feedback without fearing spam or follow-up emails.
Email generators with inbox functionality
Email generators with inbox functionality create temporary email addresses that lets you interact with emails directly within the platform. This is particularly useful if you need a temporary, fully functional inbox for specific tasks, such as managing temporary projects.
MailSlurp is an email API tool that gives marketers the power to generate temporary email addresses and manage inboxes seamlessly. It’s particularly useful when running A/B tests or handling high-volume email lists without cluttering your primary inbox.
Key features
Create temporary emails for testing campaigns or managing workflows without clogging your main inbox.
Easily manage multiple inboxes with sorting, filtering, and automated responses.
Automate email workflows, like follow-ups or testing, to save time and ensure consistency.
Run A/B tests with real email addresses to track performance and results accurately.
Use custom domains for more professional and segmented email campaigns.
Manage everything via code or an online dashboard, making it simple for any marketer to use.
Keep your primary inbox secure and spam-free by using disposable addresses.
Burner Mail is a dedicated platform designed for users who want to protect their personal email addresses. It keeps your real inbox safe from spam and unwanted messages, while providing robust privacy features for online users.
Key features
Generate burner email addresses instantly
Manage multiple burner email addresses and forward emails to multiple real-world inboxes.
Access emails through an online mailbox if you prefer not to forward them to your personal address
Block unwanted senders by disabling specific burner addresses with just a click.
Reply to emails anonymously
Multi-factor authentication
Email encryption
Chrome and Firefox extensions for on-the-spot email generation
Shared access for families or teams
Comparison of services
Here’s a comparison of the various burner email generator services and their inbox functionalities.
Service
Temporary Inbox
Multiple Inboxes
Automation Features
Security and Privacy
MailSlurp
Yes, temporary emails for testing and workflows
Yes, manage multiple inboxes with sorting, filtering, and automation
Automated responses, follow-ups, and A/B tests
Keeps primary inbox spam-free with disposable addresses
Burner Mail
Yes, instantly generate burner emails for sign-ups
Yes, manage multiple burner emails and forward to real-world inboxes
No automation, but integrates with Chrome and Firefox for quick generation
Multi-factor authentication, encryption, reply anonymously using burner address
10 Minute Mail
Yes, expires after 10 minutes, extendable to 100
No, single-use temporary inbox
No automation
Anonymous and temporary with no personal details needed
Guerrilla Mail
Yes, deleted after 1 hour
No, single-use inbox
No automation
Anonymous with scrambled addresses for added privacy
Mailinator
Yes, public inboxes, private for Pro users
Yes, multiple inboxes with custom rules for Pro users
Tips for managing and utilizing inboxes provided by email generators
An email generator with inbox functionality is convenient, but effective management is key to getting the most out of it. Here are some practical tips:
Monitor inbox lifespans: Many services auto-delete emails after a certain time. Be sure to check your inbox regularly and take action on important emails before they’re lost.
Use separate inboxes for campaigns: If you’re a marketer testing multiple campaigns, create different email addresses for each one. This makes it easier to track performance and manage replies without getting overwhelmed.
Check for reply features: Some inboxes allow you to respond to incoming emails. Use this to your advantage if you need to maintain communication for a short period or if you’re testing customer engagement.
Stay organized: Since these inboxes are often temporary, it’s essential to stay on top of important messages. Download or forward crucial emails to your primary inbox before they expire.
Be aware of public inboxes: Services like Mailinator have public inboxes that anyone can access. If privacy is essential, opt for a more private generator.
Enhancing engagement with email subject line generators
The subject line can make or break your email marketing campaign. It’s often the first thing a recipient sees, and a compelling subject line can significantly increase your email’s open rate. This is where email subject line generators, especially those powered by AI, can step in to help grab attention.
Importance of compelling subject lines for email campaigns
A subject line is essentially the hook that convinces someone to open your email. No matter how valuable or exciting the content inside might be, if the subject line doesn’t catch their eye, your email might end up ignored or, worse, in the trash. A strong subject line:
Grabs attention in a crowded inbox.
Sets expectations for what the reader will find inside the email.
Increases open rates, which is crucial for overall campaign success.
Influences click-through rates by sparking curiosity or presenting an irresistible offer.
In digital marketing, compelling subject lines are crucial because they directly impact engagement metrics, like open and conversion rates. That’s why tools like email subject line generators have become increasingly valuable in the marketing world.
Role of email subject line generators in boosting open rates and engagement
Ai-powered email subject line generators analyse trends, audience behaviour, and even the context of your campaign to suggest subject lines that are designed to perform well. These tools can:
Save time by generating multiple creative options in seconds. This allows you to focus on fine-tuning your overall strategy.
Optimize for engagement by suggesting subject lines based on best practices like personalization, urgency, or curiosity.
A/B test different subject lines to determine which resonates most with your audience.
AI email generators give you subject line suggestions backed by data and trends, boosting the chances your emails get noticed. It also helps overcome writer’s block, providing fresh ideas or unique phrasing you might’ve missed.
Examples of effective subject lines generated by AI Tools
Here are some examples of successful subject lines from an AI email generator and why they work:
“Only 24 Hours Left: Unlock Your Special Offer Now!”
Why it works: It creates urgency and curiosity while directly communicating that the recipient has a limited-time offer. Urgency is a proven tactic to boost open rates.
“You Won’t Believe What’s Inside—Open for a Surprise!”
Why it works: Piques curiosity by teasing something unexpected, which can entice users to open the email to find out more.
“[Name], Your Exclusive Invite Awaits! RSVP Now”
Why it works: Personalization helps establish a connection with the recipient, making the email feel more relevant. Adding exclusivity boosts intrigue and action.
“🔥 Trending Now: 5 Products You Need for Fall”
Why it works: Using an emoji to grab attention, this subject line also emphasizes relevance and timeliness with a seasonal focus. Recipients feel like they’ll gain value by opening the email.
“How to Save 50% This Weekend Only – Here’s Your Code”
Why it works: It’s straightforward and actionable, immediately conveying the value inside the email. Offering a discount with a sense of urgency encourages faster engagement.
Free email generator tools
There are several free AI-powered email generator tools available that simplify the process of creating professional emails. Here’s a look at some popular options:
HubSpot AI Email Writer
HubSpot’s tool is designed for businesses, helping users craft tailored, high-quality emails that engage customers. It allows for easy editing and provides SEO-optimized content. However, it requires sign-up, and the focus is on marketing emails, so it might not be ideal for general communication.
Ghostwrite is perfect for drafting high-conversion emails quickly. It ensures emails are error-free with built-in grammar correction and lets users save templates for future use. Its limitation is that it’s mainly geared toward marketing and sales communication.
Mailmeteor is simple and user-friendly. Users input a prompt, and the AI generates an email in minutes. While it’s fast and effective for basic needs, it only provides one email variation, requiring further customization from the user.
Best practices for AI writing email generators
If you want to use free AI email generators to improve your email copy, follow these best practices:
Refine prompts for clarity Be specific when providing prompts to AI writing generators to get more relevant, accurate emails. Vague or unclear prompts can result in generic or off-target content.
Edit and personalize generated content While AI writing tools can save time, they may produce generic or repetitive emails. Always review and personalize the content to align with your style, audience, and goals.
Pair with email automation tools Use AI writing generators alongside email automation platforms to streamline campaign management. You can quickly generate email content and automate the distribution process.
Test for tone and engagement AI-written emails may need tweaks to better engage your audience. Test different tones or approaches in the generated emails to see what resonates best with your recipients.
Use for drafts, not final versions AI generators are great for providing rough drafts but rarely perfect the first time. Use the generated content as a starting point, then revise it to match your voice and the message you want to convey.
Integrating email generators with Gmail
You can also integrate email generators–both AI and temporary email generators–with Gmail. They can streamline your email communications and also help keep your inbox uncluttered. Gmail itself offers some clever tricks for managing email aliases.
Generating and managing email addresses within Gmail
Gmail offers a built-in method for generating unique email addresses without needing external tools. These are called email aliases. You can create variations of your primary email address, which allows you to track responses, manage sign-ups, or filter incoming messages.
In Gmail, you can add a “+” symbol and any word after your email address before the “@gmail.com” domain. For example, if your email is [email protected], you can create aliases like [email protected] or [email protected].
Emails sent to these addresses will still arrive in your main inbox, but you can easily filter or label them to stay organized. Once you’ve created an alias, you can use Gmail’s powerful filters to sort or label these emails automatically.
Pulling email from disposable email generators into Gmail
If you want to pull messages from your temporary email addresses, follow these steps:
Go to your Gmail’s settings
Select Accounts and Import
Head on to check mail from other accounts
Click “Add a mail account”
Enter the email address
Enter the POP server. This will depend on the service.
AI email generator integration with Gmail
If you have Google Workspace, Gemini is already integrated into Gmail. Gemini, Google’s AI-powered assistant, allows you to generate high-quality emails directly in Gmail. Gemini can help draft emails, suggest responses, and even optimize the tone and content based on your preferences.
Another useful tool is the Mailmeteor Gmail extension. It allows you to send personalized mass emails directly from Gmail, powered by AI. It’s great for automating outreach while keeping messages personal and professional.
Tips for managing email generator tools with Gmail
Set up automatic forwarding: If you’re using a burner email generator that supports forwarding, ensure that emails are automatically sent to your Gmail inbox. This saves time by allowing you to receive all communications in one place while still keeping your personal email private.
Use filters to stay organized: For emails forwarded from disposable or burner email generators, set up filters in Gmail. You can label these emails as “Temporary” or “Marketing,” for example, so they’re easy to find and separate from personal correspondence.
Create a separate Gmail account for generators: If you frequently use burner email generators for marketing campaigns, lead generation, or testing, consider creating a dedicated Gmail account to manage these emails. This keeps your main inbox free of clutter, while still giving you control over your temporary email addresses.
Advanced applications of email generators
Email generators are now doing more than just helping with basic marketing tasks. AI-powered tools can create emails that change based on how someone interacts with previous messages. For example, if a customer clicks on a certain product, the next email might automatically include similar recommendations or limited-time offers—no extra work is needed from the marketer.
On the other side, disposable email generators are used for more than just testing. They’re also helpful in large campaigns where security matters. Businesses can create temporary email addresses to protect sensitive information or manage multiple sign-ups without cluttering up their main inboxes. These advanced uses let companies improve both their marketing and security strategies at the same time.
Hypernova Marketing, a US-based cold email lead generation agency, helps clients secure 20-40 B2B meetings each month, targeting tough prospects like CROs and VPs of Sales.
They knew personalized emails were crucial for success, but scaling this process was difficult. Hiring hundreds of virtual assistants wasn’t practical, so they needed a more efficient solution.
After trying different options, they chose Smartwriter. Before using it, their reply rate was 8%. With AI-driven personalization, it jumped to 16%, fully automated. This boost has been consistent across all clients, making Smartwriter essential to their strategy.
Choosing the right email generator tool
With so many email generator tools out there, picking the right one can feel tricky. Whether you’re a business looking to boost marketing or just want to protect your privacy, the key is finding a tool that matches your needs. Here’s a breakdown of what to look for.
What to consider when choosing an email generator
Privacy features
Many use email generators to avoid spam or unwanted emails. Prioritize tools with strong privacy features like encryption, disposable emails, or self-destructing messages. Make sure the tool doesn’t store your data long-term or share it.
Ease of use
The tool should be simple to use. Whether for marketing or temporary emails, you don’t want to spend time figuring out how it works. Look for tools with easy navigation and quick setup.
Integration capabilities
If you’re a business, check if the tool integrates with systems like Gmail, Mailchimp, or HubSpot. This can make managing emails and tracking performance smoother.
Lifespan of email addresses
Some tools create emails that expire quickly, while others offer longer-lasting options. Choose based on whether you need a temporary or permanent solution.
Cost and availability
Many tools are free, but paid versions may offer more features. Consider your needs and whether premium features are worth the cost. Free trials can help you decide.
Wrapping up
Email generators have revolutionized the way we handle communication. From streamlining marketing campaigns to protecting your privacy, these tools offer efficiency, personalization, and security all in one package. Whether you’re a marketer seeking to connect with your audience or someone looking to avoid inbox clutter, there’s an email generator that fits your needs.
Embrace the power of these tools to transform your email game. Let them handle the heavy lifting, while you focus on what truly matters. They’re versatile, effective, and ready to make a difference in how you manage your digital communications.
FAQs
What is the best AI email generator?
The “best” AI email generator depends on your specific needs. For general email writing, Flowrite, Jasper AI, and SmartWriter are popular choices. Flowrite is great for everyday communication, while Jasper AI offers robust campaign generation with personalized content. SmartWriter excels at crafting personalized outreach emails, especially for sales and marketing.
Can a fake email be detected?
Yes, fake or disposable email addresses can often be detected by advanced systems. Many services now use filters to block temporary email providers by checking known domains associated with disposable addresses. However, some fake emails might still slip through if the detection system isn’t updated or sophisticated enough.
Are AI email generators secure?
Most AI email generators are designed with privacy and security in mind, but it’s essential to verify the policies of each platform. Look for tools that provide encryption, data protection measures, and clear privacy policies. Avoid using AI email tools that store your sensitive information for long periods without transparency.
By Koushik Mani, Caroline Des Rochers, and Erika Houde-Pearce.
In today’s digital landscape, businesses heavily rely on SMS and email campaigns to engage with customers and deliver timely, relevant messages. The shift towards digital marketing has increased customer engagement, accelerated delivery, and expanded personalization options. Email and SMS marketing is essential to digital strategies according to 44% of Chief Marketing Officers and they allocate approximately 8% of their marketing towards this. Industries face stringent restrictions on the content they can send due to legal regulations and carrier filtering policies.
Messages related to the subjects listed below are considered restricted and are subject to heavy filtering or even being blocked outright. Failing to comply with these restrictions can result in severe consequences, including legal action, fines, and irreparable damage to a brand’s reputation. Marketers need a solution that will proactively scan their content used in campaigns and flag restricted content before sending it out to their customers without facing penalties and losing trust.:
Gambling
High-risk financial services
Debt forgiveness
S.H.A.F.T (Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco)
Illegal substances
In this blog, we will explore how to leverage Amazon Comprehend, Amazon S3, and AWS Lambda to proactively scan text-based marketing campaigns before publishing content . This solution enables businesses to enhance their marketing efforts while maintaining compliance with industry regulations, avoiding costly fines, and preserving their hard-earned reputation, conforming to best practices.
The main goal for this approach is to flag any message that contains restricted content mentioned above before distribution.
Figure 1: Architecture for proactive scanning of marketing content
Following are the high-level steps:
Upload documents to be scanned to the S3 bucket.
Utilize Amazon Comprehend custom classification for categorizing the documents uploaded.
Create an Amazon Comprehend endpoint to perform analysis.
Inference output is published to the destination S3 bucket.
Utilize AWS Lambda function to consume the output from the destination S3 bucket.
Send the compliant messages through various messaging channels.
Solution Walkthrough
Step 1: Upload Documents to Be Scanned to S3
Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon S3 console
In the navigation bar on the top of the page, choose the name of the currently displayed AWS Region. Next, choose the Region in which you want to create a bucket.
In the left navigation pane, choose Buckets.
Choose Create bucket.
The Create bucket page opens.
Under General configuration, view the AWS Region where your bucket will be created.
Under Bucket type, choose General purpose.
For Bucket name, enter a name for your bucket.
The bucket name must:
Be unique within a partition. A partition is a grouping of Regions. AWS currently has three partitions: aws (Standard Regions), aws-cn (China Regions), and aws-us-gov (AWS GovCloud (US) Regions).
Be between 3 and 63 characters long.
Consist only of lowercase letters, numbers, dots (.), and hyphens (-). For best compatibility, we recommend that you avoid using dots (.) in bucket names, except for buckets that are used only for static website hosting.
Begin and end with a letter or number.
In the Buckets list, choose the name of the bucket that you want to upload your folders or files to.
Choose Upload.
In the Upload window, do one of the following:
Drag and drop files and folders to the Upload window.
Choose Add file or Add folder, choose the files or folders to upload, and choose Open.
To enable versioning, under Destination, choose Enable Bucket Versioning.
To upload the listed files and folders without configuring additional upload options, at the bottom of the page, choose Upload.
Amazon S3 uploads your objects and folders. When the upload is finished, you see a success message on the Upload: status page.
Step 2: Creating a Custom Classification Model
Custom Classification Model
Out-of-the-box models may not capture nuances and terminology specific to an organization’s industry or use case. Therefore, we train a custom model to identify compliant messages.
A custom classification model is a feature that allows you to train a machine learning model to classify text data based on categories that are specific to your use case or industry. It trains the model to recognize and sort different types of content which is used to power the endpoint. A custom classification model is designed to save costs and promote compliant messages and further prevent marketing companies from potential fines.
Requirements for custom classification:
Dataset creation
A CSV dataset with 1000 examples of marketing messages, each labelled as compliant (1) or non-compliant (0).
Designed to train a model for accurate predictions on marketing message compliance.
Figure 2: Screenshot of dataset – 20 entries of censored marketing messages
Creating a Test Data Set In addition to providing a dataset to power your customer classification model, a test dataset is also required to test the data that the model will be running on. Without a test dataset, Amazon Comprehend trains the model with 90 percent of the training data. It reserves 10 percent of the training data to use for testing. When using a test dataset, the test data must include at least one example for each unique label (0 or 1) in the training dataset.
Upload the data set and test data set to an S3 Bucket, by following the steps in this user guide.
Training Dataset: Give the name of the bucket you created in step 1
Test Data set: Autosplit, i.e. how much of your data will be used for training and testing.
Specify the location of the model output in S3
Create an IAM Role
Permissions to access: Train, Test and output data (if specified in your S3 Buckets)
Once all parameters have been identified, select Create.
Once the model has been created, you can view it under Custom Classification. To check and verify the accuracy and F1 score, select the version number of the model. Here, you can view the model details under the Performance tab.
Step 3: Creating an Endpoint in Amazon Comprehend
Next, an endpoint needs to be created to analyse documents. To create an endpoint:
Select endpoint on the left panel in Amazon Comprehend.
Select Create endpoint in the left panel.
Specify Endpoints Settings :
Provide a name
Custom model type: Custom Classification
Choose a custom model that you want to attach to the new endpoint. From the dropdown, you can search by model name.
Figure 8: Amazon Comprehend – Endpoint settings
Provide the number of inference units (IUs): 1
Once all the parameters have been provided, ensure that the Acknowledge checkbox has been selected.
Finally, select Create endpoint.
Step 4: Scanning Text with the Custom Classification Endpoint
Once the endpoint has been successfully created, it can be used for real-time analysis or batch-processing jobs. Below is a walkthrough of how both options can be achieved.
Pick Analysis type: custom, to view real-time insights based on the custom models from an endpoint you’ve created
Select custom model type
Select your Endpoint
Insert your input text.
For this example, we have used a non-compliant message: Huge sale at Pine County Shooting Range 25% off for 6mm and 9mm bullets! Lazer add-ons on clearance too
Once inserted, click Analyse.
Once analysed, you will see a confidence score under Classes. Because the dataset is labelled as 0 for non-compliant and 1 for compliant. The message that was inserted was non-compliant, the result of the real-time analysis is a high confidence score for non-compliant.
Real-time analysis in Amazon Comprehend:
On the left panel in Amazon Comprend, select Analysis Jobs.
Select the Create Job button.
Configure Job settings:
Enter the Name
Analysis Type: Custom Classification
Classifications Model: The model you have created for your Classifier, as well as the version number of that model you would like to use for this job.
Enter the location of the Input Data and Output Data in the form of an S3 bucket URL.
Before creating a job the last thing, we want to do is provide the right access permission, by creating an IAM role that give access permissions to the S3 input and output locations.
Once the batch processing job shows a status of completed, you can view the results in the output S3 bucket which was identified earlier. The results will be in a json file where each line represents the confidence score for each marketing message.
Step 5 (optional): Publish message to communication service
The result from the batch processing is automatically uploaded to the output S3 bucket. For each json file uploaded, S3 will initiate an S3 Event Notification which will inform a Lambda function that a new S3 object has been created.
The Lambda function will evaluate the results and automatically identify the messages labeled as compliant (label 0). These compliant messages will then be published to communication services using one of the following three APIs, depending on the desired service:
To automatically trigger the AWS Lambda function, which will read the files uploaded into the S3 bucket and display the data using the Python Pandas library, we will use the boto3 API to read the files from the S3 bucket.
Create an IAM Role in AWS.
Create an AWS S3 bucket.
Create the AWS Lambda function with S3 triggers enabled.
Update the Lambda code with a Python script to read the data and send the communication to customer.
Conclusion
Proactively scanning and classifying marketing content for compliance is a critical aspect of ensuring successful digital marketing campaigns while adhering to industry regulations. Leveraging the powerful combination of Amazon Comprehend, Amazon S3, and AWS Lambda enables the automatic analysis of text-based marketing messages and flagging of any non-compliant content before sending them to your customer. Following these steps provides you with the tools and knowledge to implement proactive scanning for your marketing content. This solution will help mitigate the risks of non-compliance, avoiding costly fines and reputational damage, while freeing up time for your content creation teams to focus on ideation and crafting compelling marketing messages. Regular monitoring and fine-tuning of the custom classification model should be conducted to ensure accurate identification of non-compliant language.
Koushik Mani is an associate solutions architect at AWS. He had worked as a Software Engineer for two years focusing on machine learning and cloud computing use cases at Telstra. He completed his masters in computer science from University of Southern California. He is passionate about machine learning and generative AI use cases and building solutions.
Caroline Des Rochers,
Caroline is a Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services, based in Montreal, Canada. She works closely with customers, in both English and French, to accelerate innovation and advise them through technical challenges. In her spare time, she is a passionate skier and cyclist, always ready for new outdoor adventures.
Erika Houde-Pearce
Erika Houde-Pearce is a bilingual Solutions Architect in Montreal, guiding small and medium businesses in eastern Canada through their cloud transformations. Her expertise empowers organizations to unlock the full potential of cloud technology, accelerating their growth and agility. Away from work, she spends her spare time with her golden retriever, Scotia.
The difference between a flourishing business and a floundering business often comes down to an effective marketing campaign. This is especially true for small businesses. Every successful marketing campaign starts with a well-thought-out marketing plan. In this article, we will guide you through the steps on how to create a top-notch marketing plan to help put your business on the road to success.
What Is a Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan is essentially a roadmap that guides businesses through the complex terrain of promoting their products or services. Think of it as a blueprint that details specific marketing campaigns, timelines, target audiences and channels such as social media, email or traditional media. Your plan should also establish clear metrics for success, the methodology used to evaluate performance and allocated budgets.
It is important to note that a marketing plan is not a static document. It is supposed to be an ever-evolving plan that adapts to market trends, customer feedback and the successful or unsuccessful marketing efforts. If done properly, a marketing plan will help you synchronize your marketing objectives with your overall business goals and ensure every marketing activity aligns with your broader vision of growth.
Marketing Plan vs. Marketing Strategy
Some assume that “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” are the same thing, but be aware they hold distinct meanings and serve different purposes. A marketing strategy is more big-picture thinking. It identifies your target market, your value proposition, how you position yourself against competitors and how you will sustain your value over time. It involves deep insights into your customers’ needs, market trends and competitive analysis. It is essentially the “why” behind all your marketing actions.
The marketing plan, on the other hand, details the “what” and the “when” of those efforts. Once you have your marketing strategy outlined, you can begin to create a marketing plan. The plan should outline the specific campaigns, activities and tactics you’ll use to carry out the strategy. This includes details on the marketing channels you’ll use, the timeline for implementation, the budget and the key performance indicators you’ll track to measure success. It’s a blueprint that translates the strategy into actionable tasks and schedules.
Why Businesses Need a Marketing Plan
A carefully crafted marketing plan can be a game-changer for small businesses dreaming of steady growth and a competitive edge over larger companies. Marketing plans with smart strategies and targeted campaigns can level the playing field by helping small businesses carve out their niche. It provides a clear roadmap that aligns marketing efforts with business objectives to ensure every marketing action contributes to the broader company goals.
This focused approach saves small businesses money by efficiently focusing resources instead of using a scattergun approach that can drain limited budgets. By identifying and understanding target markets, businesses can tailor their messaging to meet specific needs, which increases the likelihood of conversion. A solid marketing plan offers a framework for measuring success by setting benchmarks. With careful tracking, small businesses can quickly see what’s not working and adjust strategies in real time for better outcomes.
Essential Marketing Channels
Today’s businesses have a wide array of marketing channels available to them. From highly analytical PPC advertising to engaging in-person event marketing, there’s no shortage of methods to promote your company.
Social Media
During the past two decades, social media has proved to be a highly effective way for small businesses to market themselves at little to no costs. Platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn offer businesses a dynamic platform to engage directly with their audience. They allow for the sharing of content, running targeted ads and fostering community through comments and shares. Effective social media marketing can enhance brand awareness, drive traffic and strengthen customer loyalty.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is another highly effective way to reach an audience directly. Newsletters, promotional offers and personalized content can nurture leads, promote loyalty and drive conversions. Email marketing offers measurable results and high ROI, making it a staple in a digital marketing strategy toolbox.
Content Marketing
Content marketing involves creating hyper-relevant and compelling content that will act as a magnet to attract a laser-focused group of people. You can create blogs, videos, infographics and podcasts to cultivate an engaged community of followers with whom your brand’s message genuinely resonates.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the practice of optimizing website content to rank higher in search engine results pages. Effective SEO strategies including on-page optimization, quality link building and keyword research help drive traffic to your website.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
PPC advertising is a method of online marketing where you pay a fee each time someone clicks on your ad. Popular platforms such as Google Ads and Bing Ads guarantee your ads show up first in search engine results for specific keywords, allowing you to bypass the “organic” results. While the pay-per-click fees can add up, this form of advertising provides immediate traffic and measurable results.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing leverages the reach of influencers in specific niches to help you promote your business to a larger audience. When you partner with a credible influencer, you can tap into their loyal followings, gain trust quickly and drive engagement that will hopefully lead to greater sales. Affiliate marketing can complement influencer marketing by allowing influencers to earn commissions on the sales they drive. This performance-based option is cost effective, as you will only pay for actual results.
Event Marketing
Event marketing involves marketing your brand, company or service through in-person or virtual events. It can be anything from interactive webinars and educational workshops to large-scale conferences and industry trade shows. Event marketing gives you the opportunity to directly engage with your audience and hopefully provide a memorable experience for your customers.
How To Create a Marketing Plan
Creating a marketing plan is a step-by-step process. Make sure you take your time with each step before moving on to the next one.
1. Create an Executive Summary
An executive summary is a snapshot of your simplified marketing goals, significant milestones and an outline of future plans. It should encapsulate relevant facts about your brand, setting the stage for the detailed strategy that follows. This section provides stakeholders with a clear understanding of where the company stands and where it intends to go, concisely summarizing the essence of the marketing efforts.
2. Identify Your Target Market
Who are you trying to reach? By identifying your target market you can tailor your marketing strategies effectively to help them reach the people most likely to be interested in your products or services. Outline the characteristics of your ideal customer including age, location, goals, pains and trigger points.
3. Research Your Competitors
Competitor research is a critical step in forming a marketing plan. Analyse the strengths and weaknesses in other businesses in your industry. This insight can help you identify opportunities for differentiation and areas where you can fill in the opportunity your competitors may have overlooked.
4. Determine Your Marketing Goals
Without clear marketing goals, you are just shooting barrels in the dark. Are you trying to increase brand awareness, boast sales or grow your digital footprint? And if so, by how much and in what timeframe? Use the SMART criteria for goal setting, which advises that goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
5. Establish and Track Benchmarks
Once you determine what your marketing goals are, it is important to track their effectiveness.
To do this, set baseline measurements for key performance indicators related to your goals, such as website traffic, conversion rates or social media engagement. Monitor these benchmarks on a regular basis and adjust strategies as needed to enhance marketing performance.
6. Identify Your Marketing Channels
Are you going to throw all your eggs in the social media basket? Or are you going to diversify your marketing strategy with both digital and in-person events? This step requires a deep dive into the various channels available—be it social media, email marketing, SEO or traditional advertising. When choosing your marketing channels, be sure to ask yourself where your target audience is most engaged.
7. Create a Budget
Finally, create a budget that covers all aspects of your marketing efforts from paid advertising and content creation to software subscriptions and event sponsorships. This will help you stay financially responsible as more marketing opportunities arise.
Bottom Line
One of the keys to a successful business is setting yourself apart from the competition. A strategic marketing plan that details your marketing efforts can not only help you stand out but also provide a step-by-step guide toward reaching your business objectives.
Holiday email promos need a little dialling up — and dialling down — on standard tactics.
The Gist
Email relationships. Previous engagement boosts holiday email performance, increasing subscriber interaction and revenue during Cyber 5.
Social proof. Highlighting top search terms and popular products in holiday emails can inspire and guide subscriber purchases effectively.
Clear messaging.Simplify holiday email content with clear, direct messaging and seasonal imagery to capture hurried subscribers’ attention.
Everyone wants to have their seasonal email strategies stand out during the Thanksgiving-to-Cyber Monday time period, called Cyber 5. And for good reason. Based on an examination of email campaign performance among retailers and ecommerce brands using Oracle Responsys, campaigns sent during the Cyber 5 weekend routinely generate the highest revenue per email for the whole year — by far.
However, marketing emails aren’t ads. They’re not about shouting the loudest, flashing the brightest colours or being the most sensational or shocking. They’re also not about abusing trust with misleading or vague copy.
There are two components in the battle for holiday email marketing attention.
Seasonal Email Strategies: Half the Battle for Attention
The truth is that the battle for attention during the Cyber 5 is already half won long before your Black Friday or Cyber Monday campaign arrives in inboxes. That’s because seasonal email strategies are relationships, so previous engagement has a major impact on future engagement. If your email program delivers value to lots of subscribers during August and September, then they’re much more likely to engage during the holiday season. And the more frequent and substantial that engagement is, the better off you’re likely to be.
ZeroBounce research recently confirmed this, finding that 47% of people say they open a brand email not because of the subject line, but because that brand always sends them good emails.
In my book, “Email Marketing Rules,” I call this the zero stage of an email interaction. This is why sender names are more powerful than any subject line you can come up with. Your sender name brings to the surface all of your subscriber’s feelings about their recent interactions with your brand. If those feelings are positive, it leads to positive results.
The Other Half of the Battle
The rest of the battle is about your seasonal email strategies themselves. But here, brands sometimes have misconceptions, in part because subscribers behave differently during the holiday season. Consumers have different goals than the rest of the year, and they’re also generally much more pressed for time in the inbox, in part because they’re receiving more campaigns.
Here are some tactics to dial up and to dial back on during the holiday season to maximize performance.
Dial Back Personalization
Personalization is perennially among the top email marketing trends. And new opportunities that are fuelled by customer data platforms and advanced AI are likely to keep it at the top of marketers’ to-do lists for years to come.
However, during the holiday season, subscribers are (mostly) shopping for others, so the zero- and first-party data you’ve been collecting all year isn’t likely to be very useful for tailoring messages.
Dial up Social Proof
Instead of focusing on what each subscriber did months ago, focus on what your customers are doing collectively now. In your email campaigns, highlight:
Top site search terms, so subscribers can understand and be inspired by what others are looking for.
Most browsed product categories, which encourage subscribers to explore categories they haven’t shopped recently or ever.
Most social buzz, such as likes on Instagram or pins on Pinterest.
Most purchased products, which is probably the ultimate barometer of popularity.
Dial back Interactivity
Interactive emails bring common web experiences into the inbox, enabling product carousels, tabbed interfaces, hotspots and more. However, interactivity typically isn’t worthwhile during the holiday season because subscribers are in such a hurry. It’s also tough to do because it increases production times when marketers are creating more campaigns than ever.
Dial up Clarity
Even more than usual, clear and simple wins during the holiday season, because people are in such a hurry. Front load your subject lines with the most important words, and pay extra attention to your message hierarchy, ensuring your most important message points stand out from your less important ones. Especially if you’re promoting a strong offer (and I hope you have plenty of those), you don’t want to undermine it by having cluttered messaging or an overly busy design.
Dial up Scarcity
When something is in low supply or likely to sell out, let subscribers know. If you’re able to include real-time inventory numbers for the products featured in your emails using live content, that can be powerful.
But don’t fake it. Your most loyal customers will see that you’re lying to them if you perpetually claim something will sell out and it doesn’t or, worse, you’re faking real-time inventory numbers by manually including them. And it’s your most loyal customers that you can’t afford to offend.
Dial up Seasonal Imagery & Content
Let your subscribers know you’re in the holiday spirit and hope they are, too. Consider:
Adding holiday imagery to your header, including snowflakes, holly leaves or sparkles.
Add a “Holiday” or “Gifts” link to your navigation bar.
Add a gift services footer that highlights gift guides, gift return policies, gift wrapping options, order-by deadlines and other important holiday details and policies.
Dial up Automation
Triggered campaigns are likely the silent heroes of your holiday season. They’re quietly rescuing abandoned carts, following up on product category interest, notifying customers of back-in-stocks, welcoming seasonal subscribers and more. And their ROIs are through the roof.
Before the holiday season arrives, have a plan to ensure your triggered emails perform their best. If nothing else, make time to review and QA your automations, checking for out-of-date language, broken images and broken links. But also, consider adding seasonal imagery and content blocks to these emails, just like you would to your broadcast promotional emails.
The Big Picture
If you’re anything like our retail and ecommerce clients, you’re already well on your way to planning your seasonal email strategies, including your Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails.
But as you do that, recognize that the email experiences you create and the value you deliver to subscribers over the next couple of months will have a big impact on how your seasonal email strategies perform.
Campaign precision.Pinpoint your ideal client profile for more effective B2B email campaigns.
List quality matters. Maintain a validated, high-quality email list to boost engagement and ROI.
Engage, don’t ask. Provide valuable resources over sales pitches to enhance B2B email effectiveness.
In a crowded digital environment rife with companies clamouring for attention at every click, B2B email marketing remains a powerful tool for engaging with B2B prospects to generate quality leads. The reason: Most of your target market isn’t actively searching for your solutions, so it’s more effective to go to them and generate interest (demand generation) than it is to wait for them to find you (demand capture).
The challenge: 9.7 billion emails are sent in the U.S. daily so standing out requires a calculated approach. Below are five steps for creating effective email campaigns that resonate with prospects and fuel demand.
1. Understand & Target Your Top Ideal Client Profile (ICP)
Define your ICP based on your most successful client relationships, by industry, company size, and titles of decision-makers and influencers. For example, we ran a successful campaign targeting owners/CEOs of rental service providers in the U.S. between $20 million and $250 million in revenues for an integrator of ERP systems.
It’s common to have at least three-to-four distinct ICPs. Focus on the one with the most potential for several months to gain traction.
2. Build & Maintain a High-Quality Email List
A robust B2B email marketing list of your top target market is key to the success of your campaign. Begin by sourcing contacts from reputable services like ZoomInfo. UpLead and BookYourData offer more cost-effective alternatives.
To ensure deliverability and maintain your sender reputation, run your list through validation services such as ZeroBounce. This minimizes bounce rates and avoids penalties from platforms like HubSpot, which enforce strict bounce rate limits.
3. Craft Active, Compelling Content
B2B email marketing content that educates your prospects about how you can solve their problems is the core of email marketing. This is the essence of B2B brand storytelling: Prospects are the hero of the story and will let you be their guide if you demonstrate that you understand their problems. Don’t lead with products, services, features and benefits.
Give your top ICP something instead of asking for something. Offer resources that encourage engagement, such as guides, webinar invitations, case studies, and relevant blog posts. Don’t send fluffy, top-of-funnel content or newsletters that ramble on about your business. Videos can triple your click-through rates compared to other content types.
Include an offer: a clear, compelling call-to-action (CTA) that encourages recipients to take the next step. It should be something better than “request a free consultation” or “get a demo,” which they may want later but not as a starting point.
4. Optimize Subject Lines & Preview Text
Your subject line and preview text are crucial for grabbing attention and boosting open rates. It could be argued that this is the most important part of the entire email since without a subject line that gets your recipient to open it, the rest is like that tree that falls in a forest, unheard.
In B2B email marketing, subject lines and preview text need to be concise, engaging, positive and relevant to the recipient’s problems. For guidance, consider a formula proven over the past 100 years that combines appealing to the self-interest of prospects, sharing news, stimulating curiosity, and communicating that there’s a quick and easy way to solving problems while creating a sense of urgency.
5. Manage Expectations & Follow Up
B2B email marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Initial prospecting emails typically achieve open rates between 10% to 20%, and it’s common to receive few responses at first. While knowing 80% to 90% of recipients won’t open your email can be discouraging, persistence is key so follow up with recipients who click on your emails or open them multiple times. Note: If you see that someone has clicked on every link in the email, it’s likely that automated software opened it to check for viruses and phishing scams.
Personalized follow-up emails and calls can significantly enhance engagement and conversion rates but limit your follow-up attempts to no more than three. Keep them on your B2B email marketing list so that the next email may prompt them to contact you. Sometimes an email campaign gets a response months after it was sent because it was the right message at the wrong time.
While digital communication is prevalent, traditional direct mail can complement your B2B email marketing campaigns. With some audiences, a well-crafted direct mail piece can garner more attention than an email, making it an effective tool for reaching your audience in a different format and reinforcing your message.
B2B Marketing Email Campaigns That Work
When it’s done well, B2B email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective outbound methods for generating demand by connecting you to high-quality leads who aren’t actively searching for your solutions.
Anyone who tells you otherwise likely didn’t put the right level of effort into their campaigns. Some just send a few emails, get disappointed, and abandon the effort.
By day, Sean is a B2B marketing strategist, educating small and mid-sized businesses on how to use marketing to fuel their growth; by night, he is a historic bar enthusiast. Connect with Sean Parnell:
And, shockingly, one of the trends involves (over)using AI.
The Gist
Tab concerns. Apple and Yahoo’s tab additions may alter email visibility and engagement, impacting marketers’ strategies and consumer interaction.
AI previews.Automated summaries threaten email marketing efforts, undermining carefully crafted preview text and brand messaging.
Diluted branding.AI-generated summaries may push content below the fold, weakening brand voice and potentially introducing inaccuracies.
Marketers have reasons to be concerned by the upcoming inbox changes that were announced by Apple on June 10 and Yahoo on June 11. Those changes entail Apple adding tabs to Apple Mail, and both Apple and Yahoo adding AI-generated summaries to emails.
Let’s talk in more detail about each and what the concerns are.
The Addition of Tabs
Ten years after Google pioneered tabs, and many years after Microsoft and Yahoo adopted them, Apple has finally followed suit. Expect to see tabs in future versions of Apple Mail. All of the major inbox providers use slightly different tabs from one another. Apple Mail’s four tabs will be Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions.
Apple’s WWDC 2024 on June 10, 2024
You might be wondering why this is a concern. And regular readers of my CMSWire columns may recall I wrote an article marking the 10-year anniversary of Gmail Tabs, where I concluded by saying that the “Promotions tab isn’t worth fussing about.”
So, what’s changed?
Well, in that same article, I talk about how Gmail has been automatically applying Email Annotations to some commercial emails in the Promotions Tab that don’t include that coding. Essentially, Gmail has been hijacking the code of marketers’ emails to achieve its own goals, which presumably includes making their in-line ads less distinguishable from the emails surrounding them.
Google calls it Automatic Extraction. This year, they’ve become much more aggressive in applying it. The higher frequency of use has also made it evident that Automatic Extraction routinely degrades the email experience crafted by brands, creating disconnects between their subject line and the preview content imposed by Gmail. In some cases, legal questions around misrepresentation and false advertising are being raised, with Gmail occasionally pulling discount amounts from disclaimers at the bottom of emails and promoting them in the preview content, falsely asserting that it’s the featured discount in the email.
I have zero concerns about inbox providers creating Promotions tabs. Neither do I mind them using the Promotions tab as a venue to display ads, even placing them in-line among emails. That’s a reasonable way to generate revenue for their inbox business.
However, putting marketers’ emails in a different tab where the preview content of their emails is changed without their consent in ways that they would never do to personal emails is a serious problem. I’m glad to see Apple follow Google’s lead on tabs, but I hope they won’t follow their lead on changing marketers’ email content.
AI-Generated Previews & Summaries
The other big change that’s coming is the addition of generative AI-powered previews and summaries for both Apple and Yahoo.
In the case of Apple, they’ll be replacing preview text of emails with a generative AI-written preview. All of the examples shown were personal, but presumably this will be applied to commercial emails, too. It’s unclear if this functionality will be on by default, or if it can be turned off by users.
Apple’s WWDC 2024 on June 10, 2024
And once you’ve opened an email, Apple will give you the option to have generative AI summarize the email with the tap of the Summarize button.
Apple’s WWDC 2024 on June 10, 2024
In what Yahoo Mail is calling “one of the most significant updates to its desktop experience in nearly a decade,” they’ve streamlined their user interface and added generative AI previews and summaries. Both appear to be on by default, and it’s unclear if they can be turned off.
The AI preview is similar to Apple’s, which again replaces the typical preview text that’s pulled from the email’s body content. However, unlike Apple’s AI summary, Yahoo’s appears to be done automatically.
The other difference is that Yahoo’s summary appears as a series of bulleted items, rather than a paragraph-style summary. It will also include proposed actions, tasks, or responses needed, according to Yahoo.
Yahoo press release on June 11, 2024
The concern with AI previews is that they undo marketers’ preview text optimization efforts. While it’s true that most personal emails aren’t written by communication experts and therefore have less helpful preview text, that’s not the case with marketing emails.
The concern with AI summaries is similar, especially if they’re applied automatically to marketing emails. While some marketing emails can be long, when that’s the case, it’s almost always because the email is composed of many content blocks about multiple subjects. AI summaries are unlikely to do that justice. Indeed, given how little actual text is in many marketing emails, the summary may largely reword the marketing text, potentially introducing inaccuracies in the process.
Regardless of how good the AI engine summary is, the summary will have two negative effects on marketers:
It will push more of the email’s content below the fold.
It will dilute the brand’s voice and filter its message.
Inconsistent implementations of dark mode, plus other rendering inconsistencies.
A deliverability requirement that brands only send to engaged subscribers, while some inbox providers block senders’ visibility into opens, the most frequent sign of engagement.
Considering all of the helpful advancements that inbox providers could agree on, it’s unfortunate that what they seem to agree on is that preview text should be overwritten and body copy filtered and summarized by AI — particularly, it appears, if the message is commercial. Put another way, it seems the problem they’re trying to solve is that people are writing the emails.
Strategies for Achieving Higher Conversions and Better ROI
No matter how you plan your email marketing strategy, the goal is always the same– driving results.
The only way to know the effectiveness of your strategy is by measuring your conversion rates. They are paramount for achieving the results you want while nurturing a strong community.
Driving sales and revenue are the insights that impact the bottom line of your marketing strategy. They tell you if you are making an impact on your audience and inspiring action.
If you want to understand how to master conversion rates and optimize them to your needs, here are some of the best practices and real case studies that will help you stay on top of the game.
Email marketing conversion rates are the direct indicator of your influence on your audience.
They help you understand the percentage of your audience engaging with your content and ultimately being driven to take action — whether that is making a purchase, downloading a PDF, or using a discount code.
Once you optimize this element, you can gauge your campaigns effectively and achieve your desired results.
For example, you can track the number of clicks, impressions, and conversions generated by your campaigns. You can also track the cost per click (CPC), cost per impression (CPM), and return on investment (ROI) of your campaigns.
What Are Email Marketing Conversion Rates?
Say you’re running an email campaign to showcase your new digital product. The conversion rate will show you the percentage of people who not only clicked on that product link in your email but also went ahead and bought it.
A high conversion rate signals that your content resonates with your audience, your Call-to-Action (CTA) is driving results, and your campaign is casting spells of success left and right!
Importance of Tracking and Analysing Conversion Rates in Email Marketing
Tracking and analysing conversion rates in email marketing form the bedrock of success.
Here are five reasons why these are not mere numbers but indispensable metrics that hold the power to optimize your marketing strategy:
Performance Evaluation: At the heart of every email campaign is the desire to see results. By understanding which aspects of your emails contribute to higher conversion rates, you can optimize your content, design, calls-to-action, and targeting to improve your campaign’s performance.
Optimization Opportunities: When you analyse your conversion rates you can identify pain points and areas for optimization. Constant iteration is the key to growth and your conversation rates will point to the aspects where you are lagging.
Return on Investment (ROI): The effort and time you invest in your marketing campaigns should translate into a measurable ROI. This is the metric that tells you how effective your work has been.
Segment and Target: Personalization is the key to winning people. Analyse different segments of your email list to understand specific audience preferences. In doing this, your campaigns will resonate with your audience on a personal level and induce higher conversion rates.
Test and Iterate: By conducting A/B tests and experimenting with your subject lines, CTAs, or content, you can pinpoint what resonates best with your audience. Constant iteration and testing allows you to produce highly refined content and enhance campaign performance.
Understanding Average Email Marketing Conversion Rates
Average email marketing conversion rates provide insights into building successful email campaigns. By analysing these rates, businesses can optimize their strategies and achieve better results.
These are the benchmark metrics that reveal the average conversion rates across different niches. This empowers you to fine-tune your strategies, optimize your content, and achieve better results in engaging and persuading your audience.
Factors That Influence Average Conversion Rates
From Sender Reputation to your landing page, many factors dictate your conversion rate. Here are some of the five factors that you can work on starting today:
Call-to-Action (CTA): A clear and compelling CTA can work wonders. This is what inspires people to take action. Example – Sunlighter’s CTA for referrals.
Email Design and Layout: First impressions matter, and your email design can make or break it. Your email layout will enhance your subscribers’ experience and boost interaction. Example – Milk Road’s UI
Personalization and Segmentation: Generic emails are a thing of the past. Successful marketing is not about selling products– it’s about seeing and understanding people and embracing their needs.
That’s why personalized emails that address people by their names will garner a stronger community.
Timing and Frequency: The right timing can make all the difference. Avoid overwhelming your subscribers with excessive emails to yield better results. This is where you can set a schedule for yourself. Example – “5-Bullet Friday” by Tim Ferriss is a weekly email newsletter where he shares five handpicked recommendations related to tools, books, articles, gadgets, and more that he’s found valuable.
Why Trust me: I earned my audience’s trust by regularly sharing a video series called Half Baked on Instagram every Saturday, which received 27,683 views back in 2020. The audience became familiar with the content and eagerly awaited its release at 8 PM each Saturday.
Reputation and Trustworthiness: Trust is the currency of email marketing. Being transparent with your content and thoughts will make you more relatable to your audience and build a sense of trust. Example- Home screen’s home page.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Techniques
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of improving the conversion rates of your email campaigns. The goal is to make an impact on people and build trust. Building credibility takes a long time, but when done right, it has a high ROI.
Five effective CRO techniques to enhance your email marketing conversion rates:
A/B Testing: Experiment with elements like subject lines, CTA buttons, layout, and images to test what your audience loves the most about your emails. Test-iterate-repeat.
Clear and Compelling CTAs: Your CTA will guide the subscribers to take action. It has to be concise and persuasive which builds transparency.
Example – “I’d love to hear from you. What are you building right now and what are you struggling with? Reply to this email, I’d love to know!”
Mobile Optimization: Most people check their emails on their phones. Mobile-responsive emails will cater to their needs. With beehiiv, you can design your emails for PC and mobile with the same ease.
Landing Page Optimization: Create relevant and optimized landing pages that align with the email content and make it easy for the readers to say “yes”.
Use of Visuals: Incorporate relevant images and videos to make the email content more engaging and impactful. A balance of text and visuals is necessary.
Benchmarks and Industry Standards for Average Conversion Rates
Industries with direct sales and immediate purchase opportunities, such as e-commerce and retail, boast higher average conversion rates. Customers in these sectors often make a purchase, leading to quicker actions and higher conversions.
While industries focusing on lead generation may experience lower conversion rates. The desired action in these cases involves a more extensive decision-making process, resulting in a longer sales funnel.
Take a look at the average conversion rates we noticed at beehiiv in 2023:
Key Metrics for Evaluating Email Marketing Conversion Rates
Thankfully, tracking the performance of email marketing is fairly straightforward. The majority of email marketing services come equipped with built-in analytics tools that enable you to monitor and comprehend the effectiveness of your email campaigns.
By measuring key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, you gain valuable insights into what is effective, and what is not, and, most crucially, how to refine your future emails for better results.
Click-Through Rates (CTR) And Its Relationship to Conversion Rates
Click-through rate (CTR) is calculated by dividing the number of unique clicks by the number of delivered emails and multiplying it by 100.
It is closely related to conversion rates because it signifies the initial interest and interaction of your subscribers with the email campaign. A higher CTR indicates that more readers found the email content compelling and took the next step by clicking on the CTA or link.
This active engagement is a crucial precursor to achieving conversions.
Open Rates and Their Impact on Conversion Rates
Open rates measure the percentage of subscribers who opened an email compared to the total number of delivered emails. Open rates are influenced by:
Subject lines
Sender name
Preview text
While open rates indicate that the email caught the recipient’s attention enough to open it, they do not directly correlate with conversions. Some subscribers might open an email out of curiosity or interest but not proceed with the desired action. When the open rate is combined with KPIs like CTR, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of email campaign performance.
The relationship between open rates and conversion rates lies in the recipient’s initial interest and engagement. A well-crafted subject line and compelling email content can entice recipients to open the email and explore further. Subsequently, the content’s relevancy and the effectiveness of the CTA play a crucial role in driving recipients toward taking the desired action and achieving conversions.
How To Determine Conversion Rates in Email Marketing
With email platforms like beehiiv, you don’t need to calculate your campaign conversion rates as you can easily get the analytics report which shows you the performance, sources, etc.
beehiiv’s analytics go beyond simple numbers. You can dig deeper into the sources of your conversions, understanding which emails or segments are driving the most significant results. This empowers you to optimize your content and targeting, tailoring your campaigns for maximum impact.
Calculation Formula for Conversion Rates
Conversion rate is the percentage of subscribers who either complete the desired action or become customers, depending on your conversion goal.
Conversion Rate (%) = x number of signups or purchases / x number of Delivered Emails X 100
To calculate the conversion rate, follow these steps:
Track and count the number of recipients who completed the desired action (e.g., signed up, made a purchase) as a result of the email campaign. This number will be the numerator in the formula.
Calculate the total number of delivered emails. This includes emails that were not bounced or marked as spam. This number will be the denominator in the formula.
For example, if an email campaign resulted in 200 signups and there were 10,000 delivered emails, the conversion rate would be:
Conversion Rate (%) = (200 / 10,000) * 100 = 2%
This means that the email campaign achieved a 2% conversion rate, with 2% of recipients completing the desired action of signing up.
Tracking Conversions and Attributing Them To Specific Email Campaigns
Tracking conversions is a crucial aspect of email marketing to measure the effectiveness of campaigns and understand audience behaviour. To track conversions and attribute them to specific email campaigns, you can use specialized tools and techniques:
Unique URLs or UTM Parameters: Create unique URLs or add UTM parameters to the links in your email campaigns. These parameters help identify the source of traffic and track conversions from specific emails.
Conversion Tracking Pixels: Use tracking pixels or codes placed on the conversion page (e.g., thank you page after signing up). When your potential subscribers reach this page after clicking the CTA, the pixel fires and the conversion is recorded.
ESP: Your ESP will help you with insights and analytics by giving you an in-depth look into the actions taken by people on your email. Using a good emailing platform can not only affect your conversion rates but also your deliverability– so that you don’t end up in your subscribers’ spam folders!
Tools and Software for Measuring Conversion Rates
As the times have changed, you don’t have to worry about manually tracking your open rates or checking your web views. There are so many tools out there that can help you measure your conversion rates without any hassle, but these two are the best:
Google Analytics: Not only is google analytics free, but is also the top tool that people use to get detailed insights on their campaign performances.
beehiiv: Your emailing and analytical partner. With beehiiv you can track your performance, automate your campaigns and get 3D analytics that help you level up your marketing strategy.
Strategies for Improving Conversion Rates in Email Marketing
There are many ways to improve your email marketing strategy and some of them can be as simple as making changes to the way you write your subject lines. These strategies work because they are grounded in understanding and catering to the needs of your audience.
Your subject lines and CTAs are the connections you build with your readers at first glance.
Crafting Compelling Subject Lines and Email Content
The first step in building your email list is getting people to subscribe to your newsletter. The next step in that ladder is them opening your emails. Your subject line is what they see first to help them determine whether the email is worth their time and interest.
They are the gateway to engagement. Approximately 47% of users open emails based on the subject line. Craft compelling subject lines that pique curiosity and drive recipients to open your email. This will increase your email open rates.
To Create Subject Lines That Truly Stand Out, Consider the Following Tips:
Be clear and concise: Keep your subject lines concise and to the point. Avoid being vague or misleading, as your subscribers might feel deceived and mark your emails as spam.
Personalization: The psychology behind mentioning someone’s name in an email is rooted in a cognitive bias known as the “name-personalization effect.” This effect is a result of the brain’s automatic attention to self-relevant information, which is part of our natural social cognition.
Create a sense of urgency: Incorporate words that create a sense of urgency or exclusivity to encourage immediate action. The best example of this is “limited-time deal” offers that brands push forward during their sales.
Pique curiosity: Spark curiosity by using intriguing questions or teasing snippets of valuable content. When you give people a sneak peek into your content, it channels them to open your email and get the details.
Emphasize benefits: Highlight the benefits or value of opening the email. Ask yourself– “What value are my readers going to get after reading my mail?” and tell them about the same.
A/B testing and Optimization
A/B testing is a technique that allows you to experiment with different variations of your emails and subject lines to determine which performs best.
By splitting your email list into two groups and sending different versions of your subject lines or email content to each, you can assess which version yields higher engagement and conversion rates.
Here’s how to conduct effective A/B testing:
Choose one variable: Focus on testing one element at a time to accurately measure its impact. For example, test different subject lines while keeping the email content the same.
Segment your list: Divide your email list into two equal segments randomly.
Test and analyse: Send version A to one segment and version B to the other. Monitor the results and analyse the performance of each variant.
Implement the best-performing version: Based on the results, choose the winning version and implement it in your future campaigns.
Utilizing Persuasive Copywriting Techniques
Compelling email content is the driving force behind conversions. Persuasive copywriting techniques help influence recipients’ decisions and prompt them to take the desired action.
Here are some persuasive copywriting tips for email content:
Know your audience: Understand your target audience’s pain points, desires, and motivations. Tailor your content to resonate with their needs.
Address benefits not features: Communicate how your product or service benefits your audience and solves their problems. The more niche it is, the better. Example – A newsletter for Product Managers– you don’t have to have 100k subscribers, even 10k people can build a strong community.
Use storytelling: Weave engaging stories that connect emotionally with readers and make your message memorable. It could be real-life incidents or pop-culture inspired.
Write action-oriented CTAs: Use strong and clear calls-to-action that encourage your subscribers to act immediately.
Use power words: Incorporate powerful words that evoke emotions and captivate attention. Keep editing your email copy until you feel satisfied. When you feel like you’re done, go through your copy as a reader to get a different perspective.
Real-World Examples of High-Converting Emails
From big businesses like Airbnb and Uber to creators, high converting emails are not that difficult to figure out, all that it takes is an understanding of consumer psychology.
Here’s a breakdown of one of the best emails by Michael Houck:
Talking about the Top 1% (who doesn’t want to be there?) and sharing his key learnings from people like Ben Horowitz and Matt Mochary.
Mentioning the new things he has been working on, which keeps his subscribers eager to know more.
Giving social proof. “Promote your startup to 14000+ founders”
Reading time – 5 mins. He’s not asking for a lot of commitment from me, it is an easy ask.
Here’s how Superhuman AI did the same!
Subscriber count doesn’t always determine success. In specific niches, like a private equity newsletter with 2,000 senior manager readers, the value of the audience matters more. Even with a smaller subscriber base, sponsors may pay generously for ads as a result of the highly targeted audience.
Mastering writing is akin to exercising—results don’t come overnight. Quantity leads to quality and consistent action is key. It wasn’t easy at the start, but it is all about putting in more reps. Success comes from learning through continuous practice and experimentation.
Tracking and Analysing Email Marketing Conversion Rates
Your first campaign might not give you the best results and that’s a part of the process. You need to write what people want to read. Having an audience-first approach is what always works.
The more you experiment, the better understanding you will get out of your audience’s expectations. When you realize what works, double down on that!
You can start by trying out different content types, themes, or storytelling approaches that consistently capture your audience’s attention. Continuously adapting and optimizing based on your learnings leads to a stronger alignment between your email content and your audience’s desires.
Regularly analyse these performance metrics and make data-driven improvements to your email campaigns:
Click-Through Rate (CTR): Track the percentage of recipients who clicked on the links or CTAs in the email.
Open Rate: Monitor the percentage of recipients who opened the email.
Bounce Rate: Keep an eye on the percentage of emails that were not successfully delivered due to invalid email addresses or other issues.
Unsubscribe Rate: Monitor the percentage of recipients who opted out of your email list.Test different subject lines, CTAs, content, and design elements to identify what resonates best with your audience.
Best Practices for Achieving Higher Conversion Rates in Email Marketing
Achieving higher conversion rates is not rocket science, rather it is just about three main things:
1. Building a Responsive Email List
A responsive list consists of engaged subscribers who are genuinely interested in your content, products, or services. Here are some tips to build and maintain a responsive email list:
a. Use double opt-in: Implement a double opt-in process to confirm subscribers’ interest and ensure they willingly subscribe to your emails.
b. Offer valuable incentives: Provide valuable incentives such as exclusive content, discounts, or free resources to encourage sign-ups.
e. Regularly clean and update your list: Remove inactive or unengaged subscribers to maintain list quality and improve deliverability rates.
2. Email Segmentation and Targeting Strategies
Segmenting your email list allows you to deliver targeted messages tailored to specific groups. This also gives you insights on what you need to focus more on and who your most engaged subscribers are.
This level of personalization not only increases the relevance of your emails but also enhances engagement and conversion rates. It allows you to speak directly to the interests and pain points of each segment, making your communications more meaningful and effective.
Here’s how to use email segmentation effectively:
a. Demographic segmentation: Divide your list based on demographic data such as age, gender, location, or job title.
b. Behavioural segmentation: Segment subscribers based on their interactions with your emails, website, or previous purchases.
c. Interest-based segmentation: Group subscribers with similar interests or preferences to deliver content that aligns with their needs.
d. Buyer journey segmentation: Tailor emails based on where subscribers are in the buyers’ journey to nurture leads effectively.
3. Deliverability and Email Reputation Management
Ensuring your emails reach the recipients’ inboxes and avoiding the spam folder is crucial for email marketing success. Follow these practices to maintain a positive email reputation:
a. Authenticate your emails: Use DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to authenticate your emails and prove their legitimacy.
b. Monitor engagement metrics: Keep a close eye on open rates, click-through rates, and spam complaints to measure email engagement.
c. Avoid spam traps: Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive and invalid email addresses that may become spam traps.
d. Provide clear unsubscribe options: Make it easy for subscribers to opt-out if they wish, as this can reduce the likelihood of spam and also boost your deliverability.
e. Comply with anti-spam laws: Familiarize yourself with anti-spam regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR to ensure compliance.
Lessons Learned From Successful Conversion Rate Optimization Strategies
The best way to build an audience through email marketing is by a blend of sharing what you know best and what people won’t find anywhere else.
This connection forms the foundation upon which you can build lasting relationships and foster trust. Sharing your specialized knowledge not only positions you as a credible source but also showcases your commitment to providing real value to your audience.
Here are three key takeaways from this blog that you can put into action starting today:
Personalization matters: Personalized emails that cater to individual interests and preferences drive higher engagement and conversions.
A/B testing is key: Continuously test different elements in your emails to discover what resonates best with your audience.
Relevancy increases conversions: Sending targeted and relevant content based on segmentation leads to improved conversion rates.
Your emailing platform can make or break the game, choosing beehiiv will not only help you dodge the spam folders of your subscribers but also give you support in case you feel stuck.
Whether it’s from their favourite store, a service they use or perhaps a local non-profit they follow, people are likely being sent multiple email marketing messages every day.
And as one of the most popular forms of marketing, email marketing can be highly effective in generating sales and increasing brand engagement.
But not every email is created equal. To entice someone to click on your email and then engage, you’ll need to be intentional with its content and design. According to the communications and marketing leaders of Forbes Communications Council, implementing at least one of the following nine elements is a good place to start. Below are some of the most innovative email marketing campaigns these experts have experienced or seen, and why they think the inclusion of these elements was such an effective approach.
1. Digestible Summaries With In-Depth Options
The best email marketing campaign I’ve ever seen was by two separate companies that had their whole business model built around newsletters. They took the news in a particular industry for the day and transformed it into a list of headlines that were categorized vertically. They understood that useful newsletters provide digestible summaries of the market with the option to deep-dive on topics. – Alfie Dawson, Bordeaux & Burgundy
2. A Highly Personalized Experience
Stanley Black & Decker has won our household loyalty with expertly tailored emails. For example, the notes I receive are sent in the evening, written in my mother tongue (Spanish) and showcase product recommendations and imagery aligned with my love for small home projects. Meanwhile, my husband receives an entirely different email experience. This thoughtful approach keeps us deeply engaged. – Adriana Gil Miner, Iterable
3. A Seemingly Counterintuitive Theme
Patagonia launched a campaign, “Don’t Buy This Jacket,” which encouraged customers to think twice before buying another jacket. It was focused on environmental responsibility and mindful purchasing. The result wasn’t massive sales, but it received positive media coverage and brand awareness. Brilliant! – Cade Collister, Metova
4. Effective AI Implementation
I’ve received personalized videos thanks to AI. I had a brand send me a personalized lead generation email, which allowed me to schedule a consultation. When I scheduled the appointment, a personalized video gave me a step-by-step process to prepare for the video appointment. Then, after the video, it gave me a recap and a “thank you.” – Ken Louie, MetroPlusHealth
5. Ongoing Tasks That Prompt User Engagement
One good example is a multi-week email sequence that presented a new product task for customers to complete each week. The progression gently nudged users from onboarding to feature exploration to product stickiness. Tasks and sequencing were based on usage data from existing satisfied customers, and the goal was reducing time to value—a simple concept based on a deep understanding of customer behaviour and value. – Rekha Thomas, Path Forward Marketing LLC
6. The ‘Nine-Word Email’
The most effective email campaigns are the ones that, ironically, look like normal emails with no design. The nine-word email campaign mimics the phrasing of an executive, so it works extremely well in gaining responses from decision makers. In addition, avoiding images creates the illusion that the email has been sent in a one-to-one manner rather than one-to-many, making it feel more personalized. – Patrick Ward, Formula.Monks
7. Stories Mixed With ‘Why I Need It Now’
Mixing helpful storytelling content with “why I need it now” content tends to work. Recently, I received an email with a video in it that was pretty powerful. As always, if it is not opened by a human, it doesn’t matter. Focus on personalization and the subject line—I often add the “group” in as well. It is time consuming, but at mid to end of funnel, that is where to put the time in. – Mollie Barnett, The SMART Co.
8. Free Value
The best email marketing campaigns have one thing in common: free value. They deliver information via a mini-workshop, a video series, downloadable PDFs, templates and more. When the recipient opens an email in the campaign, they not only get tremendous value at no cost but also an understanding of the particular benefit the product or service provides. – Melissa Kandel, little word studio
9. Customized Recommendations
Netflix’s recommendation emails utilize personalization that goes beyond using your name; they analyze the shows you watch and create tailored emails with suggestions you’re likely to love. This approach is effective because it adds value to every email and compels you to click. You can adopt a similar approach by tracking on-site activity or purchases and sending customized product recommendations. – Maria Amalia Rojas, Nord Comms
In the new fourth edition of my book, “Email Marketing Rules,” I include quotes from scores of experts who have impacted how I think about the email channel, as well as about marketing in general. Here, I’d like to share six of my favorite quotes along with the wisdom I see in them. In no particular order, here they are …
However, I would argue that these laws have actually protected businesses and the email channel. The truth is the law always lags consumer expectations, as well as the expectations of inbox providers in the case of anti-spam laws. And a growing gap in expectations is a growing risk to businesses in terms of customer loyalty and brand image and reputation.
This danger is most evident in the US, where the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 is still sadly in effect. In this country, merely complying with CAN-SPAM would be disastrous, leading to block listings and wholesale junking and blocking of campaigns by inbox providers. As Laura says, our subscribers expect much more from us. At a minimum, they expect us to respect their permission, both in terms of opt-ins and in terms of responding to their inactivity by eventually suppressing future emails to them.
Quality Customers and Quality Emails
“Customer loyalty is mostly about choosing the right customers.”
Where you acquire new subscribers almost predetermines whether your email program will struggle or thrive. If you acquire many of your subscribers through list purchases, poorly done list rentals, sweepstakes and other sources that are far from your business operations, then you’ll be plagued by high bounce rates, low engagement and high spam complaints.
On the other hand, if you’re gaining the vast majority of your subscribers via signups during your online or in-store checkout processes, on your website and in your app, then you will have added lots of customers to your list who are genuine fans that are predisposed to engage with your emails and buy again.
If you’re unsure how your audience acquisition sources are affecting your overall email program health, then start tagging your sources so you can track the behaviours of the subscribers that come onto your list from each one. Chances are you’ll find that one or two of your acquisition sources are responsible for the majority of your bounces, inactivity and complaints.
Too many email marketers still believe that the key to getting more conversions is to get more opens. After all, a subscriber can’t convert if they don’t open the email, they reason.
In the pursuit of high open rates, these marketers often use vague and cryptic subject lines and preview text — often defending their use as being “clever” or in service of creating a “curiosity gap.” However, these open-bait tactics only succeed in attracting curious subscribers rather than ones who are actually interested in the email’s call-to-action. Not only does this result in low click-to-open rates, but open rates eventually decline over time as subscribers end up repeatedly feeling like their time was wasted reading messages they ended up having little interest in.
In these cases, the marketer has sacrificed subscriber trust in exchange for getting additional opens that rarely drove business goals. The wiser path is to respect your subscribers’ time by using envelope content that reflects the content of the email. Long-term, this results in higher total opens, as well as more conversions and less list churn as your openers will have stronger intent.
While John was talking about campaign engagement when he said this, his sentiment can also easily be applied to marketers’ habit of pushing their way into channels that consumers prefer to use for communicating with family and friends rather than focusing on the channels like email where consumers most want to hear from brands.
Marketers: Manage Your Audiences
“The customers are the assets; not the store and not the ecommerce sites.”
Marketers too often get confused about what they’re supposed to be managing. Often, they think they should be managing product inventories. In particular, email marketers often think they should be managing email campaigns.
As Michael points out, the truth is that marketers should be managing their audiences. I certainly understand that business demands routinely drive the goals of email and other digital marketing campaigns, but the overarching focus should be on serving your audience. If you do that well — sending relevant campaigns at the right time and right cadence — then you’ll likely find that you’re also meeting your business goals.
Trim That Bloated Email Content
“When you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing.”
Everybody wants a piece of email marketing, so marketers often find themselves fending off requests from their co-workers in merchandising, operations and beyond. (It’s because of those persistent merchandisers that so many marketers think their job is managing inventory levels.) If unshielded from that, email marketers often feel pressured to include an excessive amount of content in the messages they craft, with that clutter undermining overall performance.
Given the trend toward shorter, more focused emails with fewer calls-to-action, as well as the trend toward AI-driven content, it’s more important than ever to have a curated and clear content hierarchy to guide your time-starved subscribers to the actions you most want them to take. When it comes to email content, more usually isn’t better.
Make That Next Email Better
“The strength and power of anything — whether it is a business, an individual fitness plan, or event — has its foundation in an accumulation of small, incremental improvements that all either fit together or build on each other. To sum it up: small improvement x consistency = substance.”
One of my favourite things about email marketing is that it’s a channel that’s built for iteration. It doesn’t matter so much if your last campaign wasn’t perfect, or if you made this mistake or that mistake, because chances are that you’re sending another campaign in two or three days, if not sooner. And every send is an opportunity to get a little better.
I’ve tried to bring this spirit of iteration to “Email Marketing Rules.” With each new edition, I’ve added new rules, concepts and checklists — which are both a reflection of email marketing’s growing complexity and my own personal growth as an email marketer. I hope you’ll join me on this journey of incremental improvement.
Figure 8: Amazon Comprehend – Endpoint settings
