Email Marketing EFFECT-iveness

Email marketing continues to evolve. Some may feel that it has become a marketing channel that was more effective before the social media revolution but quite the opposite is true. Email marketing has become even more important to organizations that take the time to use it in its most powerful manner - as a tool to engage their customers with their brand.

EXECUTE Email Marketing

One may ask, is it time to execute email marketing all together? The resounding answer is no, as this infographic illustrates, 2016 projections suggest that spending on email marketing are set to exceed $2.5 billion:

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So if the consensus is that email marketing should not be "executed" as a central part of a successful internet marketing strategy, the question then becomes how to "execute" it properly. To that end, there are several best practices that can be taken under consideration to tailor an effective and successful campaign:

• Ensure those receiving your email marketing have confirmed their subscription
• Your email marketing complies with all requirements of the CAN-SPAM act
• The coding and writing of your email avoids SPAM triggers
• Build enticing emails that encourage response and engage the consumer
• Have well conceived and fully optimized landing pages to capture conversions
• Multi-channel support has been given close attention and strategic consideration
• When devising a schedule insider frequency and timing

As with all things in marketing, tweaking and adjusting strategy generally leads to success - email marketing is no exception - with these tools in hand, the labyrinth of email marketing can be tamed and manipulated to compliment the most aggressive strategy. Remember that the key is to engage the recipient with each an every component of your internet marketing strategy and, over time, the relationship will yield the desired results.

Cross-CHANNEL Surfing

A recent study by Forrester that sought to track online transactions found that less than 1% could be tracked back to social networks. Although the study did not include small businesses, and generally social media is found to have a more profound impact on small businesses, it brings up an important topic in today's world, which is the effectiveness and long-term impact of cross-channel marketing.

CHANNEL Your Energy

So what is Cross-Channel Marketing? Cross-channel marketing is many times mistakenly used interchangeably with multi-channel marketing. Multi-channel marketing is the idea that surrounds traditional campaign thinking - providing a consistent message across different type of platforms. Cross-channel marketing places the emphasis on the consumer, and follows them across the different channels and providing them with the information and if executed properly, will provide a customer service experience that will retain their loyalty - this new marketing paradigm is illustrated below:

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Please note that this diagram depicts only one arrow, and it caries the consumer across all available channels - this is key to cross-channel marketing. The consumer cannot be controlled, but rather it is necessary to ensure that all channels are available to be an active participant in the user experience, providing a unique and genuine experience that is tailored to an individual customers spontaneous needs and desire to interact with your brand or company.

So… What's Your Favorite CHANNEL?

One of the foundations of cross-channel marketing is understanding that your customers may prefer different channels at different times in their relationship with your brand. The initial purchase or contact may be at a brick-and-motor location or event, but as a relationship develops the focus may turn swiftly to eCommerce. Down the road, social media interaction may lead a consumer back to a purchase after a hiatus of activity. The important concept to understand is that customers will prefer different channels at different times in their relationship with an organization. Therefore it is essential to tailor each interaction based on that relationship.

CHANNEL the Power of Social Media

So where does social media fit into this cross-channel equation? Caroline Watts - a marketing manager at ReTargeter - feels social media's primary focus as a channel should be directed at building trust:

You can use social media to make your brand appear more human and build trust. You can also take advantage of the power of the social graph by making it easy for your users to share your brand content with their friends.  After all, people trust their friends more than they trust any brand.  Source

It is necessary to make your organization and brand accessible to your consumers no matter which channel they prefer - and preference really is the key. Just as consumers will flip channels in their living rooms from one show to the next, so to will they flip channels in their communication habits with your brand, understanding that dynamic and having a strategy in place to support this habit is essential to sound marketing moving forward.

Indicating Performance is the KEY

If you understand the concept that a "square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square" then the ability to comprehend the difference between KPI and metrics are well within your grasp. But before we can hold a conversation about KPI vs. metrics, there needs to be an answer to the question as to "why" this is important.

In marketing, understanding the "why" is many times more important than the actual data collection and analysis. If you do not understand "why" you are doing something, then how can you possibly understand how to use the data after it has been collected? This issue exists in every organization and is extremely prevalent with regards to small business owners. Many times marketers or business owners enter into a contracted service because of buzzwords and felling the need to do something simply for the sake of doing it. What is necessary however is understanding "why" KPI is important and a commitment to learning best practices. So let us take this opportunity to learn the difference between KPI and metrics and "why" they are important for your business or organization.

What is the Difference?

The first concept that is critical to understanding the difference between a Key Performance Indicator and a metric is that a KPI is a metric, but a metric is not necessarily a KPI. But how do you correctly  identify a Key Performance Indicator? According to Dennis Mortensen you can identify a KPI by using the following characteristics:

1. Echos Organizational Goals
2. Decided by Management
3. Provides Context
4. Creates Meaning
5. Derived from Reliable Data
6. Easy to Interrupt
7. Leads to Action

Now that the correct characteristics have been correctly identified, we must begin to think of what measurable data will be sought to create our Key Performance Indicators. There a literally hundreds of types of data that can be used as an evaluation measure but some of the available choices that will be consistent over most types of organizations will be the following:

• Raw Statistics  - [#]
• Progress Completion Status - [%]
• Change in Direction - [%]

Erica Olsen reminds us that true KPI measures do no stand alone as numbers on a corporate report. There must be relevancy as well as framed in regards to both the goals of the organization as well as the actions they are currently focused on to achieve those goals. It is also important to correctly identify the best source of data for each KPI as well as establishing a frequency of reporting to correctly monitor progress.

Next KEY Step
Once KPI has been correctly identified, sourced and reported, it is imperative to to use them as foundation for evaluating the success of your online marketing efforts. As all things with marketing, the primary goal is to achieve the fundamental vision of the organization. Once those strategies and efforts are in line, the other contributing factors can be established. Those efforts include:

• Devising a Strategy
• Identifying Objectives
• Establishing Critical Success Factors
• Formulating Key Action Initiatives

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When holding a discussion regarding Key Performance Indicators it is critical to understand that not only is KPI is important to your business or organization but "why" it is important to your business or organization. If done correctly, Key Performance Indicators can expose new growth opportunities and align your marketing efforts to work in tandem to not only evaluate effectiveness but also be the KEY to a sound and unified online marketing strategy.