Thursday, February 5, 2015
From Dashboards to Contact Lists: Making Metrics Count
appointment setting services
,
B2B Leads
,
B2B Mailing Lists
,
B2B telemarketing list
,
business email lists
,
contact database
,
email contact lists
,
sales leads lists
,
telemarketing services
No comments
:
While the origins of the above quote is still debatable (whether it came from Albert Einstein himself or someone else), its meaning is quite clear and it’s profoundly true in many situations including modern email marketing campaigns. As email marketers, we try to measure things in our projects by using metrics, but that’s only part of the difficult process. From our campaign dashboards to our email marketing contact lists, we have to make our metrics count, not just count them.
We rely on metrics and analytics to give us snapshots of our campaign and its components, but we’re still the ones who have to interpret, filter, and act on the picture they provide. Our campaign dashboards can only tell us how fast we’re going, how far we’ve gone, or if there’s still gas left in our campaign; it’s our task to steer the whole thing to where we want it to go as well as decide how to get there.
In addition, not all the numbers that flash on our campaign dashboards can be useful in every given time and situation. That’s why it’s also part of our jobs to know which figures to focus on during specific phases of our email campaigns. If we, for example, wanted to test how well we’ve maintained the hygiene of our targeted email leads database, we only need to consider metrics related to list quality like deliverability stats and blur out the rest.
To help you make those metrics really count, here are five valuable pieces of advice from someone who knows a thing or two about analytics in email marketing. These lessons are from Loren McDonald, VP Industry Relations down at Silverpop, who says in order to go “beyond benchmarks” and optimize your email campaigns, you need to:
1. Broaden your metrics horizon.
The typical email marketer usually only looks at the so-called “process metrics” which include open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, etc. But, to really get a more accurate picture of your campaigns, you also need to consider “output” metrics such as revenue generated, leads acquired, order volume, etc.
2. Aim to beat benchmarks.
One of the most important ideas from Loren McDonald is that being average isn’t enough. That’s why you have to strive to surpass industry averages and other relevant benchmarks. Benchmarks are useful in setting up your goals, but you shouldn’t be limited to merely attaining these levels; you have to go over and above.
3. Know & address weaknesses.
Metrics help you determine problem areas in your campaign, but they never offer ready-made solutions. As such, if you find specific issues in your project, you have to be prepared not only to find a solution to these concerns but to commit needed resources to increase the likelihood of getting them fixed.
4. Have a strategic perspective.
A lot of email marketers are highly susceptible of falling into the trapdoor of focusing too much on minute details and losing sight of the overall bigger picture. Always have a broader and longer-term view of your project and focus on details that support or affect the bigger issues.
5. Test, tweak, & track.
We’ve already repeatedly stressed out the idea of the 3 T’s of email marketing in previous blog entries, but it’s still worth mentioning this concept again to really hammer the point home in this post. Take a systematic approach at evaluating, adjusting, and monitoring your email marketing efforts and let your metrics be your guide in this pursuit.
Do you also have lessons about email campaign metrics you’d like to share?
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
When Will Marketers Learn to Segment Their Contact Lists?
appointment setting services
,
B2B Leads
,
B2B telemarketing list
,
email contact lists
,
sales leads database
,
sales leads lists
,
telemarketing company
,
telemarketing services
No comments
:
New research reveals that “a majority of email marketers are flying blind” as pointed out by a news article of the same title (as quoted) recently published on the Direct Marketing News website. As if the headline isn’t disconcerting enough, the details in the news report are even more dismal. In this blog entry, we’ll try to dissect the reported causes of such a widespread lack of email targeting and hopefully show that segmenting email campaign contact lists isn’t only necessary but very much feasible as well.
According to a Return Path study, about 55% of email marketers admit relying on inadequate or wholly-absent targeting and segmentation practices in their campaigns. The survey, as explained by George Bilbrey (Return Path’s president), polled over 300 “marketing executives” who cited a number of reasons for their targeting strategies’ shortcomings. Here are some key points that the survey respondents raised and our take on the issues.
Reasons Cited: The above-mentioned news article paints a fairly clear picture of the predicament that an overwhelming majority of email marketers face today. Surely, all marketers have to take on certain challenges in their campaigns both within the organization and the external environment. These are some of the more salient concerns that email marketers voiced out in the same Return Path study:
According to a Return Path study, about 55% of email marketers admit relying on inadequate or wholly-absent targeting and segmentation practices in their campaigns. The survey, as explained by George Bilbrey (Return Path’s president), polled over 300 “marketing executives” who cited a number of reasons for their targeting strategies’ shortcomings. Here are some key points that the survey respondents raised and our take on the issues.
Reasons Cited: The above-mentioned news article paints a fairly clear picture of the predicament that an overwhelming majority of email marketers face today. Surely, all marketers have to take on certain challenges in their campaigns both within the organization and the external environment. These are some of the more salient concerns that email marketers voiced out in the same Return Path study:
A) Lack of necessary data.
Around two-thirds of marketers surveyed say that “access to the right data is a challenge” while one-third believe they’re somewhat in the dark when it comes to analytically assessing their campaigns. Even inbox placement and deliverability metrics are inaccessible to as much as 4 out of every 10 marketers in the study.
B) Absence of competitive strategies.
Email strategies are most effective when they’re developed while taking into account the campaigns of competitors. This is why about a quarter of the respondents think competitive intelligence in email marketing has a positive effect on revenue generation. However, only 23% of the participants actively observe their competitors’ campaigns, citing their inability to commit resources such as manpower and technology as root causes.
Our Rebuttal: While the arguments raised above do hold some level of validity, we think they’re worth some serious scrutiny. Regardless of how you may view our “counterarguments,” the point we intend on hammering home is best summed up in the clichéd line: “when there’s a will, there’s a way.” And so, with that, we say:
A) Things can be simplified.
Segmentation and targeting can be accomplished with even the most rudimentary business contact database resources. You don’t need sophisticated attitudinal segmentation algorithms to carry out a targeted marketing campaign. You just have to know your prospects and customers really well to know what’s relevant or irrelevant to them.
B) There’s more than one way to spy.
Better yet, you don’t even have to spy. We came across an interesting post by Bill McCloskey discussing competitive intelligence in developing targeting, segmentation, and messaging strategies for email campaigns. “Specialized tools” do boost the results of competitive intelligence activities, but careful analysis of publicly-available data on competitors is enough to get the job done.
Conclusion: Whether you buy into the arguments we’ve raised in our rebuttal doesn’t really matter. What’s important is that facts and common sense show segmentation supports relevance which in turn ensures conversion and response. It therefore follows that segmentation positively drives campaign results. That proves our case a priori and a posteriori. With that aside, let’s go back to the question posed in the title and hope that the answer would be sooner instead of later.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
5 Ways to Triple Your Event ROI through Your Contact Database
appointment setting services
,
B2B Leads
,
B2B telemarketing list
,
email contact lists
,
sales leads database
,
sales leads lists
,
telemarketing company
,
telemarketing services
No comments
:
As with any other aspect of your marketing life, quality is always superior to quantity. Just because you want to draw a crowd in front of your exhibition or presentation doesn’t mean you can invite everyone in your email marketing contact list. Know your live event target audience first and segment your email list for highly interested and promising attendees.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)