A Dirty Little Secret

You know how important your mailing list is. You’re (hopefully) adding leads to it on a regular basis, and wow, you never thought you’d have so many prospects! The reports look good, and it’s pretty exciting seeing the list continue to grow. And it’s testament to how good you are at generating leads.

But there’s a dirty little secret about lists that’s generally ignored. It’s the dreaded Non-Responder! Everyone keeps track of Unsubscribes (at least they should since it’s mandated by the CAN-SPAM Act). That’s usually pretty easy, and they should be a small percentage of your list.

However, you need to look at your Non-Responders as well. I define these as people who never really do anything with your email. They don’t click, they don’t respond, but they don’t unsubscribe either. Maybe they open the first message, and never open one again. They’re sort of a black hole.

So what’s the deal? They signed up to get emails from you, right? Why would they suddenly decide to ignore you? It’s enough to hurt a marketer’s feelings, I tell ya!

Often, it’s easier to focus on how many new leads are coming in instead of learning from this segment of your list. And almost all emarketing statistics are about what prospects DO, not what they DON'T.

There are several things you need to consider, but the number one question to ask is "How valuable is my email marketing message?" You might think it’s great, but obviously these people don’t.

I suggest you contact these prospects and find out how you can serve them better. You’ll be amazed at what people will tell you when you just ask. By reaching out to your Non-Responders, you’ll learn how to improve your value, and get the added bonus of re-engaging these prospects with your company.

Targeted Email Messages Equal Success

Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools available today, and because it’s incredibly cost effective, it has one of the highest returns on investment. But the key to successful email marketing is making sure each message you send is personal and relevant. Do you use your prospect’s behavior to target your messages to them? If not, you're missing a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

Your sales staff doesn’t talk to each prospect in exactly the same way. They assess a potential customer, based on a number of factors, and then tailor their presentation accordingly. They also generally use a prospect ranking system to determine their purchase “readiness.” Your email marketing program should do the same thing.

The key to creating a behaviorally based email program is segmentation. Segmented email marketing messages are proven to have a higher conversion rate, and focus on quality versus quantity.

Successful segmenting means understanding the different types of customers you attract, and why. If you don’t have this information, start finding out, so the email marketing messages you send will help your customers achieve their goals. It may take time to pull all this information together, but it will be worth it.

Here are some key questions to get you started:

1. Do you have a segmentation strategy at a top level to find the areas of greatest opportunity? Are you sending the same message to someone who only gave you an email address as opposed to a prospect that asked specific questions, and filled out your entire contact form, including their phone number?

2. Do you segment your prospect list by potential value? Are you paying attention to when their purchase time frame? Have they expressed interest in a specific item? Do they need financial information?

3. Do you know what content motivated your recipients to click through? In order to gather information on your prospect’s behavior, you have to have link tracking in each of your email messages. Then you can refine future messages, providing content that is most relevant to each of your prospects.

4. Do you allow recipients options for frequency and targeting? Internet customers are increasingly selective about what they choose to receive in their Inbox. Let them tell you how often they want to hear from you, and what interests them. This provides essential information for targeting future email marketing messages.

A behaviorally targeted email marketing program is sophisticated, but remember, so are your customers. Stand out from your competition by sending prospects the information that means the most to them. They’ll love you for it in the end