by Will Rotondi
[email protected]
For a task as simple as sending emails to your prospects, there are a few important questions to ask yourself:
- Am I targeting the right people?
- Am I sending my messages at the best time?
- Are my subject lines grabbing the recipients’ attention?
- Is my content relevant?
To answer them, it’s important not only to consider the amount of direct responses you receive, but also electronic engagement statistics.
MailChimp’s research says that, depending on the industry, intriguing subject lines will generate open rates from 13-25%, while relevant content yields click rates from 1.28-5.45%.
New clients with Rally are considered to be doing well when they see email open rates from 15-20%, and click rates from 1-4%, regardless of the industry.
But what happens when results fall beneath these averages? Does it mean that we’ve failed?
I don’t think so. We’ve had campaigns that surpassed our “good” statistics yet yielded no immediate responses, while lower percentages saw the opposite result. So, numbers alone cannot tell us everything. What they can do is hint at where part of the process needs to be improved, including subject lines, content, or the time of day that an email is sent. They can hint at when prospects simply aren’t interested or have the time. They can hint at when it’s time to add more records to a contact list because the current database has grown old. They can hint at who to focus our marketing efforts on.
One key metric that is the least nebulous is the unsubscribe rate. If prospects are unsubscribing at a high volume (1.5% or above per email) then we know it’s time to change course. Either the current database needs to be emailed less, or it needs new prospects (or both).
Above all, email marketing is continuously evolving. Statistics can help point you in the right direction, but it’s the process of nurturing content and personalized email follow-up that will drive more conversations.
Not everyone wants banana bread today, just like not everyone wants your services right now.
But when you offer it consistently, and let your prospects know that it’s there (in this instance, a hungry Rally office staff), you’ll have a greater chance of grabbing their attention at the right time.
It also goes well with water and a good read. *See our founder Mike Cannon’s book, The Selling Machine, pictured above. Email me for a free copy.
