Last year we shared with you the importance of electronic direct mail (EDMs) and how email direct marketing as a strategy is often overlooked. Obviously, you all listened to us and now have EDMs in your 2024 marketing strategy, right?
Whilst some still have a way to go in this space, for those who have embraced the EDM, how is it going so far? Are you unsure about when to share? Unsure what content to include, or if it will resonate with your audience? What happens after you send it? If and when do you follow up? And, perhaps most important – what do your results and data mean, and how can you use them to improve? Here’s where we can help.
It’s all in the timing (mostly)
The timing of your EDM campaigns is somewhat dependent on how often your target audience expects and wants to hear from you. One of the most popular EDM platforms, Campaign Monitor, recommends that an average open rate should be between 17-28%, and the average click-through rate (CTR) should be 2.6% to achieve an engaged email audience.
Where are you currently sitting?
If your monthly EDMs aren’t hitting this benchmark, it’s time to take a closer look at your content, which stories are getting clicks, and provide more stories like those. Perhaps consider changing your EDM schedule to either more or less frequent. You might like to consider monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly distribution. If you’ve noticed a drop in opens on recent EDMs, this might be your audience’s way of telling you they’re hearing from you too much and you’re losing their interest. If your open rate and CTR are sitting high on that benchmark (or beyond!) then your emails are exactly what your audience is looking for. Keep going.
Make your CTR your mate – check your data
You can lead your audience to your content, but if you can’t engage them to take your desired action…time to look more closely at your CTR.
The industry benchmarks a successful CTR between 2-5% for each email sent. If your CTR is lower than this benchmark, but you have a successful open rate, it suggests that your audience is engaged with your brand enough to open the email, but the content within either isn’t engaging enough to want to know more, or they are getting all they need from the email.
It’s a delicate balance between including just enough content to engage audiences without revealing too much. Remember, you want to give the topline information (key points) of your information so you can lead your audience to your website/social media channel/contact information to get all the details.
For example, our Insides of Threesides monthly EDM is sent to over 800 subscribers, and our average CTR for the last six months was 4.9%. Understanding what our audience wants to see from us helps us develop relevant content for each edition. We know engagement usually drops in December due to the holiday season, so our December edition features highlights from our end-of-year activities, which requires no click-through.
Whatever you do, keep a close eye on your EDM results data, or let us do it for you and make recommendations on how you can get the most out of this marketing tactic.
Get trigger happy with your emails
Email triggers allow you to provide your audience with the most relevant content possible for them, at the most appropriate time in their engagement with your business.
So how do they work?
These emails are automated – that is, they’re set up to be automatically delivered when a specific step is taken on an individual’s journey with your business. For example, when you receive a new subscriber, an automated email will personally welcome them, or when a client books a service with you, an automated email reminds them with a confirmation direct to their inbox. The success of a client’s email journey with you is based on the personalisation of the pre-scheduled triggers.
You’ve more than likely experienced triggered email without realising it. Maybe you purchased a new jacket and gave your email address to the store, then later that day you received a welcome email offering you a discount on a future purchase. Then a week later you received another email asking you to rate your new jacket. Not only does the store stay at the front of your mind, but you have a personal investment to purchase from the store again to redeem your discount.
Personalised automated emails can include anything from ‘welcome’ to ‘we haven’t heard from you in a while’ and ‘thank you for all the years of working with us’. The more personal the better to make your audience appreciate your dedication to them (even if you set up the email triggers months prior).
EDM success
The Insides of Threesides EDM has been distributed to our audience since 2010! In that time we have sent over 100 EDMs and have perfected the mix of industry insights, newsworthy updates from clients and marketing knowledge from our experts to engage our audience month after month.
Recent stories from Insides of Threesides that have driven high engagement include I agree, ChatGPT DOES write like s**t an opinion piece by Mumbrella on why ChatGPT will never take the place of humans in content writing, and SEO. There is more to it than keywords highlighting the importance of search engine optimisation to help rank web pages higher on search engines.
These stories offered insight into the marketing industry through the unique Threesides lens, showcasing our knowledge and passion for our work.
Need us to help you turn your next electronic direct mail into an exciting direct mail? Have a chat with one of our friendly Threesides team.
