If content is king, marketing is an empire where only the strong survive.
Much like any fairytale’s main character, marketers are met with obstacles during the course of their marketing journey. While email marketing is void of any evil step-parents or talking animals, marketers often complain of these four major issues: low open rates, low click rates, high unsubscribe rates and high spam complaints.
Knowing how crucial it is to overcome these issues and satisfy consumers from a digital-marketing perspective, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite tips to see marketers through the storm.
1. Low open rates
Having a finger on the pulse of society is half the battle when it comes to digital marketing. What’s trending in popular culture? How can marketers use relevant topics and information to cultivate interest in a particular message or campaign?
More often than not, consumers feel little motivation to engage in campaigns that don’t specifically target areas of intrigue. The chances of consumers opening an email that doesn’t peak their interest is very unlikely; if a subscriber doesn’t see a subject line related to a relevant item, service, or cultural topic it can easily get overlooked.
Maintaining open communication with customers through social media engagement tactics, virtual or in-person events and other marketing channels is a great way for brands to cultivate that relationship and stay in the know on consumer preferences. This knowledge can be a tremendous resource in creating relevant subject lines.
2. Low click rates
An intriguing subject line has gotten the consumer to open up an email from the marketing team, but there’s more work to be done. While getting a customer to read the message may be a win to some, most marketers understand that clicking an internal link is what will truly get a brand across the finish line.
Incentivizing customers to travel farther into a brand’s messaging may be easier than one might think. It’s safe to assume that each subscriber who makes up a brand’s email subscription list agreed to receive messages and did so with the belief that the mail would be informative and interesting.
Increasing click rates can be as simple as getting back to the basics. Provide subscribers with content and links that add value to their shopping experience; consumers are interested in having seamless encounters with brands that satisfy their needs. Be the marketer who makes this possible.
3. High unsubscribe rates
In a world where most humans have a desire to grow in relationships with others, what could possibly make a once-interested consumer stray from the pack that is their favorite brand? This is a question that plagues the minds of marketers everywhere.
With so much going on in society today, customers don’t want to feel overwhelmed by mass amounts of emails from brands begging for their attention. Unfortunately, many companies make the mistake of sending more emails than consumers can handle. When planning marketing strategies, do so with consumers in mind; include necessary information, make it engaging and allow customers to engage with campaigns as they please.
While the solutions for high unsubscribe rates vary and intersect with some of the other tips discussed above, it all boils down to how happy consumers are. Truly understanding what makes a consumer’s experience with a brand feel worthwhile will help to reduce the number of customers that terminate their email subscriptions.
4. High spam complaints
For many consumers, being met with unwanted information changes how they view a brand’s content. In the case of email subscribers who are regularly inundated with inbox messages, the easiest way to rid themselves of unwanted emails is to report them as spam.
Having a high spam rate heavily impacts a brand’s ability to communicate with consumers; certain search engines will place a hold on accounts with high spam complaints.
Understandably, many marketers hope to avoid being labeled as spam email accounts as much as possible. While there is little companies can do to completely stop all spam complaints, marketers are able to lessen the risk.
Brand messaging has a major impact on how consumers respond to the emails they receive. Make sure the brand name is visible and the email includes relevant content. Consumers who are confused by marketing messages are more likely to ignore the email or report it as spam.
By only sending messages to subscribers who have interacted with emails in recent months, marketers can also steer clear of consumers who don’t find the information attractive.
Marketing issues are no fun, but they do provide opportunities for growth for marketers and brands. Taking sight of the issues above and exercising the solutions provided can help improve email marketing campaigns and drive conversions forward.
