How to Achieve Successful Email Marketing Engagement 2018 ...

[Pages:32]How to Achieve Successful Email Marketing Engagement

2018

Contents

Preface Methodology Introduction

Reporting on Best-In-Class Success Strategic Priorities Barriers to Success Priorities Versus Barriers Measuring Performance Tactical E ectiveness How E ectiveness is Changing E ort Required to Execute Resources Used to Execute Tactics E ectiveness Versus E ort Conclusion Adestra

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Preface

Email marketing performance is driven by subscriber engagement. The more engaged a prospect or customer is, the more likely they will help boost a company's revenue. But what does a successful email marketing engagement strategy look like? To help you answer this question, Adestra in partnership with Ascend2, elded the How to Achieve Successful Email Marketing Engagement Survey. This report exclusively represents the opinions of the 94 marketing in uencers responding to the survey who described the success of their email marketing strategy as very successful, or best-in-class, when compared to the competition. We thank them for sharing their valuable insights with us, and you.

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Methodology

This survey was elded to a panel of marketing in uencers and marketing research subscribers.

Role in the Company

Owner / Partner / CXO VP / Director / Manager Non-Management

43% 39%

18%

Primary Marketing Channel

B2B

49%

B2C

27%

B2B and B2C Equally

24%

Number of Employees

More than 500

34%

50 to 500

59%

Fewer than 50

7%

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Introduction

Focus on Email Marketing Engagement in 2018

Customer engagement should be at the center of every marketing plan. Acquisition is important because you need a steady stream of new customers. Conversions are key because they lead to sales, revenue and company growth. But engagement is the engine that moves customers from the acquisition stage to the conversion stage.

If you can't keep your new customers interested and motivated enough to move on to conversion, you lose those potential sales and revenue. You just keep spending money over and over on acquiring new customers ? money you could have used to develop better marketing programs leading to greater company growth.

Goals for marketers based on study ndings:

Best-in-class marketers avoid a tunnel-vision focus on conversions and look at the broader engagement picture. Conversions, revenue, and sales are all important, but smart marketers know that a focus on engagement can yield stronger outcomes down the line.

In this report:

Only a third (34%) of the marketing in uencers surveyed for this Adestra/Ascend2 study described their email engagement as very successful compared with their competition. Just over a fth of marketers (21%) admitted their e orts have been unsuccessful.

Based on these numbers, it is likely that engagement is an area of opportunity for most email marketers.

Comparing your own planning process and results with our best-in-class marketers can help you assess your own success rate and identify areas where you can see potential improvement. The ndings and our interpretations suggest several questions you can ask yourself and your team to help you plan your 2018 marketing program more e ectively:

? Where should we place our focus as we allocate email marketing budgets?

? What proven tactics can we apply or improve upon as best bets for our email marketing programs?

? How should we consider managing resources for our email marketing e orts?

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Reporting on Best-in-Class Success

How SUCCESSFUL is your email marketing strategy at achieving the top priorities?

Unsuccessful, 21%

Very successful (best-in-class),

34%

Somewhat successful,

45%

One-third (34%) of marketing in uencers described the success of their email marketing strategy as very successful, or best-in-class, when compared to the competition. What follows in this report is derived from this exclusive segment of best-in-class email marketers.

Email marketers are constantly challenged to use the email channel to generate short-term gains in the form of sales revenue or marketing-quali ed leads (MQLs), or even sales-quali ed leads (SQLs).

Over time, the channel has proven capable of achieving these goals to the detriment of the broader bene t marketers should expect of their email marketing e orts.

Marketers need to look at the bigger picture. Engagement can help marketers give and receive value from prospects who are not yet ready to convert. As the email channel matures, marketers have an opportunity to make the case for resources to improve engagement and maximize value.

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Five Steps to Email Marketing Engagement Success

If you believe you are in the 45% of "somewhat successful" marketers, or even the 21% of "unsuccessful marketers," these ve steps can help you improve your situation so that you can join up with your best-in-class peers:

Map out the average conversion cycle for your prospects to understand the time involved, the pain points, and the decision makers. Identify where you might have content gaps along the entire cycle, not just at the point of conversion. Rework existing content into di erent formats to maximize value and ll existing gaps. This can be more cost-and-time-e cient than trying to create all-new content. Avoid pushing conversion in content that is assigned to early stages of the purchase cycle. Instead, focus on relevant education and assistance. Identify metrics that help demonstrate progress toward conversion, especially in parts of the cycle where conversion is not expected. Sales has its own pipeline, and your marketing e orts should too.

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Strategic Priorities

What are the TOP PRIORITIES for an email marketing strategy?

Improving email engagement 66% Improving quality of leads 43%

Increasing conversion rates 36% Increasing sales revenue 32%

Reducing cost of marketing 29% Increasing leads generated 29%

Reducing sales cycle time 27%

Improving email engagement is a top strategic priority for about two-thirds (66%) of the best-in-class who also understand that improving the quality of leads (43%) will help increase conversion rates (36%).

Best-in-class marketers make engagement a top priority, above lead quality or conversion rates. These marketers understand that engagement underpins the entire funnel, from awareness to conversion. Your investment in engagement will pay o in improved lead quality and conversions both immediately and over time.

Marketers know that it is challenging to gain prospects' attention and inbox permission. So, it makes more sense to use engagement to retain that permission ? and bene t from it ? while prospects move through the purchase cycle. Sales people know that they often bene t from being top of mind at the right moment. Making engagement a top priority allows marketing to help sales in this way.

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