Save the Slow Drip for Your Coffee, Not Your Email Marketing

The digital marketing landscape spans a vast range of tools and technologies that can be tricky to navigate. A fundamental device for every modern business is an email drip campaign. Comprised of a series of scheduled emails sent to prospects in a particular sequence and order, email drip marketing is designed to drive recipient towards desired behaviors and actions and bears many benefits.

Email drip marketing ultimately seeks to convert prospects into paying customers. But the drip breaks this journey down into discrete messages and behaviors along the way, which can even be sequential so that a prospect achieves x, y, then z. Tying these steps of an email drip campaign to specific desired actions can help you measure the ROI on these marketing efforts.

There are short-term steps you can take to monitor email marketing performance and improve drip email conversions. All of these tactics should involve A/B testing, where two variants are tested against each other; their performance is quantified in the same way, using defined metrics, to determine which variant is "better." What varies with each tactic is which aspect of the email marketing is being tested.

Tactic #1: Improve open rates

The most powerful factor affecting email marketing open rates is your subject line, which is likely the first thing your recipient sees—before they even check out the sender's name and contact information. Your subject line needs to read naturally, establish interest and trust quickly, and be short enough to display across all devices. All conceivable variables of the subject line are fair game for testing, from length through extent of personalization. Consider the same sorts of principles that apply to news and article headlines. One word of caution: be careful to avoid symbols and words that are likely to trigger spam filters, or else your emails will not be delivered.

Tactic #2: Improve click-through rates

Getting someone to open your email is a big part of the battle, but next you'll want them to click the link(s) in your email. These links might take them to specific pieces of content intended for them, or even the product you are selling, and so click-throughs critical to your email marketing. As you monitor click-through rates, consider what you can change to increase your success; look at patterns that emerge from your sends, and then test how you can optimize.

The most important consideration here is whether there is a certain day or time that works best for your audience; for example, many people consider the Monday after a holiday to be the worst time to send an email, because people are already struggling to dig themselves out of a swamped inbox as they return to work. You may also consider the frequency of your emails, as well as the positioning, anchor text, etc. of your links; test whether placing links earlier or more prominently in an email, for example, positively affects click-through rates.

Tactic #3: Improve messaging

Everything about your email messaging strategy should be carefully considered and tested to be as deliberate and as effective as possible. Different lengths of emails, paragraph length, use of images, tone of voice, promotional offers, calls-to-actions, and so forth should be considered and tested. Consider the demographics behind your intended audience, and what their values are. What messaging style resonates with them? How can you make sure your copywriting isn't boring to them—are there references, writing styles, or other language flourishes that you can leverage to appeal to them?

We've given you an overview of some of the critical aspects of email drip marketing, but email marketing is just one piece of the digital brand puzzle. While email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective marketing solutions, it's by no means the only avenue available for your business. Let's discuss what L7 Creative can do to elevate your brand's digital marketing.