Hardwood Floors February/March 2019

By Katrina Olson

1. Think strategically. Set a goal and focus on a single result or outcome with a specific target audience. For example, if the goal is to drive prospects to your website, give readers a strong reason to click a link. If the objective is getting target audience members to download a white paper or guide, make it easy for them. 2. Make it personal. Perhaps email’s biggest lines are 26 percent more likely to be opened. More than half (52 percent) of consumers are likely to choose another brand if a company doesn’t personalize its content, says Salesforce. Yet only 11 percent of email marketers personalize their subject lines, and only about 26 percent personalize their email bodies, claims GetReponse. That’s a lot of numbers, but what matters is the take- home: personalization significantly increases open rates. 3. Use an intriguing subject line. Make people want to open the email, but not with mysterious wording like “An offer you can’t refuse.” Rather, be brief and descriptive. To follow are some tips for writing effective subject lines: • Keep it short – 50 or fewer characters or six to 10 words. • Avoid all caps or multiple exclamation points; it looks like spam. • Avoid trigger words like free, help, assistance, and donate. • Highlight a benefit that resonates with recipients. • Ask a question that demands a “yes” answer. • Create a sense of urgency without sounding desperate. • In the "from" line, use a person’s name instead of a company name. benefit is personalization. According to Experian, emails with personalized subject

EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT ANALYTICS Another benefit of email marketing is that it’s easy to monitor performance in terms of metrics like: • open rate (percentage of recipients who opened the email); • click-through rate (percentage of customers who clicked on a link in the email); • bounce rate (percentage of undeliverable emails); and • unsubscribe rate (percentage of recipients who unsubscribed from the message). These metrics enable you to benchmark your campaign’s performance against your own and other industries. Below are average statistics across the home/building services, manufacturing/distribution, and all industries.

Home / Building Services*

Manufacturing / Distribution

All Industries

OPEN RATE TOTAL

16.27% 15.06%

15.75%

MOBILE / TABLET OPEN RATE

37.77% 32.59% 39.26%

DESKTOP OPEN RATE CLICK-THROUGH RATE

62.23% 67.41%

60.48%

6.57% 7.90% 0.05%

8.77%

7.63%

BOUNCE RATE

10.92% 8.89%

UNSUBSCRIBE RATE

0.02%

0.02%

*Home & Building Services (e.g., construction, HVAC, landscaping, design) SOURCE: https://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/articles/ KnowledgeBase/5409-average-industry-rates?lang=en_US#compare Benchmarking is helpful for goal setting and evaluation, but don’t worry if your rates aren’t on par with the averages. If you’re within 2 percent, you’re in good company. Focus on improving your open rate or click- through rate and, more importantly, what happens after a recipient opens an email or clicks through. And remember, open and click-through rates are not the goal; they’re the means to an end such as engagement, relationship building, and ultimately a sale. Marketers use these intermediate metrics to measure the immediate effectiveness of our efforts. But the right marketing automation platform can follow leads all the way through to the end of the sales cycle.

the magazine of the national wood flooring association

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