Maximizing customer lifetime value
After all the work behind building traffic and email circulation, how do you go about keeping converted email subscribers on your email list? The first step in that involves creating good content. For now we’ll assume that your content is as strong as possible. What is the next step?
Components of an effective email strategy
First, consistency is a must when it comes to an email strategy. Focus on creating an email calendar that will plan out the emails you send. This will help you optimize revenue, profits and reader satisfaction.
Think of an email newsletter as a daily newspaper. It can be part of someone’s daily routine. If you’re doing your job correctly, people are looking forward to reading your email newsletter when it arrives. They may desire the information to keep them informed on their industry, or to serve as a piece of daily inspiration. Consistency will lead these recipients to expect the newsletter. It will also create loyalty between them and your brand.
What types of emails do people pay attention to?
Blue Dolphin Magazines performed a test in the past that helped them see what types of emails people were paying attention to.
When it came to an email list of strictly promotions, the recipients of those promotions remained on the list for an average of 83 weeks. After that time they would, on average, opt out of the list.
Email recipients who received a mix of editorial newsletters and promotions tended to remain longer on the list. The average number of weeks on the list for these recipients was 140. That is a total of more than a year longer than those that received only promos. Therefore, we can conclude from this test that editorial content does build relationships, and allows for companies to promote as well.
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A/B split testing
The test to see which list had a larger email lifetime value is a form of a/b testing. It took two parts that had similarities and differences and put them up against one another. The result helped define a strategy for the company. These a/b split tests can also help define topics to focus on and then the products to promote that have alignment with the specific topics.
Email planning cycle
When working with an email schedule, you will want to plan the promotional topics as well as the associated promos. When doing so, you may want to ask yourself “How big of a planning cycle should I work with?”
When deciding upon this answer, you should keep in mind that over promoting a product may make an email recipient decide to unsubscribe from the list. Therefore, you don’t want to repeat the product more than once every 3-6 weeks.
A variety of products promoted for in a cycle will eliminate the oversaturation of one specific product. Furthermore, aligning your promotions with editorial content will make your best customers more interested in the product.
For a day long intensive workshop that discusses all of the components of content marketing strategy, join Don and Kim for our Content Marketing 2010 Seminars.
