I've been hearing a familiar complaint lately from the marketers I work with: "My e-mail response rates have been dropping." If you're singing that same tune, here are a few tactics you can pull out of your toolbox to help.
1. Do You See Dead People?
If your marketing database is more than one week old, you definitely have contacts that are no longer valid. In 2005 (ages ago!), MarketingSherpa produced a chart that showed that database health declines by 25% each year. So if you started last year with 100,000 contacts, only 75,000 of those are still valid. Ouch. As those e-mail addresses die off, they become dead weight in your marketing metrics. If your response rates have been slowly dropping over time, it is most likely a correlation to the natural aging of your database.
How can you address this? Split up your database! Ideally your marketing automation system should be able to help you understand who has been active in the last six months or so, and who hasn't visited your Web site or opened an e-mail during that time (inactive). Create two groups and send your next big e-mail blast, such as a newsletter, to each group separately. Chances are that your response rates with the active group are still doing fine.
2. Does Your Reputation Precede You?
It may be time to check your online reputation and make sure that you haven't fallen into a pit of undeliverability. I recommend visiting senderscore.org for a check-up. Think of it as the "credit score" of your domain name. While you're there, you can sign up for an e-mail series that will help you correct any issues you may uncover.
3. Do You Have an Impeccable Sense of Timing?
When you get a new lead into your database (through a Web site form, tradeshow booth visit, etc.), are you responding quickly? Or is it more like 30 days until the prospect hears from you? The longer you wait, the more likely they are to forget you—and ignore you. In this wonderful new world of social media I've noticed some marketers dropping some of their old-school tactics (such as autoresponders and immediate follow-ups). Don't let those new leads go stale and become part of your non-responder baggage.
4. Would Your Mother Be Proud?
Are you buying e-mail lists from other sources and adding those folks into your database? Don't. I mean it: Stop right now! First of all, the success rate on purchased e-mail lists is approximately .001% according to my in-depth research, not to mention that you're killing your online reputation (go back and reread tip #2). If you've purchased lists in the past I encourage you to be ruthless and cull those people from your database. Right now. Before you read #5.
5. Are You Testing, Testing, Testing?
The best tried-and-true method of increasing your response rates is to test, and test some more. It's important to test only one feature at a time so you'll know definitively which change was the magical one. To tackle your response rates I recommend starting with subject line testing, then try testing your From line (examples: company name only, salesperson's name only, or a mixture of both). Then you'll want to focus on click-through rates and there are so many options here. Design, length of copy, style of copy, call to action, size of buttons, and on and on. (I'm restraining myself—I could write a whole article on this!)
You can always do a simple 50/50 split for your A/B test, but if your list is large enough—I’d say anything over 8,000—you can get a bit fancier (of course, this is easier if you're using a marketing automation system). First, split your list 20/80. Take 80% of the contacts and hold them off to the side. Then split the 20% group into two equal parts and run your test with those folks. Wait 24-48 hours to see your results, then send the winning email to the 80% that have been patiently waiting. Voila!
Good luck on whipping your response rates into shape! I'd love to hear your ideas and success stories:heather.foeh@eloqua.com or @heatherfoeh on Twitter.
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