The Email Marketer’s Guide to Addressing Time, Resource and Funding Challenges

Let's look at some numbers to see what improving your deliverability rate can do: Let's say your delivery rate is 92 percent, below the industry average. Also assume a lower-than-average open rate of 12 percent and a clickthrough rate of 4 percent. If you send 10 million emails a month, these metrics deliver 88,320 shoppers to your website. If your site conversion rate is 2 percent and your average sale is $100, a 5 percent improvement in your delivery rate equates to an additional $4,400 a month in site revenue. A monthly fee for deliverability consulting is easy to justify. 

Once your emails are in your subscribers’ inboxes, they need to get opened. A 5 percent improvement to your open and clickthrough rates in the previous example would increase site revenue by another $9,500 a month. Factors including subject line, message frequency, segmentation and relevance can affect open rates. A good place to start is by testing subject lines to see what moves the needle, beginning with general audience testing and moving to more targeted segment testing. 

Also look at subscriber inactivity and opt-out logs to identify a common point at which users stop engaging with your emails. If you can identify a trend like this, you're well positioned to deploy a campaign that targets the time just prior to when subscribers jump ship. 

Simple changes to your email marketing program that are aligned with top priorities can help address seemingly daunting shortages of time, resources and funding. Keep in mind that what starts simply can quickly grow more complex, so be open to leveraging the services your ESP can offer. As they say in the auto industry, "actual mileage may vary." However, prioritization should help you generate a measurable lift in revenue, which in turn can offer opportunities to invest in more program improvements, people and next-level strategies.

Kathleen Waldvogel is vice president, client services at BlueHornet Networks. For more information, follow @BlueHornetEmail.

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