Email Marketing Tip: Create A Measurable Objective
Everyone knows that it's important to have goals. This is something children learn when they are young and it is a lesson that does not go away throughout anyone's lifetime. Whether it's personal goals or business goals, it's important to have a clearly defined objective, otherwise you'll never be able to know if you've achieved what you want to do. Imagine running a race without a finish line… you'd never know the taste of sweet victory since you'd just keep on running.
The age-old lesson continues to hold true in email marketing. Before you sit down to create your email marketing campaign, it is important to know exactly what you want to achieve. Furthermore, this goal needs to be something that is specific and measureable.
All too often I will hear business owners say that "my objective from this campaign is to drive sales". While that is both a logical and understandable objective, it is not particularly measurable because it is a bit vague. Is the objective of your email marketing campaign to sell 100 of a certain item? Is the objective of your email marketing campaign to increase phone calls to your sales office by 5%? By quantifying your objective with a specific number, you will be able to easily assess whether your goal has been achieved.
If you say that the goal of your email marketing campaign is to sell 50 widgets and you end up selling 30, then you can say the goal was not achieved. Whereas, if you sell 75, then you can celebrate that you accomplished well more than your original goal. But, if you just say that "I want to sell widgets" and you sell 35 or 75, how would you know if you achieved your true objective?
Once you have a clear measureable goal for your email marketing campaign, you can put together an email that will help you achieve that objective. This will help ensure that your email marketing campaign is very focused, which, in turn, maximizes your chances of achieving your goal.
If you want to drive sales of widgets, make sure widgets are prominently displayed at the top of your message without too much other content to distract your reader. If your goal is to increase the amount of phone calls you receive by 10%, then make sure your phone number is part of your call to action (for example: Call Us Now at 555-555-1234).
After you have sent your email marketing campaign, you can evaluate whether or not your objective was achieved. If it was, then give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done. If it wasn't, then you should try to determine why you fell short of your goal, and make sure to learn from your experiences.
By setting a measurable, well quantified, objective for your email marketing campaigns, you will know exactly what you want to achieve and be able to determine if you achieved it. This will undoubtedly make your email marketing efforts more effective.
Robert Burko is President of Elite Email, the trusted email marketing solution used by businesses around the globe. For more insight into the world of email and online marketing, visit Burko's Business Blog.
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