Sending

THE PERIODIC TABLE OF

+3 +3 +2 +2 +1 +3
EMAIL MARKETING Co Ht Ti Fq Us Or

An a l ys i s
The switch from direct mail to email over Content HTML Timing Frequency Engagement Unsubscribes Open rates
the past decade hasn’t been without it’s
+1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +1 +3 +3

L ayo ut
Ca Pt Dv Ts Ct Lg Fw Cr
complications, but if you get the formula
right, it can be one of the most rewarding
channels out there for marketing strategy.
Call to action Plain text Delivery Testing Click through Leadgen Forwarding Click rates
Check your strategy against these elements
to get the most from your email marketing - +1 +3 +3 +2 +1
elements are weighted from +1 (weakest) to
+3 (strongest) to represent relative power.
Ae Lq Re Tk Bm
2.8 million emails are sent Aesthetics List quality Responses Tracking Benchmark
across the world every second.

90% is spam. Be the other 10%.

LAYOUT SENDING ENGAGEMENT ANALYSIS

Co CONTENT Ti TIMING Ct CLICK THROUGH Or OPEN RATES
Is your content presented well? Have you timed when to send Can you complete your call to Have you tested different friendly
Does it keep your attention? your email for the best response? action within 2 clicks? from names and subject lines?

Ca CALL TO ACTION Dv DELIVERY Re RESPONSES Cr CLICK RATES

Have you made your call to action Are your emails getting blocked Have you organised processes Have you tested different content
clear and obvious? by spam filters? for dealing with any responses? and layouts?

Ht HTML Lq LIST QUALITY Lg LEADGEN Bm BENCHMARK

Have you invested in HTML Are the contacts in your database Do you pass hot leads on to any Have you checked your campaign’s
templates? opted in and relevant? other teams for follow up? performance against benchmarks?

Pt PLAIN TEXT Fq FREQUENCY Tk TRACKING

Have you worked on your plain Do you send your emails too little Do you track recipient behaviour
text version? or too often? after call to action?

Ae AESTHETICS Ts TESTING Us UNSUBSCRIBES

Have you included a link to view
your email in a browser?
Are you test sending your email Is your unsubscribe link clear?
before you run the campaign? Do you use a preference centre?
WRITTEN AND DESIGNED BY:
Fw FORWARDING Ricky Warren, Marketing Manager
Have you made your email as Research Ltd © 2011
forward friendly as possible?
Connect on
 LAYOUT SENDING

Is your content presented well? Does it keep your attention? Have you timed when to send your email for the best response?
+3 +2

Co
Keep your text short and try to cut it off when it gets interesting – an email is an extension of your
website so you want the reader to come into your environment if possible. The way emails render in
browsers and the way email is generally used don’t favour long reading – that’s what your website
specialises in. Use the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) principle to capture attention and
interest through emails and build the desire and action through your website. Remember - most
Content recipients will click “Read more” in your emails rather than “Buy now”.
Ti
Timing impacts heavily on your response rates. Consider the season, the month, the day of the
week and even time of day. Monday’s and Friday’s are best avoided, as Monday is a busy day for
returning to work and Friday is “shut down and clear the inbox” day. Also consider any specific
market timings, such as half-term, Christmas, etc. Experiment with intra-day timing – you will find
what works best for you with your own market – think from the recipient’s point of view. Maybe
Timing even ask some of them when they are most open to receiving emails from you.

+1 +1

Ca
Have you made your call to action clear and obvious?
Once you’ve confirmed the purpose of your email, make sure you keep the call to action obvious –
where possible use eye-catching images like buttons to get people to find the call to action more
easily. Keep the instruction short and using a verb tends to work well, e.g. ‘Take the survey’ or ‘Book
a demo’, as opposed to “Survey” or “Demo”. Also, keep the number of choices for clicking as low as
Call to action possible – choice simply creates procrastination and sometimes confusion.
Dv
Are your emails getting blocked by spam filters?
Some organisations may block email storms, large html emails and attachments – keep your
delivery rates high by avoiding these. Also check for spam words like “Free” and “Click here!”,
especially in subject lines. Again Google is your friend for finding these, although most email
clients will have a tool to check your emails for you now.
Delivery

+3 +3

Ht
HTML
Have you invested in HTML templates?
Invest in attractive, branded HTML templates – an email’s job is to capture attention and create
interest. It needs to look the part – not necessarily exciting, but professional and fit for your
audience. Make sure the template is editable so you can adapt for multiple campaigns.
Lq Are the contacts in your database opted in and relevant?
Keep an eye on your list quality – generic emails such as info@ tend to get low response rates, get
the personal details of the recipient to give yourself the best chance of getting heard. Getting a
good database sorted is also vital for proper segmentation of your audience.
List quality

+1 +2

Pt Fq
Have you worked on your plain text version? Do you send your emails too little or too often?
Take the time to work on your plain text version – fine-tune it and differentiate it from your HTML Monitor and regulate the frequency with which you send emails – send too many and you’ll get
version as it requires different formatting – some recipients purposefully opt to receive and send spam complaints, unsubscribes and lower open rates in the long run. Send too little and you might
in plain text and some filters block HTML script. develop a lack of recognition and get ignored. Keep emails regular with fresh, relevant content and
try not to surprise people.
Plain text Frequency

+1 +1

Ae Ts
Have you included a link to view your email in a browser? Are you test sending your email before you run the campaign?
Ensure the “view this email in your browser” option is available – many email browsers won’t render Always test your emails – mistakes are common and can bring your reputation down quickly.
your layout exactly as intended, so this option ensures the correct version can be seen in case of Ensure HTML renders properly, check spelling, check that your links work, etc. Get someone who
errors. hasn’t worked on the email to proof it.
Aesthetics Testing
 ENGAGEMENT ANALYSIS
+2 +3

Ct Or
Can you complete your call to action within 2 clicks? Have you tested different friendly from names and subject lines?
Keep your calls to action exactly what they say on the tin and ensure that they progress the Opens - check subject lines, build trust for good content, regulate frequency, relevance, segment
recipient to the right stage after clicking. Minimise the amount of work they have to do to get to your lists properly, etc. Tracking opens works when the recipient downloads images when viewing
the place you want them to end up at. If a recipient needs to click more than twice to get to where the email – along with one of the images will be a tracking code. If somebody decides to view the
they want to be, something isn’t right. email without downloading images, it will not register as an open. So remember your open rates
Click through Open rates may be slightly higher than you think.

+3 +3 Have you tested different content and layouts?

Re
Have you organised processes for dealing with any responses?
Get your communication and customer service processes in place, make sure that responses are
dealt with immediately – email leads are extremely hot but then cool down much more quickly
than website enquiries, as the initial email from you serves as the beginning of a conversation and
Responses the onus is on you to keep it going.
Cr
Clicks - check your layout, call to action, relevance, engagement levels through personalisation,
quality of content, etc. Overall, click rates are easier to improve than open rates, because opens
usually coincide with trust and good brand recognition, and there are no shortcuts in developing
these. Click rates can be addressed by amending content and layout, which in the long run will
Click rates improve your open rates if combined with the points above.

+1 +1

Lg
Do you pass hot leads on to any other teams for follow up?
There will always be recipients who have responded to email marketing but need tipping over the
edge to convert. Use your open and click data to follow up on hot leads that were generated with
a telephone call. “Hi George, we sent you an email earlier this week, I was just wondering if you
Leadgen received it?”.
Bm
Have you checked your campaign’s performance against benchmarks?
Check your industry benchmarks for typical open and click rates to see how your emails are
performing. You can find many free reports on Google by typing in “email marketing benchmarks”
– take with a pinch of salt and use as more of a guideline – if your campaigns are performing
Benchmark severely worse than the benchmarks then you should review your activity!

+2

Tk Do you track recipient behaviour after call to action?

Track recipient behaviour after they click your email – for instance you can see where purchases
have come from using promotional codes or HTML trackers. As email is usually used in conjunction
with a variety of other channels it’s important to quantify the ROI.
Tracking

+1 Is your unsubscribe link clear? Do you use a preference centre?

Us
Ensure the unsubscribe option is obvious but also word it so it’s a deterrent. Most recipients
unsubscribe to the email they have taken objection to, not to your entire set of communications.
Make this clear, e.g. If you want to stop receiving all communication from ABC Ltd, including news,
updates and exclusive offers, click here to unsubscribe. If possible go one step further and use a
preference centre, so people can unsubscribe from certain lists rather than opt out from receiving
Unsubscribes any communications from you at all.

Fw
Have you made your email as forward friendly as possible?
Finally, remember to consider forward friendliness – your email can reach multiple times the size
of your original list if it is forward friendly – include a link to forward to a peer/colleague/friend and
keep the content as non-assuming as possible – you never know who will end up reading it and
they need to understand it from the get-go.
Forwarding