Your calendar is more than just a lovely list of dates and ideas; it is the blueprint for a successful email marketing campaign. A strategically planned calendar provides a bird’s-eye view of your upcoming year, ensuring that you capitalize on every major sales opportunity and showcase everything that distinguishes your company.
Below are six tried-and-true tips for maximising the possibilities of your email marketing calendar.
- Improve your timing.
When it comes to your calendar, the farther ahead you plan, the better. Hopefully, this year’s Christmas promotion is already planned and ready to go, and you’re now thinking about Valentine’s Day.
In addition to the year’s important marketing days, emphasize additional promotions for your company. August has no holidays, so take advantage of this time in the calendar by getting rid of excess goods through a clearance sale or A/B testing discounts vs. free things on your email pop-ups to acquire new contacts.
Remember that you do not want to dilute any promotions. Ensure that your calendar only shows one sale at a time. This covers both early access and extended sale deals. Allow ample time for your clients to become enthused about a promotion, as well as for any stragglers to catch up before introducing the following big offer.
- Adjust your cadence.
One great message always outperforms 20 mediocre campaigns. While you want to appear frequently in a customer’s inbox, blasting them with emails is not the way to do it. The greatest method to leave an impression is to strike the proper balance.
While there is no set number of emails you should send (each business is different, after all), aim for at least one every week. If you’re sending one per day, make sure your material is consistently relevant.
A solid rule of thumb is to ask a customer if they need to read this email right now and how they will benefit from doing so. If you’re sending emails merely for the heck of it, cut back and wait until you have something worth reading. If you are unsure, try a little higher or lower cadence to determine which has the greatest influence on engagement.
- Use subjects and themes.
Content direction, like cadence, is an important factor to consider when arranging your calendar. A healthy balance of informational and sales-oriented content is essential. Too many informational emails will harm your business, but too many sales-focused ones will alienate your clients and induce sales fatigue (yes, it exists). It’s a give-and-take: you give the consumer regular advice and information about your product and service. You can occasionally ask them to help your business.
When building your calendar, identify four or five content pillars. These will organize your information into distinct sections, each with its own color. Assume one of these pillars is designated “Community” and assigned pink. This category will now include any emails that focus on social media, testimonials, and live events. Because it is branded pink, you can see how frequently you include community-focused items in your calendar. If the colors on your calendar alternate equally throughout the year, you’ve struck the correct balance.
- Consider A/B testing.
A/B testing is the secret weapon of each email marketing campaign. It’s a data-driven method to creating highly tailored and relevant content for your customers. Best of all, depending on the ESP you choose, there are almost no restrictions on what you can test.
A/B testing is the process of sending two copies of the same email with only one difference. If one performs better, the difference is what matters. Ensure that the emails are similar, including the send time. Also, only perform one A/B test at a time.
To keep track of A/B test results, create a separate tab in your calendar and divide them into categories. These include subject lines, call-to-actions, and send times.
Prioritize your A/B experiments based on your KPIs. For example, if your open rates are below average, you should start by testing subject lines and send times. If you’re concerned about click rates, experiment with different call-to-action buttons, hyperlinks, and content lengths.
- List the interesting findings.
Create a dedicated tab for all of the information you acquire about your target audience. This may seem apparent, but gathering all of this information allows you to develop a client profile that can be accessed by your entire staff.
This area contains a list of the top-performing emails, A/B test results, and other statistics that can help direct your future email marketing efforts. What about the large bonus? If fresh information renders upcoming campaigns ineffective, you can instantly update your calendar.
You’d be shocked at how rapidly this tab populates, and hence how quickly you can begin fine-tuning your campaigns.
- Implement automated flows.
Automated flows are the seventh wonder of marketing. Not only do flows keep your clients interested throughout the buying process, but they do it while you sleep. Of course, this does not mean it is a set-and-forget choice. You still need to monitor your data and adapt each flow properly.
With these processes on your calendar, you may plan a refresh every few months. This is critical since prices can fluctuate, topic lines may appear out of date, and some products may be unavailable.
If you see that a specific touch in a flow is not functioning effectively, consider recent efforts with strong conversion rates. Then, set one of those emails as your new touch and watch if your flow improves.
Strategic preparation is key to mastering email marketing.
Failing to plan means intending to fail, and your calendar is your first line of protection. It is more than just a schedule; it is a road plan for success. You, too, will have smooth sailing on your quest for money if you strike the right balance between time, cadence, and content.