It’s often been said “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Never has this been more true than when it comes to your email marketing campaigns. The more successful your emails are, the greater the likelihood that you planned your efforts. For those who think you can “wing it,” you may get lucky, but chances are you’ll wish you had done some preliminary preparation. This article will explore the 3 reasons why planning is a crucial part of your email campaigns.
Your readers will thank you (and stay subscribed)
We live in the time of endless choice and with that comes a lot of competition. You’re competing with every other company and individual that sends out email newsletters and promotions. So why is planning a great idea?Plan your content
First of all, you want to provide a service. Your emails should be useful. So plan when you’ll send certain emails and what the information you’ll include. If you’re a retail store, it pays to plan for things like the changing of the seasons, the holidays and events that may cause an increase in demand. For example, if you have a clothing store with the apparel changing based on the change of the weather, it’s a smart idea to plan in advance the promotions that you feel will most satisfy your customers’ needs and increase your profit. You can be assured of the fact that your biggest competitors are doing this.Plan your sending frequency
It’s also very smart to plan the day of the week people will receive your emails. If someone had an email list for their restaurant and it was packed every weekend, they may want to increase their weekday patronage. Since the weekend’s don’t need any promotion, an email on Monday announcing a Wednesday evening special, like half price on certain bottles of wine – “Wine Down Wednesday.” In fact, it’s always a good idea to send your emails at regular times. Typically, once a month is the least you should send out an email. Sending out your promotions or newsletters less than that may cause subscribers to forget about you. If they forget some will mark you as spam. It’s also bad because Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like steadier emailers. If you email too seldom, ISPs will possibly classify you as spam. So make a plan: I’ll send out emails every Monday, or every other Friday. Something that also sticks with the readers. They’ll start anticipating receiving your newsletters.Planning email hygiene will save your list
Remember how ISPs can classify even perfectly legitimate email lists as spam? This is a pretty pervasive problem for those who don’t use email validation. You may be thinking, “I’m not a spammer, I don’t send spam, I don’t even know any spammers.” Well, you wouldn’t be the first person to send out business emails and got labeled as a spam sender. That’s why everyone should use email validation. There are certain email addresses that were once good and aren’t any more.Invalid email addresses
The first would be invalid addresses. Let’s say someone goes to the University of Wyoming and signs up to your email list using their school email address. The partying gets a little out of hand and they drop out. Eventually their address gets deleted. There’s almost no chance that they’ll unsubscribe from your list first. They’re not thinking about you. So eventually the email bounces. Bummer. That’s just one scenario. Some people just periodically change their email address or want to move to Gmail from their old Yahoo address. They use a workplace email and then go work for another company. The end result is the same: bounces. Getting bounces increases the likelihood you’ll be classified as a spammer.Abuse email addresses
There are also email addresses that are highly problematic and likely to cause you pain. One is abuse addresses. There are people who like to mark emails, even those they signed up for, as spam. They are the malevolent emailers of the web. An email validation service will root them out so you can remove them.Role-based email addresses
There are also role-based email addresses which on the surface seem fine. They’re really not. Email addresses such as info@ or admin@ tend to get no return. Typically, a number of people check these inboxes. You never know who may decide to mark you as spam. You also have low odds that the person who signed up actually ever even sees your email. The juice is not worth the squeeze. Email validation is the solution.Plan regular list scrubbing
Your email hygiene plan should be in place. The best strategy is to plan regular bulk email verification. Every other month or not less than quarterly is the approximate recommended minimum frequency for validating your list. For those who have a huge list of 100,000 or more, monthly is a good plan. Find a reputable email validation company and upload your list to the platform.Check addresses in real time with an email verification API
Another part of your email hygiene plan is this very useful preventative measure. Use an email verification API to keep those undesirable addresses off from the get go. This simple plugin works on the back end and detects mistakes in advance. If they sign up with a role-based email address it will automatically ask them to try another one. A typo will also be detected and allow the person keying to correct their mistake. The upside for you is that the bad emails stay off of your list to begin with! Email hygiene is a lot like carrying a spare tire in your car. You leave for a road trip to Kansas and don’t expect to get a flat tire. It’s not if, but when it happens. Eventually you’ll get a flat. You plan by having a spare. Similarly, you don’t envision your list deteriorating when you start it, but a smart planner uses email verification as part of the routine. It’s the only way to keep it in good condition.Can you see the future?
In the past, you never knew when an address would bounce. Now, the latest and greatest technology can tell you this. Your planning has just stepped up. What I’m talking about is an inbox placement tester. You can now see if the email you’re currently creating is likely to end up in the inbox of all the major email service providers: Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Outlook, etc. Now you can plan for success instead of fail to plan.Plan + Action + Adjustment = Success
One formula for success is that you should plan, but then must take action. However, it pays to look at things like your email reports. What are your open rates? How many unsubscribes are you getting? Don’t be afraid to try new tactics, but also a big part of planning is adjusting and changing course. Your efforts will be worth it and your email list will be a success. After all, you planned for it.About Author:
Paul Leslie is a Content Writer for email validation company ZeroBounce. He has a rich background in content creation as a writer, researcher and interviewer. Paul has conducted more than 800 interviews distributed via radio and podcasts.