If you think a snappy subject line will get more of your e-mail opened, think again. What matters when it comes to open rates is your history with the recipient, according to Steve Webster, chief strategy officer for e-mail service provider iPost.
“Your brand has a history with your customers, and that’s what’s going to make the difference in both the short and the long term,” he said. “Spammers are great at crafting clever and interesting subject lines.”
Most marketers tend to think too tactically, as in: “What do I have to do to get my e-mail opened and make lots of money on this mailing?” he said. What they should be thinking is: “How can I improve how my brand looks to my customers?” he said.
For example, a direct marketer will typically send the same pitch—such as a spring beach apparel mailing—to the company’s entire housefile and walk away happy as long as the mailing shows a profit.
However, the construction-worker on that mailer’s housefile who has purchased only work boots will be turned off, and never open e-mail from that marketer again, Webster said.
“E-mail’s incredibly effective and incredibly cheap, so this marketer is still making, say, 30 cents on every penny spent, but losing the lifetime value of all the customers who are getting inappropriate e-mail,” Webster said.
Also, e-mail marketers too often fail to truly account for the cost of opt-outs, he said.
“If four tenths of a percent of people leave their list every time they send out a mailing, they think ‘that’s pretty good; it’s a small number,’” said Webster. “But if each one of those people is worth $250 and you’ve got 80,000 people on the list, that’s $10,000 in lifetime value that just walked away from your brand.”
Moreover, he said, opportunities to reach new people are getting harder to come by. “There’s no one out there saying: ‘Gosh, I wish I got more e-mail,’” said Webster. “Marketers are fighting an incredibly crowded inbox. People are looking for a reason not to read your e-mail.”
The problem: e-mail makes it possible for marketers to be lazy and still look good, he said. However, these marketers are leaving a ton of money on the table that could easily be had for minimal extra cost and effort, said Webster.
“It typically costs twice the effort and money to go from bulk blasts of the same message to everybody on your list to the next level, which is targeted, segmented e-mail,” he said. “But the returns—not only the returns from engaged customers, but from those who are unengaged, as well—are five to 10 times higher. You can do so much better just by putting a little effort into targeting.”
