Surprisingly (to some), EDMs remain one of the highest-ROI channels out there for marketers to utilise. So, what are they doing wrong?
Would it surprise you to learn that the average person receives over 40,000 emails per year? That’s an average of 121 emails per day. When users spend less than 10 seconds sifting through commercial emails, how does your brand stand out?
The answer may be simpler than you think. There are two golden rules at play here: the 80/20 rule and A/B testing.
When you put into perspective the small window of opportunity your brand has to engage with a customer via EDM, every decision you make when creating your EDM counts. There are multiple brands utilising the same method of communication, so the best way to grab your customer’s attention is not simply to contribute to the noise, but to tactfully choose what goes in and what stays out.
EDMs that are poorly targeted, badly composed, boring or, sometimes, overly promotional can end up in the junk folder—or worse, the bin or unsubscribe folder.
So, what’s the secret sauce?
The good: aka High Conversion
Good EDMs contain clear, curiosity-driven and personalised subject lines. They either offer a solution to a problem a customer has been searching for, or present an enticing opportunity they won’t want to miss out on.
To that effect, the body content is easily scannable, properly segmented and heavily focused on the customer’s pain points. It is always relevant to the subscriber.
Well-designed EDMs use a good ratio of text to images and are always mobile-friendly. Finally, they have a clear CTA that tells the customer exactly what to do next.
The Bad: aka spam alert
Just imagine receiving a promotional email with a subject line in all caps, cluttered with emojis, and a giant block of text that’s too chunky to read. It’s super cluttered, heavily reliant on one massive image, and filled with multiple competing, generic CTAs—or worse, simply says, “Curious? Click here.”
Now that you know the good and the bad, here’s the ugly.
A brand’s subscriber list is one of the most treasured assets it can have, so logically, brands should never send a bulk email to everyone with the exact same messaging. Segmentation is key. And that’s where EDMs can really flop.
You own your audience. Unlike social platforms, where the algorithm gods dictate your reach and pay-per-click rates, you have guaranteed access to the subscribers on your list. Sending the exact same EDM to everyone on that list is a sure-fire way to cause subscriber fatigue and drive up your unsubscribe rate—an exodus, really.
To avoid burning out these precious subscribers, the 80/20 rule exists, and for good reason.
Pebbles vs diamonds: The 80/20 Rule of Email Marketing
Simply put, the Pareto Principle of email means that 80% of your results or value come from just 20% of your emails, efforts or subscribers.
Less volume, more intention.
In terms of audience, 80% of your EDM ROI will come from 20% of your subscriber list. In terms of content, 80% of your EDM content should be focused on providing value and entertainment, while only 20% should be focused on selling a product or promoting an offer.
The key to using the 80/20 rule is to correctly engage your active readers and stop wasting resources on disengaged or inactive contacts. When a brand consistently delivers value to an inbox 80% of the time, readers are much more receptive to the communication and, further down the line, more likely to act on a promotional ask.
The power and pitfalls of A/B testing
Now that you know how your brand can perfectly compose an EDM, it’s time for the exciting part: hitting SEND.
Before you do, there’s one final rule that can greatly affect ROI.
A/B testing a subscriber list isn’t a nuance; it’s your pathway to correctly choosing which version works best.
In simple terms, you create two variations of an email to see which performs better, with a common strategy of splitting the list 10/10/80.
Variant A is sent to 10% of the list, Variant B to another 10%, and the winner is automatically dispatched to the remaining 80%.
Simple, correct? So, where can it flop?
When you test too many variables, such as changes to the subject line, header images, body copy, etc., you won’t be able to pinpoint which change drove the results you’re measuring, whether that’s CTR or OR.
More importantly, if you call a winner too early, before the data reaches statistical significance, you risk making the wrong decision. And worse, if your list is too small, with only a few hundred people, the results can be random and unreliable.
One final thing to keep in mind, if you aren't adding value, your EDM is just one of another 120 messages standing in the way of inbox zero.
