Email marketing, how we love it. Even to this day, the grandfather of online marketing is still performing and proving to be a highly valuable weapon in the B2B marketer’s arsenal. But, have we stopped giving this channel the due care and attention it deserves? Perhaps so.

The numbers don’t lie

In a recent report produced by Litmus (2017 State of Email Workflows), it was found that only 18.5% of marketers create a brief for every email they produce. This means that there’s a lot of organisations creating emails without the necessary thought and planning considerations. We’ve all no doubt been guilty at some stage of using phrases like ‘throw an email together’ – but this needs to be avoided at all costs. Why? Well, the report goes on to claim that ‘Marketers who consider their email marketing programs successful are more than twice as likely as less successful programs to create an email brief for every email they produce’.

Give it time

When diving deeper into the production of emails, it was found that pulling data/analysing logic (2.4 hours), and writing copy (3 hours) made up just 30% of the overall production time. The rest of the process was taken up by tasks such as design (4.1 hours), coding (3.8 hours), troubleshooting (2.3 hours), and analysis (2.1 hours). So, what does this tell us? Well, it shows that a great deal more time should be dedicated to reviewing data, identifying opportunities, analysing logic, and giving writers time to craft an email that achieves the desired results. Ultimately, the potential success of an email is determined long before it’s sent out to the mailing list – it happens when the right data is gathered, the correct subject matter is chosen, and when the writer makes it engaging.

Don’t be brief in a brief

According to Litmus, an email brief should at least cover who the target audience is, what actions you want them to take, why they should care, and how you will measure success. Obviously, this is simply a jumping off point, and a comprehensive brief should cover a great deal more requirements than this. However, without these four pillars in place, marketers are running a huge risk of not only failure, but also alienating the readers and minimising the chance of future success too.

 

So, from now on, regardless of how quick you need an email to be sent out, or how well your team think they understand the audience and subject matter, briefs still need to a be a top priority. Take the time to invest resources at the early stages of production, in order to see the best outcomes at the later stages.

 

To find out more about email marketing and how to generate the best result from a multi-channel lead generation campaign, speak to us today on 02392 314498 or email info@reallyb2b.com