Are you worried about sending too much email to your list?
Many email marketers believe that email fatigue is the number one reason people opt out of email programs.
However, the reality is that frequent email in your customer’s inbox is less detrimental than you think. In fact, it could be the key to your email success, according to some experts.
The question marketers should be asking themselves is how to get their readers to tolerate more; not whether they are sending too many emails.
Dela Quist, CEO of Alchemy Worx, an email company, was quoted last year as saying “How [customers] feel about the email program is actually driven by how they feel about the brand. Email is the tail, not the dog.”
Email marketers have the job of making effective use of this digital tool. That means using email campaigns not only to get your desired call to action, but more importantly, to strengthen your company’s brand in the mind of the reader.
Brand recognition is the hoped-for result.
That major accomplishment – brand recognition — is earned over the subscriber’s months or years on your email list. And it has a lot to do with getting the reader used to seeing your ubiquitous mail in her email inbox.
Keep in mind what Mr. Quist says about branding and use your emails to reinforce a brand that is both likable and memorable. Even if someone on your email list makes a mental note regarding your frequent emails, she probably won’t unsubscribe unless she hates your brand. Email “fatigue” is very different from hate. If your brand is one that your subscriber feels good about it, he may delete an email one day but stay completely open to receiving your very next message.
It’s actually better to send more frequent email, at the risk of inducing the dreaded email fatigue; than miss the chance to engage your subscriber on different levels. Brand building requires a varied approach and includes different types of strategic touches, none more important than the other.
Give your reader the opportunity to engage with you through email and other social media. Think of it this way; she made the choice to subscribe to your list, so give her frequent opportunities to respond. Just make sure you maintain consistency so that she expects your emails regularly, regardless of whether she reads each and every word. (It would be lovely, but let’s be realistic; most subscribers won’t.)
Although you may be lucky enough to have some champions of your business who religiously open and read every email you send, others pick and choose based on subject lines, time of day of receipt of your emails, and other factors you would never guess.
Don’t guess… Test.
Don’t even try to guess about certain personal factors. You can test your email open and click-through rates to understand more about your readers; even send a survey so you can get specific questions answered. But don’t try to predict what makes your readers tick based on your own preconceptions about your customers or even your own personality.
Besides, it’s a little presumptuous to decide matters like whether or not someone prefers two emails per month or four. If you are genuinely offering a good product that you stand by, and service that truly shows you care, you are unlikely to lose a customer by sending too many emails.
Email fatigue is a myth you can’t afford to buy into.
Image credit: Flickr CC: FontFont
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