Daily we all receive solicited and unsolicited emails marketing goods and services we may or may not need. What causes us to open one and discard so many others? And for those who create these marketing messages, how do they measure success? What return on investment (ROI) prompts them to produce more and if so, how often?
In reality, email marketing is one of the most effective and yes, cost-effective means to reach a demographic. And its value is generally measured in conversions. To begin let’s agree that calculating your email marketing campaign’s ROI is very important. Simply put, your ROI is the investment made on your marketing campaign compared to your return, which is generally measured by profits generated by it. For an email campaign profit is measured by the number of online or offline sales that came about directly from a specific email campaign. Here we’ll demonstrate why email is the best ROI for your buck.
Tracking Online Sales Directly to Email Campaigns
Tracking online sales generated from a specific email campaign is relatively easy. The simplest is to include a direct link in the email so that when clicked visitors are taken to your website. From there their site activities may be monitored such as how long a visitor remained on your site, how many pages/products they viewed at that time and did they convert to a customer?
Tracking Offline Sales from Email Campaigns
Offline sales tracking is somewhat more ‘old school’ and involves customer compliance. Instead of a link, a code may be offered only in the email blast. When presented by a customer at the point of sale, then it may be collected and tracked against customers who did not use the code (thereby presumed not customers as a result of the blast). Variations on this concept include a percentage off the sale and printing out and presenting the email at the point of sale. A newer option is email redemption via tablets and smart phones or through social media outlets. For every option however, the overall amount of the sale must be recorded as well as the fact that these had been email-generated customers.
Success Metrics Measurement
Effective email campaigns clearly demonstrate a profit over the expense of producing and sending the blast or tracking the sales funnel. At the top is the size and quality of your Subscriber List, how accurate and up to date it is and where it was sourced. Another important factor is the Open Rate –not everyone will open the email and fewer still will Click-Through. On to the all-important Conversion Rate…your potential customers have arrived at your landing page. Now your Call-to-Action must convince them that now is the time to buy/be informed and your site is the right place to buy/obtain that information from.
This is not a process for amateurs. If your email campaign isn’t producing the desired result, contact Active Web Group. We have a proven track record by building highly successful and very cost effective email campaigns producing measurable ROI for businesses of every size and email campaign budget. Contact us today: (800) 978-3417.
