8 Best Practices To Transform Your Email Marketing Strategy

These eight growth hacking email marketing tips aren’t just tweaks; they’re strategic adjustments that can significantly amplify your results. Implementing them might take a moment, but the rewards in engagement and conversions are well worth the effort. Let’s dive in and discover how you can turn this into a good email marketing strategy.

1. IMPLEMENT CONSISTENT AND WELL-STRUCTURED NAMING CONVENTIONS

A solid foundation for any data-driven strategy starts with organisation. Adopting consistent and well-structured naming conventions for your email campaigns allows you to filter easily and group messages, making analysis more efficient. This streamlines your workflow and ensures all team members are on the same page, reducing the risk of errors and miscommunication.

Example:

Use a naming convention like: [Date]|[CampaignType]|[TargetAudience]|[ContentFocus]

e.g., 20240619|Promo|NewUsers|SummerSale.

This structure allows for quick identification and sorting in your email management system, enabling you to improve your analysis process for better and faster insights.

2. CATEGORIZE YOUR EMAIL SENDS

Not all emails are created equal, and neither should they be treated the same. Categorizing your email sends based on message type, click link categories, and descriptions can provide deeper insights into their performance.

For instance, you might have categories like Welcome Emails, Sales Promotions, and Abandonment Emails, each with specific goals such as user activation or driving conversions. This granularity allows you to tailor your analysis and optimize each category for its unique objectives.

Example:

Track the performance of Welcome Emails separately from Re-engagement Emails.

For Welcome Emails, focus on metrics like activation rates and initial engagement, while for Re-engagement Emails, look at reactivation rates and unsubscribe rates.

This helps in growth hacking the performance of each category by pinpointing specific areas for improvement.

3. ENHANCE PERFORMANCE KPIS WITH ONSITE AND CONVERSION METRICS

To gain a clear view of your email performance, go beyond basic metrics like open and click rates. Incorporate onsite and conversion-related metrics, such as conversion tracking, website tracking (onsite bounce rate, add to basket, etc.), to understand how your emails impact user behaviour on your site. This holistic approach provides actionable insights into how your emails contribute to overall business goals, a key component of growth hacking.

Example:

If a sales email has a high click-through rate but a low conversion rate on the website, it may indicate that the landing page needs optimization.

Use tools like Mapp Marketing Cloud’s Intelligence capabilities to track these metrics and adjust your strategies accordingly. Leveraging these growth hacking techniques can improve conversion rates.

4. ENRICH USER PROFILES WITH RELEVANT DATA

A personalized email experience can significantly boost engagement and conversions. Enrich user profiles with relevant data, including gender, date of birth, preferences, source of subscription, purchase data, and scoring by using data capturing methods, such as surveys, preferences, or even gamification.

Segmenting your audience based on this enriched data allows for more targeted and relevant email campaigns, which can lead to higher engagement rates and customer satisfaction, essential for growth hacking.

Example:

Create segments such as `Females_25-34_Subscribed_During_Spring_Sale`.

Send personalized offers and recommendations based on their browsing history and past purchases to increase relevance and engagement.

This growth hacking tactic ensures your emails resonate more with your audience.

5. SEND SURVEYS TO GAIN INSIGHTS ABOUT USER SATISFACTION

Understanding your customers’ satisfaction and preferences is vital for continuous improvement. Sending surveys, especially post-purchase, can provide valuable insights into user satisfaction and areas for improvement. This feedback loop helps you tailor your email strategy to better meet your customers’ needs and expectations, an effective growth hacking technique.

Example:

After a purchase, send a follow-up email with a survey asking customers about their shopping experience, product satisfaction, and any areas for improvement.

Use this feedback to refine your email content and offers, applying growth hacking principles to enhance user satisfaction and retention.

6. EVALUATE USER-CENTRIC KPIS IN CONTEXT

Traditional email metrics only tell part of the story. To get a complete picture, evaluate user-centric KPIs such as active/inactive users, new subscribers (per subscription source), and first-time buyers. Additionally, consider metrics like the average time from subscription to first purchase. Contextualizing these KPIs can help you identify trends and areas for improvement, ensuring your email campaigns are aligned with your business objectives.

Example:

Track the journey of new subscribers from initial sign-up to first purchase.

If the time is longer than expected, consider sending more engaging content or personalized offers to accelerate their decision-making process.

This growth hacking approach can fast-track conversions and enhance user engagement.

7. SLICE AND DICE YOUR DATA FOR COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS

Don’t just stop at surface-level metrics. Dive deeper by slicing and dicing your data to evaluate metrics from different angles. Compare message performance within categories, assess lifecycle stages, and identify patterns that can inform your strategy. This multifaceted analysis enables you to uncover hidden insights and make data-driven decisions that drive results.

Example:

Compare the performance of promotional emails sent to different age groups.

If you find that younger subscribers engage more with interactive content like videos or quizzes, tailor future emails to include these elements for that demographic.

This growth hacking strategy ensures your emails are optimized for different segments.

8. IMPLEMENT A TEST-AND-LEARN APPROACH

Growth hacking is all about experimentation and learning. Implement a test-and-learn approach to optimize all steps across the customer journey. By conducting A/B testing with different variants of templates, content, and timing, you can generate valuable learnings and actionable insights. These insights can then be used to optimize your email marketing strategy, ensuring continuous improvement and growth.

Example:

A/B test subject lines, email designs, and call-to-action buttons.

For instance, test whether a subject line with a sense of urgency (`Limited Time Offer!`) performs better than one with a value proposition (`Get 20% Off on Your Next Purchase`).

This growth hacking method allows you to fine-tune your email campaigns for maximum impact.

This article was first published by Mapp. Permission to use has been granted by the publisher.