Email marketing is not without its challenges, and understanding and addressing common roadblocks is crucial for sustained success. Businesses must be adept at identifying and mitigating obstacles that may hinder their email marketing endeavors.
A few ways to address common roadblocks to success include:
Combat email fatigue and improve subscriber engagement
Email fatigue refers to the feeling of being overwhelmed or burned out by the sheer volume of emails received or the constant need to check and respond to emails. This is a common challenge that can lead to a decline in subscriber engagement. Maintaining a healthy sender reputation is essential for overcoming this roadblock. Implementing strategies such as sending relevant and targeted content, avoiding excessive frequency, and providing easy opt-out options can help prevent subscribers from feeling overwhelmed.
Additionally, the use of dynamic content, personalized recommendations, and interactive elements can inject freshness into email campaigns, keeping subscribers actively engaged. By understanding and respecting the preferences of your audience, businesses can combat email fatigue and foster a positive relationship with their subscribers.
Utilize A/B testing to refine strategies and overcome challenges
A/B testing remains a powerful tool for marketers seeking to refine their email strategies and overcome challenges. By leveraging the insights gained from testing content, businesses can implement A/B testing best practices for continuous improvement. This includes testing different elements such as subject lines, content variations, and CTAs to identify what resonates best with the audience.
Iterative testing allows for ongoing optimization, enabling businesses to adapt to changing trends, preferences, and challenges. By embracing A/B testing as a dynamic and evolving process, marketers stay agile and help ensure that their email campaigns are consistently fine-tuned for optimal performance.
Adapt to evolving trends in email marketing to stay ahead
Staying ahead in marketing requires a keen understanding of industry trends and adapting to emerging challenges and opportunities. Monitoring shifts in consumer behavior, technological advancements, and changes in regulatory landscapes is crucial for businesses that want sustained success in their email campaigns.
To navigate these challenges and stay ahead, businesses can use Mailchimp’s suite of tools and services which are tailored to meet the demands of the modern marketer. From advanced analytics to insightful reporting, our tools provide the necessary resources for businesses to monitor and assess their performance against email marketing benchmarks.
Whether it’s crafting compelling content, optimizing campaigns based on industry benchmarks, or experimenting with innovative approaches, Mailchimp’s tools offer a holistic solution for businesses aiming to adapt and lead in email marketing.
Email marketing benchmarks FAQ
What is an email marketing benchmark?
An email marketing benchmark is a metric used to see how successful an email marketing campaign has been for your business. It acts as a reference point businesses can use to determine whether they’re meeting expectations.
Email marketing benchmarks use multiple factors when determining the success of a campaign, including the email open rate, click-through rate, and the size of your email list compared to the first two data points.
What is a good open rate for email?
One of the biggest factors when determining the success of a marketing campaign is email open rates. When building an email list, you want to make sure that you provide quality content for users who want to read the content.
Email open rates, as it sounds, refer to the rate by which your email recipients open it. According to our data, you should aim for somewhere around 34.23 percent, though the industry your business is in may change that figure.
For example, our data shows that the highest average email open rate is 40.55 percent for government emails, while the lowest average email open rate is 27.34 percent for vitamin supplement emails.
What is a good CTR for email?
The click-through rate gauges the actual engagement and conversion potential of your campaign. While metrics like open rates provide insight into initial interest, the CTR is crucial because it reflects the number of recipients who opened the email and were motivated to take further action.
Based on our data, the optimal CTR for an email marketing campaign is 2.66 percent, however it may range from 1-5 percent depending on the industry. The lowest CTR of any industry is the vitamin supplements industry, with 1.19 percent, and the highest average CTR is 'government', with 4.58 percent.
The CTR of the email is determined by whether someone clicked on an image, hyperlink, or a call-to-action (CTA) included in the email. A comparatively high CTR may indicate that the people subscribed to your email list are excited, or at least curious, about what you are offering them.
The CTR is typically determined by taking the total clicks and dividing that by the total number of emails delivered as part of your campaign.
What is a well-sized email list?
The size of your email list matters and it will determine how many emails you send per person in a certain span of time. Like with email open rates, the size of your email list should ultimately depend on your industry, as well as the size of your business.
The size of your email list should take into account not only the average open rate as an email marketing benchmark, but also the conversion rate. No matter how big your business is, however, you should strive to have at least 1000 subscribers.
If this number is any lower, you run the risk of having a too-low number of conversions. On average, half of your email list subscribers will be interested in your product or services, while the other half is less so.
How do I make my email list compliant?
Ensuring the compliance of your email list is crucial to maintain a positive sender reputation, reduce your unsubscribe rate, adhere to legal requirements, and foster a healthy relationship with your subscribers. Figuring out the difference between compliant vs noncompliant is relatively tricky when it comes to email lists. When building an email list, the first step is obtaining explicit consent from individuals before adding them to your email list. This often involves implementing a clear and transparent opt-in process, where subscribers willingly provide their consent to receive communications from your business.
Additionally, include a link to your privacy policy during the opt-in process to inform subscribers about how their data will be used and protected.
You should also regularly update and clean your email list to remove inactive or unengaged subscribers. Sending emails to disinterested recipients can negatively impact your sender reputation and email deliverability. Provide a straightforward option for subscribers to unsubscribe from your emails, and honor these requests promptly.
You must comply with applicable laws, including anti-spam laws, such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union so please research these regulations or seek legal advice for your specific situation.