Email Marketing: ‘Short Attention Span Theatre’ or Do You Have Sender ADD? by Chris Donald @inboxgroup

Email Marketing: ‘Short Attention Span Theatre’ or Do You Have Sender ADD? 

Sometimes I wonder if the whole “Information Overload” we experience in our day-to-day lives keeps us from staying on task.  It seems that all information now is a sound bite, elevator speech, 10 tips to increase your [whatever].  If the subject line in your email marketing isn’t enticing, your email won’t be read.  The “Short Attention Span Theater” subscriber is one battle for sure; the other is sender ADD.

Having been on the front lines of email marketing for the past ten-plus years, I’ve found that real attention to the details of email marketing campaigns are rarely followed from campaign-to-campaign.  I witness it all the time with clients and with other email campaigns and newsletters I receive.

You can almost see it in the email when it arrives that the people behind the scenes have rushed the email out the door because of a deadline that is usually self-imposed.  Real planning, testing and evaluation of campaign reporting starts to fall by the wayside; and with it, their ROI.

Having a 90-day email marketing plan and process in place can make your campaigns much more successful and keep the attention of your audience and make your life as a sender much easier.  Having a plan will always beat the “got to get it out the door” mentality.

Whether you are a lone marketer or have a team, start with a checklist and schedule of your email marketing campaigns.

In no specific order:

• Create a calendar for your email campaigns over the next 90 days.
• Create a timeline for creative, content, review and testing.
• Review past campaigns for results and learn from them.
• Segment your list(s) for better targeting of campaigns.
• Don’t treat new subscriber the same as your loyal followers.
• Ask your subscribers for feedback and listen to them (pay attention.)
• Trim the fat – subscribers with no actions over a 90-day sampling should be segmented out for more aggressive testing and then removed after 120 days with no results.

Then wash, rinse and repeat.

I understand that sometimes an unscheduled campaign pops-up from time-to-time, but you still must take some time for creative, content, review and testing.

Takeaway: Your subscriber base might be members of the “Short Attention Span Theatre”, but you don’t have to be.  So take some time to plan and you’ll see that it will pay off in better ROI for you and your audience.

Think of it as Ritalin (AKA Riddlin) for your email marketing.

Got to go, it’s time for my medication.