With tax season at its annual April 15th climax, my attention has naturally been focused on one thought, and one thought only: I hope TurboTax got the math right, because frankly it would stink to be audited. Never having been audited, I picture the process being about as enjoyable as an evening singing Alvin & The Chipmunks karaoke…with Celine Dion.
There is one type of audit, however, that I can whole-heartedly support—the email marketing audit. I conducted my first email marketing audit on behalf of a client back in 2003, and honestly, neither the process nor the tremendous ROI upside has changed that much since then. In a nutshell, to conduct an email marketing audit, you:
- Identify & map the different types emails that are being sent to customers, prospects, partners, and other constituents
- Interview internal staff and external partners who play any part in creating or delivering emails to your various audiences
- Document the systems—ecommerce, CRM, ESP, etc.—through which these messages are being sent
- Document the points of current integration between these systems, if any
- Document the email creation, broadcast, and reporting process
- Analyze the creative being used across all of the different message types
- Analyze any available performance data for the different message types
- Make prioritized recommendations on how to improve performance and streamline processes based on your findings
Does this email marketing audit process require a significant investment of time and effort? Absolutely. Is the ROI worth the investment? Yes—but only if your organization is committed to turn the audit recommendations into reality.
A thorough email marketing audit uncovers all sorts of “low-hanging fruit” opportunities for marketers. The quick wins often range from improved design to verifiable delivery to the holy grail of one-to-one marketing—a consolidated view of all enterprise messaging at the individual subscriber level.
Even more importantly, triggered emails that were once the shadowy purview of IT or e-commerce developers now appear clearly on the marketing team’s radar for review and optimization. Examples of such triggered emails include:
- Welcome emails
- Automated replies (from customer service, HR, product, and other inquiries)
- Order confirmations
- Shipping alerts and confirmations
- Abandoned shopping cart notices
- Account alerts
- Registration confirmations
- Event reminders
- Membership confirmations
- Service notices (including those relating to service disruptions)
- Account expiration notices
If you know your organization is sending out any of these types of triggered emails—but your marketing department lack visibility into the creation, design & deployment—then it may be time to don your best blue suit and start auditing. You’ll be surprised by how quickly you’re able to identify opportunities for improvement.
For more information on ExactTarget’s extensive email marketing audit services, please contact us. For a more ideas on how to set up and conduct an email marketing audit on your own, check out Marketing Sherpa’s Email Marketing Audit Kit.
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