Email Acquisition: Working Toward a Common Goal

If you’re like me, you probably walked away from Connections 2012 with more th

an enough inspirational ideas to fuel you the whole year through. But there was one thing that stuck with me—the idea of working toward a common goal.

During Connections, I attended the breakout session Cross-Channel List Growth Strategies, featuring David Daniels, CEO and Co-Founder of The Relevancy Group and Simms Jenkins, CEO of BrightWave Marketing. During the session, Daniels and Jenkins affirmed three key understandings about using list growth to work toward a common goal:

1. Email is #1.

With 93% of Americans checking email at least once per day, email remains the most effective way to capture new subscribers. But what marketers forget (or ignore) is that almost 25% of their list is lost to attrition annually. Suddenly, the goal of growing an email subscriber list by 25% annually looks pretty despondent. Remember that acquisition goals should be lofty, and you must utilize multiple channels if you want to successfully draw new subscribers into your email program.

2. List growth is only part of the equation.

Many marketers use mobile ads or apps, paid search, social media, and a number of other channels to acquire new email subscribers. But even the most savvy cross-channel acquisition strategy can’t make up for a poor email program. Remember that people want something in exchange for providing you with their email address. Make sure the messages that you deliver live up to the hype that you communicate during acquisition.

3. List value = marketing currency.

One third of organizations don’t know the monetary value of their email subscriber list. Yet, you’re expected to make a case for why you need more money to grow your email program. Without knowing the value of your email program (i.e., your list), any case you make is arbitrary. Determine the value of your list and use it as leverage to fund your programs—then use that money to fuel cross-channel acquisition and build a higher-quality email program.

Email is “tried and true” for most organizations—so start with what you know, and then introduce new strategies and channels. Make large investments in what has proven successful, but experiment and see what new tactics work for your organization. Remember that all parts of the program must work toward a common, well-defined goal, and for most organizations, that starts with email acquisition.

...

Learn how to deliver targeted, relevant messages with ExactTarget Email and get more best practices by following these industry experts on Twitter: @EmailDaniels and @SimmsJenkins.