I am exhausted by the overuse of the term "best practices". It’s a crutch and frankly, when people use it incorrectly, it makes me want to poke them in the eye. To start, look at the definition Wikipedia gives for “best practice”:
Best Practice is an idea that asserts that there is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive or reward that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. Best practices can also be defined as the most efficient (least amount of effort) and effective (best results) way of accomplishing a task, based on repeatable procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people.
So, best practices need to meet three criteria:
- more effective, more efficient, or both
- than any other technique, method, process, etc.
- based on repeatable procedures over time for large numbers of people
This isn’t to say there aren’t any best practices in email marketing (or any other type of marketing), it is merely to suggest that there are not nearly as many as experts claim, nor as many as those asking the experts want.This definition should make you think twice about what you declare best practice. It should also make you question anyone who claims this or that is the best practice. Make them prove it with an overwhelming list of test cases where their method worked better than any viable alternative methods. Then, ask yourself if the way they measured success is the same thing you use to gauge success.
Take registration page design for example. Should organizations only require an email address to register? Should they ask for detailed preferences on the registration page? Should fields asking about interests be required or not?
There is no one size fits all answer. The only honest answer is, “it depends”. It depends on your business, it depends on your goals, and it depends on your value proposition. It just depends!!!
How can I say this? Because there are companies that have thoroughly tested their own registration pages and come up with different answers to these questions.
But, people HATE that answer because it doesn’t gratify our desire for quick, simple answers. Consider that the alternative is to immediately discard alternatives that may actually work better in your specific case.
Often, I go to a conference and hear two email experts talk about the best practices for the same subject and their statements are contradictory. There are a limited number of logical explanations for this, either:
- One expert is right and the other expert is wrong.
- One expert is a liar and the other expert is not.
- Both experts are liars.
- Both experts are ignorant.
- One or both experts have gotten lazy; calling their preferred approach “best practice”.
So… marketing experts need to stop hiding behind this term, because if they aren’t right, then they are either wrong, lying, ignorant, or lazy. Take your pick; it’s not a list of admirable traits.
And people asking the experts… you ask because you want to do things right. That is admirable! But if you really want to do it right, then accept that the answer may take more than 20 seconds. After all, as John Wooden said, “If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”
This isn’t to imply that we can’t provide answers about what we believe to be the best approach. That is the job of any expert. Even more, it is the job of any expert to clearly review the specific circumstances, understand the alternatives that may work, and explain clearly why they think the alternative they are suggesting is the best one for the given situation.
At the end of the day, there are “common practices”, there are “good practices” and there is “current thinking”. All are valid, but none of these terms imply that there is only one right way to approach a problem. In my experience, there is usually more than one way of getting the results you are looking for. The hard part is determining which of the viable approaches will work best for you!
And people asking the experts… you ask because you want to do things right. That is admirable! But if you really want to do it right, then accept that the answer may take more than 20 seconds. After all, as John Wooden said, “If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”
This isn’t to imply that we can’t provide answers about what we believe to be the best approach. That is the job of any expert. Even more, it is the job of any expert to clearly review the specific circumstances, understand the alternatives that may work, and explain clearly why they think the alternative they are suggesting is the best one for the given situation.
At the end of the day, there are “common practices”, there are “good practices” and there is “current thinking”. All are valid, but none of these terms imply that there is only one right way to approach a problem. In my experience, there is usually more than one way of getting the results you are looking for. The hard part is determining which of the viable approaches will work best for you!
ExactTarget Feed
Powered by Compendium Blogware
Comments for Your opinion is not “Best Practice”! (and mine isn’t either)