At a macro level, there aren’t too many things I care to remember from this year, but before I enthusiastically click “next” on my calendar, I wanted to share a few nuggets from my favorite email marketing recaps that might help you get your campaigns off to a roaring start in 2021.
Hope you all have a safe and fun New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day — I will “see” you on the other side of 2020!
David
Mailchimp
Most compelling finding:
Aside from being an incredibly compelling, well-executed piece of content marketing, Mailchimp customer East Fork sold $438,000 worth of product via a single newsletter–and completely changed its business model as a result.
Takeaway:
Newsletters have been a lifeline for many businesses during COVID, but this is the most dramatic example I’ve come across!
If you’re not yet sending a newsletter (or helping your clients send a newsletter), you could be missing out on some serious incremental revenue.
Litmus
Most compelling finding:
52% of companies take more than 2 weeks to produce an email.
Takeaway:
When I started Tidings, I wanted to cut the time it took to produce my own newsletter from 2 hours to 2 minutes.
Granted, Litmus’ customers are much larger businesses than Tidings’ customers, but 2 weeks is unfathomable and a poor use of internal resources.
Companies should focus far more on the content that’s already been approved to share in other places like their blog and social channels, and far less on email-specific design and approval.
SendGrid
Most compelling finding:
Sender and Content are the two most important factors consumers use to determine whether to open an email.
Takeaway:
I find the sender name is one of the most overlooked email optimizations businesses of all sizes (don’t) make.
Double-check your sender name at your ESP, and use Tidings to share great, relevant content with your audience 🙂
Emma
Most compelling finding:
Open rates in March and April increased by 20% year-over-year.
Takeaway:
With 2021 looking like it’ll continue to be upended by COVID for at least several months, your customers will continue to look to your emails for up-to-date information about how your business is adapting and accommodating.
Campaign Monitor
Most compelling finding:
Opens on mobile devices dropped from 63% to 54% (probably because so many of us are working from home and not out-and-about as we usually are).
Takeaway:
Even in this crazy year, mobile opens still outpaced desktop. It’s essential that your emails are either single-column or responsive, so that your subscribers don’t have to pinch-and-zoom to read your content.
As always, if you have any questions about any of the topics above, just reply to this email. I’d love to start a conversation.
Want to send a great newsletter like this in minutes, or even seconds?
Joy Hawkins