Do you have clearly designed roles within your email marketing campaign?

By 2020 email will be used by over 3 billion unique users. Companies are constantly struggling to not be lost in the mass number of emails that are sent on a daily basis. Yet, 78 percent of consumers automatically unsubscribe when they receive too many emails from brands. This means that while email has an incredibly high conversion rate, it is not something to be approached lightly.

Think about it. How easy is it to jot down a quick email and click send? For the average professional it is synonymous with the ease of sending a text or tapping out a Facebook messenger reply. However, the mass amounts of emails that are sent each day leaves consumers dreading the iconic “you’ve got mail” notification. If you are to successfully create an email marketing campaign, then you need to have clearly designed roles for both your team and your content.

Defining Email Marketing Content Goals

An email marketing team should be a diverse group of people who all have unique roles. Whether it is crafting the right content, finding images, tracking the success of subject lines, or recognizing the power of email packages, your email marketing team is only as good as its ability to excel at individual roles. But how do you define these roles?

The answer lies in your ability to set email marketing content goals. Regardless of your company’s size, your email efforts should support your business goals. If your email strategy isn’t helping you to achieve your business goals, then you are wasting valuable time and consumer or business connections. Common goals that you might consider, include:

• Acquisition — Are you using emails to attract and inevitably sell your products to new customers in a B2C or B2B campaign? If this is the case, then you should focus email marketing goals on increasing the size of your subscriber list. You  might also create strong call to actions within each email. Finally, your content will need to be driven towards driving sales, without becoming too promotional. After all, when content is too pushy, recipients feel as if they are in Matilda being forced to buy a used car that they don’t really need.
• Retention — Are your email marketing efforts focused on retaining existing customers or relationships? If so, then you will need to spend some of your marketing energy analyzing reports. Look for what is working, what products are selling, and how long it takes a customer to move through the sales funnel. Next, you can use segmentation, targeting, and highly personalized emails to create valuable touch points that increase customer retention.
• Awareness — Is the goal of your email marketing campaign to build brand awareness? If so, then you need to understand that “content is queen.” In other words, your email marketing efforts should be designed around engaging copy that tells the story of your brand. You should focus not on the sale, but rather on building the relationship that will eventually lead to a sale. If awareness is your goal, then your emails should encourage recipients to engage with your brand on multiple platforms or at the very least share your content with like minded individuals.

Once you have defined the goals of your email marketing campaign, you will be ready to find the right individuals to create, execute, and deliver.

What To Look For In An Email Marketing Guru

Startups tend to have a small team and a limited budget. Large companies tend to have established hierarchies and red tape that makes marketing a challenge. However, what all companies need is an email marketing guru who can help them achieve their specific business goals. Finding this individual (or individuals) will be based on the specific content goals that you have for each campaign.

For example, if your goal is to build brand awareness, then you will need to find someone who is a great writer and a gifted story teller. If you want to focus on retention, then you need to have someone who is analytical enough to understand what tactics are working (and most importantly, why). Conversely, if you want to increase your acquisition rates then your email marketing guru will be someone who understands the duality of marketing and sales. No matter your goal, the following characteristics should be sought out:

• Skilled literary prowess. — Can they write in a succinct, yet approachable fashion?
• Metrics-minded. — Can they successfully analyze their marketing efforts, as well as the tools that they are using to increase efficiencies and deliver improved results?
• Familiar with design principles. — Do they understand why some layouts are better than others? Have they recognized the value of sending personalized email marketing packages?
• Marketing experience. — Do they have a bit of marketing experience?
• Experience with email service providers. — Do they have experience working with email service providers and online content management systems?

Once you have found your desired individuals it will be time to assign roles.

Defining Roles Within Your Email Marketing Team

In the ideal world you will have more than one member for your email marketing team. However, if your department is a one-man or one-woman show, then you will need to teach your employee how to wear multiple hats. Defining the roles for your team is made easier when you breakdown the components of a well crafted marketing email.

1. Understanding the recipient. — Audience personas and cleaned email lists can make understanding (and connecting) with recipients easier.
2. Crafting good content. — An email is only as good as the message that it delivers. Don’t send out meaningless emails simply to meet a marketing quota, unless of course high unsubscription rates are your goal.
3. Optimizing design. — Good content and great design go hand in hand. Think of your email as a PB&J sandwich, without any of the components you are left with an entirely different product.
4. Sending at the right time. — Knowing when to send your emails will require a bit of trail and error, as well as some good old fashioned analytics.
5. Analyzing email marketing tools and results. — There is the old adage that “practice makes perfect,” and while this might be true for many athletes, email marketers must fine tune the tools that they use in order to obtain the best results.

The above roles are designed to show the intricacies of crafting a marketing email. While a singular person can be responsible for all of the roles, it is important that they don’t “miss the forest for the trees.” In other words, each role is a part of a greater whole. To create and deliver successful email marketing campaigns, you need to spend time on each role, while simultaneously viewing your content creation efforts in their entirety.