Are you reviewing how your email marketing campaigns are performing? I call it "doing a CSI" on your email marketing. Instead of just saying that you're not getting the opens and clicks you expected, you actually get stuck into by conducting forensic examinations into every aspect of the campaigns - from template, content, subject line and from field.

This is not a formal list, but just a few top level thoughts so you can get an idea of the process you should go through.

Have you stated what results you want from your mailings? Are you measuring conversions to understand if you are getting these results?

If you feel your results are very low, first take a look at your bounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates. Combined these can give insight into whether your subscribers are pushing back and treating your emails as spam - which in turn impacts delivery.

Are you trending your metrics? Rather than micro-managing your email marketing issue by issue, trend using your metrics reports your open/clicks across more than one issue to get a bigger picture of reader engagement. For example, for a monthly publication look across three issues, for a weekly publication look across two months. You'll most likely find a huge increase in your percentages of engagement - that's because most of subscribers don't open every single one of your emails. But they will have opened at least one of three that you sent.

It's important not to focus only on what people did - but also on what they did NOT do. Keep track to find out how many haven't opened any of your emails over a defined period of time, such as six months. Target this very inactive group with a special offer to see if you can activate their interest.

Are you testing to find out what works best for your audience? Don't assume the day and time you've always been sending is best - test all seven days of the week, and also time of day. Test the subject line, test the offer, etc. You want to keep working on targeting your emails (as in who receives what and when), crafting the offers and working to ensure you use the best subject line to entice and open.

The end of 2011 is in sight, and a fresh year looms large. I've pulled five posts from over the last twelve months that highlight what is essential to an email marketing campaigns' success:

1. Streamline your process Online newsletters banish the long lead times of print publications. But you should take advantage of the approach print editors developed over the centuries to make your own regularly published email newsletter fairly pain free. (read the article)
2. Optimise engagement in your layout Is your email newsletter template reader friendly? Here's a 5-point checklist to use when reviewing your finished design, and include image tips. (read the article)
3. Think beyond the written word In today's online world, content is your digital currency. When your content gets shared you are reaching beyond the inbox. You are now reaching new readers - and possible subscribers. We live in a digital age and expect to select not only where we want to get content, but how we want to absorb it. When creating content, think beyond the written word.  While the 'traditional' written article still has a firm place in your online newsletter, you need to think about offering your content in other forms to increase your chances of engagement. (read the article)
4. The house list is at the core of your success  A recently published MarketingSherpa chart offer interesting insight into what your peers in the industry are saying about various aspects of their email marketing efforts. This new chart shows what B2B Marketers are finding to be most effective tactics: Emailing to house lists is by far the most commonly used email marketing tactic, as nearly ALL of the B2B organisations participating in this year’s study indicated that they currently practice it. Past surveys have indicated that marketing to house lists get the best results.  (read the article)
5. Use your metrics reports for business intelligence Marketers are beginning to look to click through rates as a more significant indicator of engagement than the 'open' rate. While the open rate on its own has never given the complete picture of engagement, it has up to now been the most popular benchmark of the success of a campaign. In the last several years, opens have become a less accurate measurement. If a reader opens the email, with images turned off, it doesn't get counted as an open. But it will register as an open if the recipient goes on to click on a link in the email - or turns on images. (read the article) 

The DMA UK has just released their annual DMA / fast.MAP “Email Tracking Study”.

(Sponsor AlchemyWorx is offering a free download of the report for a limited time)

• One of the key findings in the study is that consumers are not feeling overwhelmed by marketing messages they want to receive. The number of people who find "50% of their emails relevant or interesting" has rocketed from 9% to 30%.
• Also, the majority are happy to enter email relationships with brands they trust - and are happy about the frequency, when the information is relevant to them.
• Interesting to note too that survey responders indicated they “hold on to emails to refer to for later use” – a significant percentage mentioning returning a week later to retrieve a commercial email.
• It’s clear that email can drive traffic to websites - 22% of consumers are inspired by emails to go to the company's website via provided urls (So, don't forget to design your newsletter template to feature an embedded link to your website!)

Very encouraging news - it shows how valuable permission-based list building is - but reminds us that the information sent has to be timely, targeted and relevant.

If your challenge is to engage with internal audiences across your organisation - both locally and globablly - then you'll want to join me next Tuesday. I'll be leaving plenty of time for questions ...

What: Engaging internal audiences using email: 7 strategies that work
Time and Date: Tuesday, 11th October, 3pm BST
Duration: 45 minutes, including Q&A session

Register Now For Webinar

During this 45-minute webinar, denise cox, lead consultant at Newsweaver, will focus on how you can engage internal stakeholders with email using 7 strategies that work.

Why is email an essential tool for Internal Communications?

• Streamline communications
• Get the right information to the right employee at the right time
• Decrease print costs, drive traffic to the intranet
• Incorporate  two-way communications for editorial guidance
• Reach employees' inbox – desktop, laptop or smartphone

Yesterday attendees of my webcast "How to make email the centre of your social media strategy" (in partner with B2B marketing magazine in the UK) were asked to vote

"Do you use social media in your emails?"

The results?

52% Yes
48% No

Though social is a hot topic - it is still not a function that all marketers automatically include in their emails.

You could say - well of course people watching your webcast would answer along these lines! But the results were quite similar to the same question posed in our April 2011 Irish email marketing benchmark report: 51% Yes 49% No.

While the answers in yesterday's webcast pertained to B2B, the Insight Report included all sectors (copy of the 2011 report) - and it was still a similar result!

I think it reflects the fact that marketers are not rushing into social - they're still assessing which channels to choose, how to measure it - and how to integrate it into their other marketing efforts.

Watch the webcast: If you're in B2B marketing, I invite you to watch this webcast ("How to make email the centre of your social media strategy") now - or at your convenience. It's available free (after registration). It is 30 minutes of presentation and 30 minutes of Q&A. 

Newsweaver and The Marketing Insitute of Ireland are conducting our third Insight Report survey on Email Marketing in Ireland.

If you are a marketer in Ireland we invite you to participate in the survey - it will take only 5 minutes to complete and all answers will be treated in strictest confidence.

We will send you  a copy of the  results, Email Marketing Insight Report, as a thank you.

Start Email Marketing Insight Survey 2011

MarketingSherpa charts offer interesting insight into what your peers in the industry are saying about various aspects of their email marketing efforts. This new chart shows what B2B Marketers are finding to be effective tactics:

House Lists offer best results

Emailing to house lists is by far the most commonly used email marketing tactic, as nearly ALL of the B2B organisations participating in this year’s study indicated that they currently practice it. Past surveys have indicated that marketing to house lists get the best results.

Communicating with those who want to hear from you puts you way ahead of the 'hope they are interested' types of mailings to rented lists, etc. No surprise to find that the LEAST effective methods in this survey are "emailing to third-party lists" and "including offers in third-party email newsletters". (If you do choose to go this route, set your goals to getting as many opt-ins to your own house list as possible.)

Testing Subject lines most effective, easiest to implement tactic

Only 50% of B2B organisations participating in this year’s study indicated that they were currently testing subject lines. This is a misssed opportunity because testing subject lines can increase results dramatically - and it is easy to do, with very little (if any) additional costs. If you're not testing you're missing out on this: It has been rated by B2B email marketers in previous surveys as a top effective email marketing tactic.

I sit on the DMA UK's Email Marketing Council. We've just released the latest Email Benchmarking Report (Half 1 2010). Here are just a few of the findings:

• UK marketers sent over 1.7 billion emails in the first half of 2010, an increase of 50% over the same period in 2009.
• There's been a huge shift towards social media integration with email. 33% OF marketers are including ‘share with your network’ links in their messages.
• The current average Open Rates for email are 24% for retention emails and 11% for acquisition emails. Unique Click Through Rates are 6.9% retention and 3% acquisition.
• There has been an increase in mailing for acquisition purposes - after a dip in Q4 2009 and Q1 2010.
• On average, marketers are currently contacting addresses on their list 2.3 times per month.
• The vast majority of marketers have 2 to 3 cells or segments in a typical campaign.

The report includes analytical insight into the results, and can be downloaded here

(Free for DMA members, STG100 for non-members)

• Email marketing remains an essential part of Ir