Tenshi Web Solutions Successful E-Mail Tactics: Entrance and Exit Strategies
Many people forget e-mail isn't brand new to recipients. This sounds like a strange statement to make, but think about it. How many times do you receive e-mail messages from a company for a few months, and each starts out as if they were the first e-mail the company ever sent to you?
And how many times have you not opened, read, or clicked on an e-mail for months, yet the messages keep coming to your inbox?
Designing entrance and exit strategies is critical to your e-mail program contact flow. The strategies can vary by campaign or account. Simply put though, the entrance strategy is the acknowledgement your recipient has received or interacted with e-mail messages from your company in the past. The exit strategy is the defined manner and time period in which you'll remove someone from your e-mail list.
Before you can write an entrance or exit strategy, there are a few key questions you need to ask yourself:
For the entrance strategy:
- Is this the first e-mail this person will receive from your company?
- If yes, how long has it been since she subscribed?
- If no, how long as it been since she received the last e-mail from your company?
- Does this e-mail pertain specifically to preferences the recipient set? Or is her address pulled from a larger targeted pool? I signed up for e-mail and said I was interested in servers, for example. But the e-mail I receive is about wireless campaigns because it's targeted to my job title.
For the exit strategy:
- Do you have a direct mail or telephone campaign reaching out to the same audience at the same time?
- Will these people receive other e-mail campaign messages when you send your e-mail?
- If you remove them from this campaign flow, when will they receive new e-mail again (if ever)?
- During opt-in, how did you prepare them for messages?
Using entrance and exit strategies enables you to define a contact flow that will provide tangible benefits, including:
- Reduced potential for spam complaints
- Increased readership through recognition of program participation
- Increased response results through the elimination of non-responsive members
- Increased conversion rates through the personalized treatment
Entrance and exit strategies needn't be hard. They can be effective, simple tactics or additions to your campaign process.
Take Unilever's email tactics:
Unilever's homebasics offers an example of a simple entrance strategy. Without changing any specific elements of its e-mail or contact strategy, it adds a simple sentence at the top of the e-mail that references the length of time someone has been a member.
New members receive a statement saying, "We're thrilled you've signed up for our newsletter! Feel free to manage your preferences at any time."
Existing members receive a statement saying, "You are receiving this e-mail because you previously granted Unilever permission to keep you informed of special offers. We hope you enjoy your newsletter! Feel free to manage your preferences at any time."
The statement changes based on the way subscribers opted into the program. This simple acknowledgement of a relationship has tremendous results in building customer advocacy.
Because exit strategies really involve removing non-responsive people from your list, there aren't as many opportunities to be creative. The most simplistic exit strategy is to remove someone from your list if he hasn't opened and clicked after a specific number of e-mail messages. Many clients send a "final effort" message first, to give people one last chance.
If you aren't using entrance or exit strategies, test them on the next set of emails that you are going to send out. Their strategic value will only grow as we continue to struggle with deliverability and relevance issues.
If you want to find out more on how Tenshi can help your business, feel free to contact us - site reviews and quotes are free of charge!
