I recently had four separate emails and a text message ping into my phone to inform me that my bulk order of loo roll was nearly … hold your excitement here … being delivered! I can tell you that every one of those interruptions truly enhanced my day and made me feel warm about the brand.

Except of course, it didn’t.

It irritated the veritable pants off me (no pun intended). I literally don’t care. I’m glad it has arrived *really not Coronavirus panic buying*. But I don’t need a running commentary on its journey to my front door. And I don’t even have a Ring doorbell.

Email marketing exhaustion

Last week, I was watching the first series of The Windsors on Netflix late at night in an ill-advised attempt at falling asleep. Don’t try it. It’s hilarious, and not at all sleep-inducing. Less than 12 hours later I received a verging-on-frantic email nudge from Netflix, urging me ‘Don't forget to finish The Windsors.. Let’s find out what happens next, keep watching…’

Irritating on so many levels. Was I about to - mid working day - log into Netflix to continue my binge? No. Was I going to ‘forget’ about The Windsors? No? I love Wills. Did I delete that email feeling like I really loved Netflix and must pledge my lifelong, exclusive allegiance to the brand? No. Did I feel watched, assessed, monitored by Netflix? Yes. 

Email marketing automation gone wrong

Of course, we all know that every move, every doorbell ring, every purchase, heartbeat and clickbait click is being tracked, but for the large part, I think we try to ignore our casual throwaway attitude to our private data. What we don’t want is to be reminded that we’re being watched, and worse - that we’re thoughtlessly going along with it.

Give us that delusion at least!

When it comes to email marketing, quality trumps quantity every time. 

Personalised emails are still the most effective digital marketing you can buy. They talk directly to your audience in a way that social media activity can’t hope to replicate. Businesses use social media to talk with people and to encourage them to sign up to their emails, because it is through this GDPR compliant database that they cut through the babble and can talk to their audience. 

But businesses must be cautious. Audience segmentation enables businesses to be smart about who they contact, and with what information. Email analytics on every send matter.

• Which subject lines lead to the most opens?

• Why are follow-up sends so effective?

• Which in-email polls or links achieved the most clicks?

• Who is opening what and when? 

• Which devices are the emails most read on?

Email marketing data analysis

Of course, I ruined all this for the person running the data on the Netflix mailout. I opened it through curiosity, and of course their brand was imprinted on my mind for some time as I processed how daft it was. So a marketeer focused on the data might chalk that campaign up as a success. But it wasn’t in a good way.

Reviewing your email marketing?

Be useful, be interesting, be tactical. Just don’t be irritating.

Need a hand to step back and see the light? I’ve filed my rant and would revel in helping you do email marketing and automation better than aforementioned global streaming service. Drop us a line.

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