 |
Making your email marketing viral
 It's every email marketer's dream come true: the new email marketing campaign launches, it's an immediate hit that goes viral, with customers forwarding it in droves. The email goes around the world in record time, and the company's Web site (almost) goes down due to the surge in traffic. Sales are through the roof, and the media is all over the phenomenon which generates even more traffic. The CEO can't stop smiling and the sales team knows they've met their yearly quota in just a few days' time.
What a success!
What a fantasy!
Not that emails don't get forwarded! In a 2006 study, interactive marketing agency Sharpe Partners found that 89% of adult Internet users in the U.S. share content using e-mail.
In real life though, making your email go viral is much harder than it sounds. First, you have to really know your target audience and what will appeal to them. Secondly, it's hard to predict what will catch on…or not. So maybe you won't get the runaway email marketing success of the year award. That doesn't mean you can't encourage some viral marketing by being strategic.
Emails are more likely to be viral (meaning, get forwarded) when they offer something someone wants to share. Depending on your company, your audience and your goals, that could mean:
• |
Use a Forward-to-a-Friend feature |
• |
Give people easy access to the offer; don't use barriers, like signup or registration pages |
• |
Check with your ESP to make sure the functionality is there and your deliverability won't be affected by anything irregular in your campaign |
• |
Make sure your Web site and sales team are ready for a surge…just in case |
• |
Have a budget for it and a way to track results, like you would any campaign |
And it's only viral if you help it along. Be prepared to spread the word internally and externally, using press releases, blogs and more.
For a few solid examples of viral marketing, plus six best practices, see MarketingSherpa's B-to-B Lead Generation Handbook.
Rendering tip
Do you know your sending reputation?
 It’s not just based on your adherence to email marketing best practices. That means your group might have a good reputation, but the ESP you’ve selected might not. Or your ESP might allow a mixed bag of senders to share a mail-server with you. That puts your reputation at risk because you’re affected by the sending practices of others.
Make sure your reputation is as spotless as you think it is.
For a free reputation check, call us at: 650.286.2110.
|
|
|
|
