‘Spam age’, as David points out, is no more and email marketing campaign has been more cost and time efficient. He analyzes that there are three factors to determine the success of email marketing, which includes segmenting markets, taking advantage of mobile users, and using good ‘call-to-action’ phrases.

Marketing strategies between a B2C and B2B company would be very different. Not only that, if possible, targeting based on age, location, gender will also be beneficial. Moreover, as a mobile user myself, I do not usually open promotional email with unappealing subject line nor do I read if the content/image is not appropriate for the device, although the companies are not necessarily targeting the wrong customers. Just imagine the amount of money wasted if millions of users are doing the same thing. Last but not least, call-to-action has to be bold and big, for it is used to provoke an action from the customers.

Incorporating what I learned in class, marketers need to do email marketing tests and see what works and what does not. As marketing can either build or damage your brand, campaigns should be considered carefully. Each business and customer is different, hence, micro campaign is essential before investing a large sum of money into the campaign. Testing practices, for instance, putting the brand name to subject line, adding customer’s name, inserting either big or small pictures are some ways to test a company’s email marketing.

Below is a good diagram to visualize steps to take:

Source: http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/14/120266.html

“Have you maximized Google Analytics  features?”

Google Analytics allow businesses to track and measure performance (ROI) of digital marketing. Measuring success only based on numbers of visitors is not adequate enough; a more detailed goals should be set. The article discusses a number of ways to track your online campaign (e.g. Google AdWords or social media) and search engine optimization (SEO). These strategies include, but not limited to, measuring traffic from different segments (e.g. social media traffic, google), time spent on the website, and pages viewed during each session.

Other strategies that I would like to add include measuring conversion rate. For example, tracking how many people actually visit the store after seeing the website would be beneficial. A way to achieve this is to give promotional code (e.g. 5-10% discount) that can only be obtained by visiting the website and entering their information (e.g. name, address, email). Another easier way to do this is to simply ask visitors directly regarding how they find out about the business.

Moreover, returning users are more likely to make a purchase when/after visiting the website. Thus, new visitors who spend less than 1 minute in the website should be analyzed. Are they potential customers who don’t like the website? Or are we using ineffective keywords on our marketing campaign (or SEO) and attracting the wrong people?

Finally, since people are using mobile devices and tablets more often, marketers need to know the devices that customers use when visiting the site. It allows the company to make an adjustment for the display (resolution) for effective viewing.

Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222947