We 10x this client's email CTR.
Learn how we transformed an affiliate marketing client's email KPIs.
Overview:
A client in the affiliate marketing niche needed someone to take over their email marketing. They had a bi-monthly newsletter they sent out to their userbase to alert them to the latest deals.
Their list size was good, but the KPIs were lagging. Our team propelled their email marketing and turned their numbers around. The biggest win? The 10x, or 1000% CTR increase. But, we also scored a few other notable wins:
- 2x Open Rate
- Improved sender reputation to ensure they made it into the inbox on all major providers
- Saved them 72% on their monthly bill.
Read on to see how ThunderSteed 10x one client’s email CTR.
Issues:
They were already in a competitive market, so the smallest thing makes the biggest difference. A few notable issues our client was struggling with:
- No custom sending or tracking domains.
- Going into the spam box on certain providers.
- No alt-text.
- Image heavy.
- No segmentation or tagging.
- Underutilized subject lines and preview text.
How were these harming his email metrics?
Image heavy and no alt-text: Image heavy, no alt-text, and lite body text means that users who didn’t allow images were missing vital information to make a decision. They had no idea what stores were being featured since most mail boxes these days block images automatically out of privacy. This results in an extra step users have to take to see the content. While some may allow images automatically or will take that extra step, humans dislike extra steps. So, even if they’re interested anything you can do to eliminate extra work is crucial.
No segmentation or custom tracking: Spam reports aren’t the only thing that ESPs look at then judging to let your email through. They also look at overall engagement and the content inside. This is why segmenting is so important to better target your audience and keep your engagement high. Low metrics mean a low sender reputation. Similarly, so ESPs like to see branded links that come from the same domain and where custom tracking domains can help.
Underutilized subject lines and preview text: Users are bombarded with more emails than ever. It’s no wonder why attention is in short supply and people are feeling overwhelmed. They simply scan your subject line and possibly the preview text if they’re enticed enough. You need to grab their attention and provide value in a few words.
Solutions:
Hesitant to immediately jump into a major re-engagement campaign, they wanted to start small. So, we worked with them in steps to get them the small wins that snowballed into their 10x boost. The first order of business was to improve the experience for those currently engaged and start slowly capturing interest back for the rest of the list.
We started with playing around with the subject lines, seeing what caught their attention, and providing more information with preview text. We also added alt-text to help users see when their favorite store was featured and encourage them to click with one less step. With satisfactory results, we decided to move on to the next step.
Our next order of business was creating configuring their DMARC and setting up custom sending and tracking domains for better deliverability. We also set to work on overhauling their campaign schedule. Previously, they were sending on a notoriously low-engagement day of the week and time.
Finally, the owner felt ready to perform a re-engagement campaign and give their a list a good clean up before this fresh start. We created a 3 touch-point automation journey targeting low-engaged users. They would then be segmented based on when they interacted. Any users who made it all the way through the journey without interacting were ultimately dropped from the usual blast list.
With a squeaky clean list, they were ready to move to Pegasus where they wouldn’t be penalized for growing their audience.
Results:
After continuous testing and audits, the results paid off. Their improved sender reputation meant they were now hitting the inbox on all major providers, compared to before where they ending up in spam. This increased placement was a crucial factor in achieving the 10X CTR and doubled open rates. Instead of a cycle of low engagement and poor inbox placement, they had entered a positive cycle where their inbox metrics were building on one another.
The final cherry on top? They were able to save 72% each month on their email marketing efforts, without sacrificing anything.
