Actionable Email Marketing Audits for Beginners

To get the best results from your marketing strategy, constantly evaluating and improving is essential. Email marketing does not have to be complicated. Emails are 50% more successful than other strategies. It is, therefore, crucial to optimize your email campaigns. An audit is an answer! Continue reading to learn more about email audits and how you can get started.

Introduction to Email Audit 101

Starting with the basics is essential if you’re new to email or need a refresher. Understanding how to compose, send, and receive emails is vital for effective communication in today’s digital age. Additionally, knowing how to organize your inbox, manage contacts, and use email etiquette can help you make the most out of this powerful tool. So, let’s get started with email basics!

What is an email marketing audit?

Your team will analyze many factors during an email marketing audit, including your email tools, messaging, and design. Depending on the size and goals of your business, you can choose how often to perform an audit. Do you need help determining where to begin? 702 Pros, a top-rated email agency, can help you! Get in touch with an email strategist to find out more.

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Why do an email marketing strategy audit?

Auditing your email marketing campaigns can provide valuable insights into your campaigns’ performance. It can help you identify the areas that need improvement and those that are working effectively to increase your conversions and revenue. This process can help you save time and money, even if you have recently launched an email marketing strategy.

You can audit your email marketing by taking the time to:

• Assess the results of current campaigns.
• Increase your site’s visibility, clicks, and traffic.
• Increase sales and purchases.
• Establish relationships with existing and new customers.

Checklist for an email marketing audit

Email audits are crucial to ensure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. They help identify areas for improvement, optimize your campaigns for better results, and ensure legal compliance. Use a comprehensive checklist covering email content, design, deliverability, and list management to get started and achieve maximum ROI from your campaigns while maintaining a positive reputation with subscribers.

1. Assess your content

Email marketing effectively maintains a connection with your customers and potential leads by directly reaching them in their inboxes. It is vital to ensure that your emails have valuable and engaging content, as subscribers wish to avoid receiving irrelevant information.

Types of email

There are three categories that all emails fall into, each with a unique purpose.

• Marketing emails and newsletters are a great way to stay informed about the industry, business updates, and special promotions the company offers. These emails keep customers connected to your company and encourage them to take the next step.
• Transactional email: Messages relating to online transactions such as shipping updates, order confirmations, or receipts. These emails make it easier to order, pay, and ship.
• Pre-written messages to customers to encourage them to take action. These drip emails are automated emails that allow you to communicate with specific segments of your subscribers.

Depending on your business model and goals, you may use different email types to convert customers. Below are some examples: The Airbnb email shows a marketing-style email, while the Gap email is transactional.

You can audit your email content by visiting:

• What types of emails do you send? Take note of the emails that you send and when. Are you sending a mix of newsletters, transactional emails, and automated campaigns? Do you inform customers about product updates and deals?
• Emails with high and low engagement: The performance of each email will be measured by its engagement rate. Which topics or types of emails receive the most attention (and the least) from your audience?
• Response rates Do you include clear calls-to-action (CTAs) in your emails, such as “Shop Now” or “Shop Now?” Are subscribers taking the desired action after receiving your emails?

You can improve your content by reviewing your existing setup and results.

Formatting

The following items should be included in every email:

• An easily recognizable “from” name
• A compelling subject line that highlights your unique value
• Images optimized to support your message
• Concise and compelling body content
• Clear CTA buttons to direct visitors to your site

Personalized content

Personalization can increase email open rates by 42%. You want to grab their attention by creating unique content for them. Your subscribers get countless emails each day.

To grab your readers’ attention, get straight to the point. Most recipients will only read part of your email. Ensure the email’s first line has enough information to fulfill the intended purpose.

Your team can plan for email topics so they know what to do. These topics could be included in your email:

• Offers: Send an email if you have a unique sale or coupon! If you inform subscribers about your requests, they will be more inclined to shop and appreciate the discounts.
• Company announcements: Do you plan to open a new office? Are you offering a unique service or product? Are you launching a new product? Let people know!
• Seasonal wishes: Send holiday or seasonal updates to let your customers know you are considering them. Building brand awareness and fostering customer loyalty can be achieved through this approach.

2. Reexamine your platform

Email marketing platforms are where you can draft, edit, manage, and send emails. This is a crucial part of your marketing strategy. Email platforms aim to simplify your life by providing a user-friendly interface to manage your emails efficiently.

Your email platform should meet the following requirements:

• Automate tasks for your staff.
• Sync email data and customer data.
• Integrate your website.
• Templates and customization options are available.

When selecting an email marketing platform, look out for these:

• Pricing: What is the cost of the platform compared to its features and benefits? What features can you get with free platforms?
• Email Support: What type of emails are you able to send? Is the platform compatible with your preferences?
• Customer Data: Does your platform store customer and subscriber information?

PulseNest helps you manage, send, and track your email with personalized communication. Creating and sending the perfect brand message from one platform is easy.

3. Assess your workflow and schedule

Email workflows that are strategic help you reach the right people at the correct times and give the information they need to convert.

These questions will help you evaluate your process:

• How often does your brand assess the performance of email?
• How often are emails sent late?
• What is your team’s best time to develop email ideas?
• How long does it take to respond to customer emails?
• What time should you start creating emails before sending them out?

Automation can help you grow. A workflow is an automated series of emails that are sent to users according to their preferences, behavior, or contact information.

An automated workflow allows your team to focus on creating emails and tracking the process, instead of sending them manually. By scheduling emails, you can ensure consistency without overburdening customers or missing announcements.

4. Clean up subscriber lists

If you notice any of the following signs, it may be time to clean up your recipient list. To ensure that all of your contacts are up-to-date and valid, you can follow these steps:

Check the following for issues when auditing your subscriber lists:

• High bounce rates
• Spam complaints by your recipients
• Emails not opened from valid contacts

These are all signs that it is time to purge your recipient list. You can ensure that all of your contacts are valid by:

• Use an email verification tool such as NeverBounce.
• Signing up to confirm your email
• You must check for bounced addresses when sending cold messages to new contacts without any prior contact. Clear the contact if these emails bounce back or do not go through.

Three tips to improve your email strategy

It’s crucial to evaluate your strategy and identify areas of improvement after completing each audit item. We have compiled some tips to help you refine your strategy. By following these steps, you can ensure that your plan stays aligned with your objectives and adjusts to changes in your business environment.

1. Track metrics with tools

You can track the performance of your email marketing strategy by monitoring standard email KPIs.

• Open rate It’s worth tracking available rates whenever possible, despite Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection preventing tracking for some iPhone users.
• Click Rate: How many people click the links in your email?
• Conversion rate How many people completed the desired action after opening your emails and clicking on a link? This could be requesting a quote or making a purchase.
• Bounce rate The percentage of emails that do not reach their intended recipients can be categorized as true or soft bounces. True bounces occur when emails are sent to non-existent or invalid addresses, while soft bounces occur due to technical issues, provider errors, and full inboxes. 
• Spam complaints Improving the quality and relevance of emails can reduce the frequency of users marking them as spam.

2. Be consistent

It’s crucial to maintain consistent email marketing efforts while regularly assessing your KPIs. Although automating specific tasks can be helpful, your team must adjust some features to achieve optimal outcomes.

Your frequency should be consistent. Only send a few emails to your clients one day, then nothing for several weeks. You can show your clients that you value their time and care about how they interact with you by only sending them the required emails.

3. Optimize for mobile

Over half of the emails are opened on mobile devices. Readers may unsubscribe if certain sections are inaccessible or there’s horizontal scrolling.

To create a mobile-friendly email:

1. Shorten your subject line.
2. Limit the number of images so the reader doesn’t have to scroll down to find the primary text.
3. Instead of using a large format, use a single column.
4. You should place the most essential information first. With smartwatch previews, this step will be visible to users!

If you need help designing an email, a professional email agency such as 702 Pros could be your secret weapon.

702 Pros provides valuable resources to assist you in enhancing your email communication skills.

Our team at 702 Pros has created this guide to help you understand the significance of comprehensive and consistent email marketing. We have over 100,000 hours of expert knowledge and are delighted to share it with anyone who wants to enhance their email campaigns.

If you need any help with what we discussed in this article, don’t hesitate to reach out to us here at 702 Pros. We’ve got tons of subscribers and over 100,000 hours of expert knowledge, so you can trust us to point you in the right direction!

Contact us online today if you have any questions or call us at (702) 904-4262.