Slow Emails Volume 2
Missed a slow email? Catch up below.
Subject Line: Slow for some, fast if you just signed up
A slow email that probably took longer than it should to write, and send.
Thanks for subscribing! You're in for a treat for this email. As always, I break my email up into two sections:
Throwing Rocks in which I throw metaphorical rocks at email-related topics and break down concepts with said rocks. To be clear, this is not meant to be negative in any sense, and is meant to raise questions of "is this update really that bad?" or find answers to "should I be sending a newsletter because everyone else is?".
Cool Tools - meant to be self-explanatory in nature and highlights great email tools that have caught my eye over the past month or so.
Throwing Rocks
You know how there are certain buzz words or terms you hear people say, and you think "but why?". That's how I feel when I hear talk of A/B testing. Far too often I hear marketers discuss how this quarter they'd like to A/B test subject lines, content, or From Name. But rarely do I hear what marketers hope to do with these results. Is a one-off email with a different strategy really going to guide your strategy for all emails moving forward? Will you even analyze the results?
It's incredibly important for marketers to take a step back and rethink the concept of A/B testing with these key questions:
What is my end goal?
What element am I testing?
Am I testing more than one element? And if so, can I accurately identify which element resulted in more success?
How am I going to translate these results into future email strategies?
I swear I am not a complete A/B test hater, but as digital marketers, we all have SO much on our plates - surely we can be doing A/B testing a bit better. For any junior email marketers out there, I wrote up a guide on formulating your first actionable A/B test here.
Cool Tools
Klaviyo Reporting
Over the past year, Klaviyo has completely overtaken my long list of favorite ESP's and has become my #1. It feels like the moment I've thought of a great must-have feature, they've already come up with it themselves and launched it two weeks prior. Two things Klaviyo has addressed lately with their latest reporting update:
What does great email reporting look like?
Can ESP's make this an easier experience for marketers?
Increased reporting capabilities are a fantastic shout-out for any ESP, and I encourage any end-user of Klaviyo to check out a screenshot of their latest here. Any ESP that makes it easier to show reporting to senior stakeholders and ingest how campaigns have performed will equate to longer retained customers IMO.
SMS Marketing
Not sure where to start with SMS marketing?
Postscript offers a fantastic certification here that I recommend to all.
Texts we love - a dictionary of SMS inspiration from various brands.
Is your brand sending SMS? As of recently, it's one of the most powerful marketing channels with high engagement, strong conversion, and no crazy Apple updates to report!
Until another time,
Naomi :)