One process for getting great results from email marketing campaigns is:

1. Define clear goals. Typically, in my experience, there will be different goals for each audience segment. Example: Goal 1 for customers vs. Goal 2 for prospects.
2. Deliver clear value/benefits. You know why you want people to buy from you. The trick to great marketing is to focus on why people would want to buy from you, and meet them there with a terrific offering.
3. Segment and target. Match messages to each audience carefully. Once you figure out what people in each audience segment you have want from you, it will be clear that what you have to say to each segment will be different. When it comes to crafting compelling messages, one size does not fit all.
4. Test. Test. And Test. The only way to really measure ROI from your email marketing is to know what is working and what is not. Test regularly. Some key items to test include subject lines, content layouts, timing and frequency.
5. Track results. To measure ROI track results regularly, and perform relevant analysis. For example, you might analyze the relationship between subject lines, open rate, and RSVP clicks for an event invitation campaign.
6. Revise and repeat. After taking time to test, track and analyze results, you can make changes to your campaign to get better results.

For lead generation campaigns step 2 is key. Typically our clients come to us with what they want to sell. We have had consistent success translating what are clients are selling into value propositions and offerings that fulfill recipient needs.

For event promotion campaigns step 3 is key. At different stages in the promotion of events recipients needs change. We have achieved consistently high performance on our event campaigns by making sure we deliver relevant communications at the right time.

We use SMS with extreme care as it does not have simple to implement opt-out features. We have had success integrating campaigns with social media.

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