Channels and Growth Marketing

This week, I started Channel-specific growth skills from CXL Growth Marketing Mini Degree. The first lesson in the course is Email marketing: from basics to best-in-class. It goes through how to build a list, what to send that works, and data driven solution. I read from a while Digital for Dummies by Russ Henneberry and Ryan Deiss which mainly speaks about Digital Marketing and the book is categorized by every and each skill in the digital industry. One of the skills was E-mail Marketing. I loved the book and I use it as a reference while working.

The course is divided into four lessons. The first lessons goes through the basics of Email Marketing, what to do and what to not do. Followed by Email Lists. The third lesson is about optimizing the email content and the last one is using data to drive response which is the most lesson I was interested in.

Usually, in my personal email I don’t read most of them. I usually mark them as read without reading and sometimes I even unsubscribe because of the frequency of emails being sent. I only open emails that I am really interested in and usually it is not work related (like mails from services and tools that are business to business). I only open personal ones which are mostly business to consumer. For instance, I enjoy drawing and sketching so whenever I get an email from an artist I follow I open and read especially when it contains information that I need like skill that you can use in drawing, recommended books, or any relevant topic. I usually open mails from Domestika and Skillshare that show me the recommendation of courses based on my search or alert. The point is I usually get frustrated from the emails I get and I usually end up unsubscribing. So, I always had this question of why do services and companies send dozens of emails while sending fewer mails would be efficient? Does it bother users in general or is it just me?. I was excited for this week to know the answer to my question.

The answer to my question is simply trimming. Removing inactive subscribers or to change the frequency of emails sent to inactive subscribers. One other tip is to send them your best content to try to get them back. I guess offering subscribers an option of how frequent they would like to get an email and to mark specific content would be more efficient.

The first lesson which is Email Marketing Basics started with highlighting the difference between Facebook, Twitter and Email Marketing and then discussed the features of Email Marketing which are that it can send emails at the most relevant time with products that are more personalized tracking individual recipient engagement and you can automate your follow up.

I was surprised to know the email read rate. First, I assumed that it is not more than 5–10% but I was surprised to know that the average email read rate is 25–30% which is much more than Social Media which is less than 10%.

Based on research which I relate to, people like to receive offers with Emails more than any other platform. 50% agreed with the statement and I could be added to the 50%. I don’t like when business contact me on any personal channels like Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, or any relevant application but I don’t feel bothered when I receive an email.

I don’t feel bothered when I receive an email as I have to full freedom to subscribe and unsubscribe. I don’t receive emails for business that I didn’t subscribe to which is one of the important rule listed in the first lesson along side with a don’t do tip which is don’t buy email lists because you will end up with audience that is not interested in your service.

Testing is one of the most important elements in Email Marketing, but what to test? Looking at the anatomy of email first. The anatomy of an email consists of:

1- Subject Line
2- Pre-header
3- Branded Graphic Header
4- Main Message
5- Call-to-action
6- Supporting Message
7- Footer

Different elements could be tested by setting a plan of what to test and by looking at email open rate. For instance, you can test your subject line to see which one had more email open rate.

There is almost no part in the digital industry where you can’t use A//B Split Testing. Testing two or more variant at a time is almost applicable everywhere. Think about how much A/B split test can save your moving forward. With the anatomy of emails you can use A/B tests in the subject line, visuals, and text.

Using data alongside A/B split tests to know more about your audience would save you a lot. Data is emerging and like A/B Split tests it is applicable everywhere. Don’t base your email marketing on assumption. Rather, you can set a hypothesis and check by using A/B split tests to make sure that you are not missing anything and you are not wasting time or money.

One of the things I loved about Email Marketing lesson is that slides are very representative and it sums it all. You don’t have to go through the content all over again to remember something but you can use the slides whenever you need along with the resources in the course which is one of the benefits I am enjoying about CXL Growth Marketing Mini Degree.

Only 4 weeks left in CXL Growth Marketing Mini Degree with with three more courses and the final exam. I am enjoying the learning path of the course and all the information I am getting. Every skill I am learning I start using in my work. It is all about your output, what you can do, CXL is adding so much to my inputs which is helping me with my work and giving me a new perspective.