#002. “How can we improve Email Performance?”

As a Salesforce Marketing Cloud Professional, you’ll be judged each and every time you’ll have to give an answer about Marketing Cloud related subjects.

Your expertise will be put to the test.

Maybe you’re proficient with SSJS and prefer to use the SOAP API but… at the end of the day, Salesforce Marketing Cloud mainly sends emails.

And sometimes emails do not perform well.

One day, early in the morning, you’ll be asked: “How can we improve email performance?”

And people will stare at you.

Do not underestimate the importance of your answer.

Nobody will remember that beautiful piece of AmpScript you used for Black Friday. Or anything else…

They will remember, if you give a bad answer, that you’re not an expert.

So, what to say?

Rule Number 1: Ask questions

No so-called expert gives any direct answer. You know Email. That’s your everyday job. Hence, it can be so many things!

Ask them about:

  • Targeting: did they target the right persona? Did they even target?
  • Performance: get the numbers? Are the open rates low? The Clicks?
  • Send time: same time for everyone? Working hours? Black out window?
  • Content: Responsive design? Image to text ratio?
  • Copywriting: was there any copy testing?

Do not expect straight answers here. You are just showing your audience that the topic is large and complex.

Once they realize and try to get the numbers, schedule a meeting then send a list of all you need to come up with solutions.

Rule Number 2: Your stakeholders withhold the Solution

If emails outperform, don’t be fooled: campaign managers and the marketing team usually know their job… and they also know, deep inside, what went wrong.

For some reason, best practices were not respected. It can be a lack of time, resources, etc.

They need you to find a solution through Marketing Cloud features. Humans are just humans. We’re asked to do more and more in less and less time. We need to automate things.

Luckily, SFMC has many answers… but before listing them, gather users. You’ll have a deck prepared. Listing the 5 topics we mentioned above with details you collected before the meeting.

And make them comment.

Listen well… and understand what pains they have.

Do not propose a solution yet.

Adding or using new features is a change of process. For it to be accepted, they must fully understand what it is all about and what’s at stake.

Rule Number 3: There is no answer, just Test & Learn

Once everyone involved has shared their views and is at the same level of information.

Prepare a deck mapping each topic to one or several SFMC features.

One feature can serve different purposes.

For example, A/B Testing can be used to improve Subject Copy and Content Performance.

Based on your discussions, propose a roadmap to implement new features.

You do not want to bring them all together at once, therefore you will have to test each one. Then analyze the performance. Then Test again.

Last piece of advice, if you want to use Einstein features, remember they need time to “learn”.

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