The Great Heist or a Great Email?

You’ve prepared months, maybe years for this moment. You’ve thought of everything, and all the pieces are in place. This is the one that will go down in history and take you to the next level. 

You’ve got your eye on the prize, and it’s just within reach… 

You just have to be sure you don’t set off any of the alarms, and this heist is in the bag. 

Did you do your recon properly? Are you sure you know where all the tripwires are? Or are you about to make a misstep because you didn’t make sure you knew what steps to take? 

What is digital marketing but trying to steal your audiences’ attention away from the other priorities and distractions they have in their lives? It’s the biggest heist a small business can pull off, but without the right information about your customers, your digital marketing can make a wrong step that will set off your customers’ alarm bells. 

So how do you do the proper recon? It all depends on your crew.

What do I need for this heist?!

In order to pull off an effective heist, you need to know everything about your target. It’s how you ensure you know who to look out for, what the security situation is, and where your desired item is located. 

Marketing your business isn’t that different– you need to know who your audience is, what they’re interested in, and how they’re responding to your marketing in order to build your relationship with them. (Think of it like heisting their loyalty.) 

That’s where your crew comes in.

Your trusty team

Let’s take a look at the team you’ve brought along with you, and see what they’re telling you about your customers.

Every decision you make about your emails gets you more information about your customers, and those decisions make up your crew. Let’s meet the crew.

The lookout

In any good heist, your lookout is the first line of defense. They tell you if the coast is clear, or if there’s someone coming. 

For your email marketing, that’s your subject line. It’s the first thing your reader encounters, and it can often be the first sign that there’s trouble in your digital marketing. To entice your subscribers into opening your emails, your subject line should be:

• Short… as in 40 characters or less.
• Relevant to your brand, and what your audience is interested in.
• Attention-grabbing. No one’s rushing to open emails that look boring.

How do you know if your lookout is alerting you to trouble?

If your subject line isn’t hitting the mark, the first signs of trouble will be that your open rate is down or your unsubscribe rates are up. While open rates can vary depending on email service providers, they can provide a pretty good broad direction, and swings up or down will tell you that something is working… or not.

Want to know more about recruiting the best lookout (and writing the best subject lines)? Check out our ultimate guide to good subject lines.

The hacker

Hear that clicking? That’s the hacker, clicking their way into the mainframe. Just kidding, in this scenario, it’s your subscribers clicking your call to action. You know, that button that tells customers to Buy Now, Donate Here, or Sign Up Free. 

There are a few key things you need to remember when you’re implementing this crew member in your heist. 

• Limit your calls to action to as few as possible in an email. You want your readers to know exactly what you want them to do, and to take that action.
• Place your calls to action earlier in the email to avoid getting lost in the scroll.
• Make your call to action stand out with compelling, short text, and a pop of brand-appropriate color.

How do you know if your hacker hits a firewall?

If your calls to action aren’t enticing your subscribers to click, there are two key reporting features that will give you the heads-up. The first is your overall click rate– if you notice it’s below the industry average, or has taken a sudden dip, take a look at how many calls to action and links you’re including in your email, and where you’re including them. You may want to change up your wording or the position of your call to action. 

The other helpful tool is an email heat map, which can show you the top spots readers are clicking in your email. If they’re clicking anywhere but your primary call to action, you need to ask yourself why, and make your primary call to action the most prominent link in your email.

If you want to know more about a call to action that cracks the code, check out our Toolkit for Call to Actions.

The muscle

What’s a heist without some heavy lifting? The muscle’s there to pick up the slack, clean up the mess, and make sure everyone around you gets the message… if you get my drift. What does the heavy lifting for your email marketing is your content– what you say, and how you say it. For many small businesses, this “muscle” can be the hardest one to flex. After all, coming up with exactly what you want to say to your audience can be really challenging. 

But your subscribers signed up for your emails because they value you and your expertise. Sometimes that might take the form of a promotion or a sale, and sometimes it might be some behind-the-scenes photos of your business. You want your subscribers to find value, entertainment, and education in your emails. 

A few best practices to keep in mind for your email content: 

• No one wants to be sold to all the time, so don’t make every single email an ask or hard sell. Share your tips and expertise, or even something light and fun to keep readers coming back for more.
• Show your customers you care. Use user-generated content, like customer stories, photos, and reviews. Less work for you, and more love for them!
• Let a template do the heavy lifting of giving you a clean, mobile-responsive design to showcase your A+ content.

How do you know your heavy lifter just can’t handle the weight?

You don’t want your strongman to drop the safe on your toes, and you don’t want your content to make your readers drop you, either. But how do you know if your content isn’t strong enough? 

All the metrics we’ve already talked about can be impacted by lackluster content, but the one you should keep a close eye on is your unsubscribe rate. This is the rate of people who ask not to get any more of your emails after already subscribing. 

This can indicate that your content isn’t what they expected or wanted when they signed up; ensure that your subscribers are given clear expectations about what to expect from you and how often, and that you’re meeting those expectations with the content you create. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these newsletter ideas.

The mastermind

The mastermind of the heist is the brains of the operation. They’re the planner, the organizer, the genius behind it all. They stand to gain the most and lose the most, and they tie the crew together for the perfect, no-hitch heist.

Of course, you are the mastermind.

No crew is complete without direction and planning, and from your brand voice and values all the way to your marketing calendar, you are the driving force behind this great heist.

What’s important for the mastermind are the tools you have at your disposal to make your heist a success: an email marketing plan, all the elements to make it shine, and the reporting to tell you just how things work.

With a goal in hand and the right email marketing platform, you can sneak away with the greatest prize of all: loyal supporters of your business, and success for years to come.