The most successful email marketing campaigns are carefully planned to reach the right potential customers at the times when they will be most receptive. Before you start an email marketing campaign, it is important to have a thorough understanding of your client's background, business goals, client base, and sales objectives.
What do you hope to accomplish with an email marketing campaign?
By developing an understanding of the client's goals and hopes for the campaign, you can better manage their expectations. For example, a client who hopes that marketing emails will boost sales by 50% may need to be reigned in. This question will also help you adjust and finalize your project scope.
What products, services, or information will you promote?
Before starting an email campaign, you will need to have a basic knowledge of what the client will be promoting. With this information, you can begin to develop an idea of how each email will be structured and the content it will have.
How often would you like to send out emails?
Knowing the frequency that the client expects will help you plan the email campaign in terms of timeline, length, and content.
Does your website have content that changes regularly?
Most marketing emails include at least one link back to the client's website; if there is different content each time they visit, they are more likely to stay on the page. You will be able to use that changing content as part of the campaign--marketing emails can promote new articles, new products, or even a new design.
Are you hoping to sell to businesses or consumers?
Knowing the type of customers your client is targeting with an email campaign is important. It will tell you when they are likely to buy, the types of product they will respond to, and the language that will be most effective. A business customer, for example, will respond better to professional language, while a standard consumer may prefer less formal prose.
When do your existing customers respond quickly to emails?
If you have an idea when the target audience is most likely to be responsive to email, you can time your campaign accordingly. Asking your clients to note response times to their individual emails can be a good predictor of group behavior.
Have you received any effective marketing emails?
Often a client's expectations are shaped by the email marketing they have already been exposed to. Ask the client to forward you the emails that they liked, remembered, or that convinced them to buy something.
What are some of your favorite websites?
Knowing the websites a client likes will help you understand their preferences in terms of color, design, functionality, and wording. Ask them to give you URLs and explain what they like about each site; this can be easier for a non-designer than articulating their design preferences.