If you want to be successful with your email list, you need to learn how to set and achieve all your email marketing goals. Achieving goals starts with setting the right goals in the right way. Then, using those goals to make an actionable list, you will be more likely to achieve them.
It all starts with SMART goals:
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Realistic
T – Timely
If you want to ensure that the goals you make are goals that have a chance of becoming reality, it’s important to understand how to make goals in the first place. Plus, you do need some form of understanding about what can be achieved with email marketing.
- Be Specific
Every goal you make for your email marketing needs to be very specific. For example, increase sign-ups, increase conversions, get a response, get more people to open your emails.
- Make It Measurable
You should add to the goal by adding something you can measure. So, using one of the examples above: “increase conversions by 120%”. This makes it much more specific and gives you something to measure. You’ll find your baseline and then compare it with your new campaign to know if you succeeded.
- Ensure It’s Attainable
The way to ensure that your goal is attainable is to look at industry standards and compare that to your ability. For example, if you’re just one person you might not reach industry standards as quickly as someone with an entire staff and a huge budget.
- Be Realistic
This is super-important, which is why in some ways the idea is covered twice. You need to be realistic in terms of your own abilities and your budget. You may have to adjust your expectations up or down depending on whether you determine something is realistic.
- Make Sure It’s Timely
Finally, add in a time goal. For example, “to increase conversions by 40% during the six-week campaign”. In this way, you have created a timeline and a time goal that you can use for comparing everything you do.
Finally, ensure that you put it all in writing if you want to be sure to reach your goals. Put it on your calendar to make sure that you will accomplish all your goals.
In addition, consider the following tips.
Match Your Email Marketing Goals with Your Offerings
Your email marketing goals need to match any products that you’re launching. Look at your launch schedule and try to match some of your email marketing messages with these goals. After all, the captive audience you already have within your email list needs to be told about these things as well – if not before anyone else.
Match Your Email Marketing Goals with Your Social Media Marketing Goals
Cross-promoting is important. If you have a social media campaign going, match your email marketing efforts with it. In this way, you can bring people to your social media discussions who already know you, and have signed up for your list or purchased from you. This is a great way to get your fans to boost your reputation.
Match Your Email Marketing Goals with Any Paid Ads You Plan
When you plan to launch a paid marketing campaign, you will want to also match your email marketing messages with your advertisements in mind. Remember that everything works together. You can market to your email list at the same time as you run an advertising campaign. Plus, you can direct your marketing toward your subscribers using the technology available for targeting your audience.