Arts Marketing 101 - Email Marketing

You've got mail

Remember when that used to be a big deal?  You would get that little AOL voice or hear a ping on your computer and hurry to check your email.

Those days are long gone.

Now we have our spam filters kicked up so high that email from our parents hits the "Junk Mail" folder.

What about the email that makes it through the filter?  The email that we "asked" to get when we signed up for some mailing list? 

We end up deleting most of that.

So we have a situation where on one hand email is one of the most cost effective and efficient ways to reach people but . . . on the other hand . . . people are overwhelmed and deleting more email then ever.

How do you get your emails read?  Here's a few tips.

1.  Set your expectations - An email open rate of over 20% is pretty good.  This is particularly true as the size of your email list grows.

2.  Sweat the subject - If somebody gave me 10 minutes to write an email, I'd spend 7 minutes figuring out a good subject line and 3 minutes writing the rest of the email.  I can't stress enough how important your subject line is.  That the only indicator some people will use to determine whether or not the email is worth reading.

3.  Use a email marketing service.  Constant Contact, Emma, Patronmail, whatever.  Just use one.  What's important is the ability to track who opens your email and when they open the email.

4.  Don't bury the lead - Emails should be written like newspaper articles.  The most important part of the story is called the lead and it goes first.  Don't assume anyone is going to read your email to the end.  Most important thing first, second most important thing next, and so on.

5.  Plan your emails - If I have an event running for five weeks, I'll plan out each weekly email.  I'll make a list of the planned content for each section in the email.  This helps me avoid sending out redundant emails.

6.  Open rate rules - I get this question often:

"How do I know if I'm sending out too many emails?"

Simple.  Check your open rate.  If you find it dropping that's a clear sign that people don't think your email isn't worth opening.  Maybe its because the emails are coming too often and maybe it's because your content is no good.  Either way it's a sign that you need to stop and consider things.

7.  Put pictures in your email.  People like pictures.  If you have pictures of puppies and kids even better.  So what if they have nothing to do with your art . . . use them.

8.  Proof read your emails.

9.  Seriously, proof read your emails.  Have multiple people proof it.  That way you can avoid mistakes like this one:

For an eblast that was read by thousands of people we sent out the wrong number to our box office.  How did we know about the mistake?  Because a poor lady called us and told us she was getting 50 phone calls a day due to our mistake.  Proof your emails.

 

 

Comments

[Melissa F. Moschitto]

Great post! Thanks for your concise and active suggestions. The one that trips me up the most is the Subject line. And I DO sweat over it! I recently read a study that showed that 'boring' subject lines were the most effective. That is to say that people preferred straightforward subject lines (e.g. 50% Select Travel Packages) vs. ones that displayed wit or humor (e.g. Sail Away For Pennies!). Ok, I just made those two subject lines up, but you get my point. I'd love to hear your thoughts specifically on subject lines that are effective/ineffective, what's worked for you, best practices, etc.

[Adam]

For emails that are about some sort of discount or sale, I think a straight forward subject line: (10% off tickets) is best.

For emails that have more general context, i.e. an interview with a performer or something like that, I like to go with a more creative/witty headline.

It may also be good for you to go with a mix of straight forward and witty headlines to see which ones encourage more open rates.

[Melissa F. Moschitto]

Adam - thanks for the quick feedback! I'll be looking over my past campaigns this weekend to look for some clues.