The Art of the Resend and Email Marketing Automation Gone Wrong

Many email marketing providers have a nifty little feature built in where you can automatically resend emails to contacts who haven’t opened them within a certain amount of time. I love this tactic and wholeheartedly recommend using it and testing things like the subject line to see if you can compel readers to open your campaign. I noticed this morning however a few offenders in my personal email inbox that could use a bit of finesse.

Timing Done Wrong

This morning, I had two copies of the same email in my inbox. Puzzled, I assumed somehow I was on the national retail brand’s list twice, something that most professional email marketing software providers automatically de-duplicate. What happened, however, was that they sent the campaign just after midnight and then sent it again, with no changes, just after 9 a.m. I think the in-house or agency marketer must be aiming to hit morning shoppers who didn’t open during the usual “first round of morning emails” in the 6 a.m. timeframe, however, this strikes me as over-zealous. If I receive a sales pitch twice before lunch, with the first coming in after midnight, you can bet the would-be offender would be blocked from reaching me again.

Respecting Your Reader’s Valuable Time

Your subscribers aren’t sitting around waiting for your next email newsletter and to assume that your audience members need to hear from you twice in one day is grossly overvaluing the role your brand plays in the recipient’s life. My suggestion? Resend the email in two days with a different subject line. Maybe I didn’t open it the first time because I was busy or perhaps the subject line didn’t capture my interest. Either way, the revised technique gives you a chance to test varying subject lines without abusing the privilege of being welcomed into your subscriber’s inbox.

Need an Email Marketer in Your Corner?

These are the kinds of things we strategize here at Raleighwood Media Group and we’d love to help add some thoughtful polish to your campaigns. Email us at Hello@RaleighwoodMedia.com to talk automation success stories!

• Category: Email Marketing