Email marketing has evolved to be a strong but fluctuating communication tool, as members and prospects (plus mail service providers) become stricter and more selective about the emails they consume, or even open. Which means being savvy and tactical about your membership organisation email list.
Stories before tech
To combat declining open rates, email marketers have turned to interactivity to increase engagement and clicks. Most importantly, this involves stronger storytelling and more authentic content, ahead of dazzling tech and labour-intensive design.
Long-standing relationships over clicks
Email marketing doesn’t have to be about bulk sending and reach metrics, it can be better leveraged to create long-term and loyal members. Member lifetime value is now the jewel in the crown of an email marketer’s strategy. Establishing email relationships that last years, not moments, will depend heavily on the value you present and the ongoing story and narrative, plus the offerings in their inbox.
Leverage social proof
This means teaming up with your social media team to convert recommendations, feedback and reviews into meaningful and impactful email content. Give your members as many opportunities as possible to provide testimonials, as the authenticity of first-hand experience is a powerful tool in driving enquiries and interest. User-generated content (UGC) particularly in the membership sector, where acquisition values are high and impact business decisions, has exceptional value in building trust, and can be used in emails.
Ensure optimum deliverability
You can implement all the content and user-first strategy in the world, but if your email service provider (ESP) can’t deliver your message, you’ll need to spend some time, energy and money scrubbing up your database and ensuring your lists work as hard as possible. Segmentation and therefore content relevance will bolster your efforts, as well as maximise your ROI.
Frequency vs engagement
Hitting the sweet spot of frequency versus engagement is not a new concept, and there is no proven science or formula as every organisation is different. However, there are basic principles to ensure you don’t over-egg your mailing list. Paying close attention to click and open rate trends is imperative. You can avoid excessive mailing by carefully segmenting your members and improve the relevance of content by only sending the content that is valuable to each target group.
Intention specific mailing
If a member typically engages with your content in the evening, your best bet is to send them promotional emails at that specific time. The more you personalise emails to the needs of each subscriber, the more likely they are to be interested in your content. This also includes regularly testing your offering and how you present it – including layouts, subject lines and a rigorous A/B testing schedule to even better refine your strategy.
Centre on social value sentiments
This is particularly important when targeting Gen Z – you will need to show commitment to sustainability and diversity in all your communications, including your email marketing. Younger members will be drawn to you if you demonstrate your social values and ethics.
CJ Association Management is an established, specialist association management company providing support services tailored for the membership sector.
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