Let's Laud Excellent Email Production Too

It seems lately that I've read a litany of blog postings railing on negative aspects of a particular e-mail campaign that the "critic" received. I'm definitely a big believer in looking at e-mail content with a critical eye, however I also understand that consistently knocking the ball out of the e-mail marketing park is easier said than done and I have a lot of respect for the staffers who perform what can often be described as a less than glamorous task. It's easy to be a backseat driver, but it's a bit more difficult sometimes to point out best practice aspects that other e-mailers should emulate.

Whether the campaign creative is perceived to be positive or negative, I feel it's necessary to analyze the steps the marketer/publisher took to connect the offer/content to the recipient. This usually starts at the moment the site browser clicks on the ubiquitous "sign-up to receive our email newsletter(s)/offer(s)" link.

To this end, I recently ran across the BBC site and was pleasantly surprised to see a publisher that gets how to properly execute an e-news program. I expected to see some generic page asking for an e-mail address, first name and possibly postal code as well. To the contrary, I saw the following sign-up form:

BBC Daily E-Mail Sign-Up


What makes this form effective?

1- The Subscriber is in Control

The BBC clearly understands that site visitors are going to have disparate information needs. As such, the form allows the user to control what content he or she will receive in their e-newsletter. Don't assume you know what someone will be interested in.

2- The Plain-Text Minority

Though today's e-mail clients can gracefully handle HTML content, you'd be surprised how many subscribers may prefer to receive plain-text emails. As such, smart email publishers tailor their campaigns so that both audiences can be satisfied. If you're using sending technology that doesn't allow you to execute a multipart-alternative campaign, what are you waiting for?

3- Recipient (not Sender) Delivery Control

Many e-mail campaign producers fret over the "right" time for dispatching an e-mail blast to achieve greatest response. Why leave it to chance? As is the case with the BBC, let the recipient control when they receive your e-mail.

To sum up this post, though the final creative "product" is important and something about which to comment, we in the e-mail marketing community should also commend senders for extraordinary program execution. Make a commitment to follow the BBC archetype and respect your subscribers enough to let them control the e-mail conversation. In doing so, you're bound to see improved response metrics and skyrocketing brand affinity.