When Kathryn Aragon began her role as content manager at analytics company Crazy Egg two years ago, she faced a big problem: Crazy Egg’s email subscribers weren’t happy about getting emails every day. Their irritation turned into a negative brand perception that needed to change – and fast.
Crazy Egg’s blog, The Daily Egg, was producing a slew of great content, so in the beginning daily emails made sense. Kathryn’s job was to use email marketing to deliver that content, increase brand loyalty, and drive more traffic to Crazy Egg’s website while boosting its email list along the way. No sweat, right?
Using the Power of Choice in the Sign Up Form
In 2013 when Kathryn took on this project, Crazy Egg’s daily email list had 1,908 subscribers. They had a lot of content to deliver, they just needed to do it effectively. To solve this problem, Kathryn created two email lists: one for daily emails and one for weekly emails. As soon as readers had a choice, complaints stopped and subscription rates went up.
As a result, Crazy Egg’s daily email list has tripled to over 6,000 subscribers. Its new weekly list started with 2,958 subscribers in 2014 and has nearly doubled in the last year. But she didn’t stop there.
Giving Potential Subscribers a Peek into What They’ll Receive
Another tactic Kathryn believes helped boost Crazy Egg’s subscriber rate is the dedicated subscribe page she created. The page’s purpose is to sell potential subscribers on a subscription to Crazy Egg’s email list, telling them exactly what they’ll get and how often. This ridiculously simple tactic has worked like a charm.
Creating an AWesome Content Strategy
Once Kathryn put these tactics to work, Crazy Egg was able to fully reap the benefits of email marketing. For her, that meant enhancing the company’s overall content strategy.
With happier, more engaged subscribers, she began getting direct feedback on the blog content she was delivering in her emails. Crazy Egg’s blog initially covered broader digital marketing topics, but it’s since narrowed its focus to conversion optimization because that’s what its audience wants.
Crazy Egg’s emails have improved, too. By keeping the format simple and having a single call to action, it gets an average click-through rate of 5 percent, driving more traffic to its website. Its follow up series is simple, too: it contains just three emails and a free ebook download.
Now It’s Your Turn
Are you looking to lower your complaint rate? It’s not an uncommon problem among email marketers. Try some of the tips that Kathryn put to work for Crazy Egg and keep an eye on your analytics. Let us know what tactics you plan on using in the comments below!
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